Latest news with #Marxists'
Boston Globe
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump to order a plan to shut down the US Education Department
A White House fact sheet said the order would direct Secretary Linda McMahon 'to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.' Advertisement The Trump administration has already been gutting the agency through layoffs and program cuts. Its workforce is being slashed in half and there have been deep cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation's academic progress. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The department sends billions of dollars a year to schools and oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. Currently, much of the agency's work revolves around managing money — both its extensive student loan portfolio and a range of aid programs for colleges and school districts, from school meals to support for homeless students. The agency also plays a significant role in overseeing civil rights enforcement. Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%. The money often supports supplemental programs for vulnerable students, such as the McKinney-Vento program for homeless students or Title I for low-income schools. Colleges and universities are more reliant on money from Washington, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition. Republicans have talked about closing the Education Department for decades, saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into decisions that should fall to states and schools. The idea has gained popularity recently as conservative parents' groups demand more authority over their children's schooling. In his platform, Trump promised to close the department 'and send it back to the states, where it belongs.' Trump has cast the department as a hotbed of 'radicals, zealots and Marxists' who overextend their reach through guidance and regulation. Advertisement Yet even some of Trump's allies have questioned his power to close the agency without action from Congress, and there are doubts about its political popularity. The House considered an amendment to close the agency in 2023, but 60 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it. During Trump's first term, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sought to dramatically reduce the agency's budget and asked Congress to bundle all K-12 funding into block grants that give states more flexibility in how they spend federal money. It was rejected, with pushback from some Republicans.
Arab News
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Trump to order a plan to shut down the US Education Department
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday calling for the shutdown of the US Education Department, according to a White House official, advancing a campaign promise to eliminate an agency that's been a longtime target of conservatives. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity before an announcement. Trump has derided the Department of Education as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, finalizing its dismantling is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. A White House fact sheet said the order would direct Secretary Linda McMahon 'to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.' The Trump administration has already been gutting the agency through layoffs and program cuts. Its workforce is being slashed in half and there have been deep cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation's academic progress. The department sends billions of dollars a year to schools and oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student loans. Currently, much of the agency's work revolves around managing money — both its extensive student loan portfolio and a range of aid programs for colleges and school districts, from school meals to support for homeless students. The agency also plays a significant role in overseeing civil rights enforcement. Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14 percent. The money often supports supplemental programs for vulnerable students, such as the McKinney-Vento program for homeless students or Title I for low-income schools. Colleges and universities are more reliant on money from Washington, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition. Republicans have talked about closing the Education Department for decades, saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into decisions that should fall to states and schools. The idea has gained popularity recently as conservative parents' groups demand more authority over their children's schooling. In his platform, Trump promised to close the department 'and send it back to the states, where it belongs.' Trump has cast the department as a hotbed of 'radicals, zealots and Marxists' who overextend their reach through guidance and regulation. Yet even some of Trump's allies have questioned his power to close the agency without action from Congress, and there are doubts about its political popularity. The House considered an amendment to close the agency in 2023, but 60 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it. During Trump's first term, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sought to dramatically reduce the agency's budget and asked Congress to bundle all K-12 funding into block grants that give states more flexibility in how they spend federal money. It was rejected, with pushback from some Republicans.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge blocks Trump order canceling teacher training grants after California, others sue
A U.S. District Court Judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to cancel an estimated $250 million in teacher-training grants across the country, including a significant cut affecting students preparing to staff high-need California schools. Judge Myong J. Joun, of the federal District of Massachusetts, issued a temporary restraining order on Monday that called for the Trump administration to "immediately restore" the "pre-existing status quo prior to the termination." The Trump administration had canceled the grants through its Department of Education, working in conjunction with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a government agency and is headed by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk. In announcing the grant cuts Feb. 17, the Department of Education said the programs use taxpayer funds to 'train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies' that were 'inappropriate and unnecessary.' It cited 'critical race theory,; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; 'anti-racism'; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.' President Trump has pledged to rid schools and universities of 'wokeness' and use federal funding as leverage. He also intends to dismantle the Department of Education, calling the agency 'a big con job' infiltrated by 'radicals, zealots, and Marxists' that misused taxpayer dollars. Read more: California sues Trump administration for cutting teacher training over 'illegal DEI' Judge Joun sided with the arguments laid out in a complaint filed by California and seven other Democrat-led states in her order, which is in force for 14 days while both sides make their cases. Joun concluded, based on a preliminary review of available evidence, that the federal action to cancel the grants was "arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion" as well as "not in accordance with law." "Based on the evidence before me now, I find that Plaintiff States are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims," the judge wrote. In canceling the grants, the Trump administration had sent out form letters that cited a list of factors that may or may not have contributed to the cancellation of the grant, according to the lawsuit. Those factors include "programs that promote or take part in DEI initiatives" as well as programs "that violate either the letter or purpose of Federal civil rights law; that conflict with the Department's policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; that are not free from fraud, abuse, or duplication; or that otherwise fail to serve the best interests of the United States," according to the letter cited in the judge's order. Administration officials, including Trump, have made it clear that programs were at risk of losing funding if they have characteristics at odds with current administration policy — even if these elements were required by Congress and are part of fully executed contracts. In issuing the order the judge said an action is illegally arbitrary and capricious if, for example "the agency relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider [or] entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem." For a judge to issue a temporary restraining order, the jurist also must conclude that one side in a dispute would otherwise suffer irreparable harm. Judge Joun concluded that the states, in their arguments, satisfied this standard — and cited a California program as an example. "The termination of funding for a program at the California State University with the objective of training and developing 'highly qualified community-centered teachers who could staff and support high-need or high-poverty urban K-12 schools and students, particularly with regard in the areas of special education,' has resulted in the loss of mentoring, training, and vital support for 26 students, and the loss of financial stipends for about 50 incoming students who need these stipends to participate in classroom teaching," the judge wrote. Moreover, the cancellations have 'upended months, if not years of work required to implement programs that rely on these grants," Joun concluded. Joun gave the federal government 24 hours to comply. The Trump administration and its leadership at the Department of Education had no immediate comment on the ruling. When the suit was filed last week, a department spokesperson said it would not comment on pending litigation. However, during a hearing on Monday, Michael Fitzgerald, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, had argued that the Education Department was within its rights to cancel the grants, the news agency Reuters reported. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta called the ruling an important preliminary victory. Read more: UCLA launches antisemitism effort as Trump says more pro-Palestinian activist arrests ahead 'The Trump Administration recklessly and unlawfully terminated grants that had been awarded and obligated to K-12 teacher preparation programs in California and across the country — without any regard for the teachers and students who would pay the price,' Bonta said in a statement. 'This includes $8 million which California universities and colleges planned to use between now and September to make sure our schools have the teachers they need come fall. Today's decision is a crucial early victory to ensure these grant dollars continue to flow and our kids get the passionate, qualified, good teachers they deserve.' The Department of Education cuts amounted to roughly $148 million in California and $102 million for the other states that sued: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin and Colorado. Nationally, the funding losses totaled $600 million. No Republican-led states filed suit. Three teacher groups filed a separate complaint last week in a Maryland federal court. The litigation attempts to preserve two Obama-era grant programs Congress created to address teacher shortages in rural and urban areas and encourage college students studying STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — to take on teaching jobs in K-12 education. The grant applicants also were, in the past, evaluated on their commitment to develop a diverse work force, including by training teachers from underrepresented groups. Among the canceled programs is a $7.5-million grant at Cal State L.A. to train and certify 276 teachers over five years to work in high-need or high-poverty schools in the Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified school districts. Under the program, teachers would focus on working with disabled students as well as on STEM subjects and bilingual education. Nationally, there is a shortage of about 400,000 teachers, according to the Palo Alto-based Learning Policy Institute, including tens of thousands of positions in California. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Judge blocks Trump order canceling teacher training grants after California, others sue
A U.S. District Court Judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's attempt to cancel an estimated $250 million in teacher-training grants across the country, including a significant cut affecting students preparing to staff high-need California schools. Judge Myong J. Joun, of the federal District of Massachusetts, issued a temporary restraining order on Monday that called for the Trump administration to 'immediately restore' the 'pre-existing status quo prior to the termination.' The Trump administration had canceled the grants through its Department of Education, working in conjunction with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a government agency and is headed by billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk. In announcing the grant cuts Feb. 17, the Department of Education said the programs use taxpayer funds to 'train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies' that were 'inappropriate and unnecessary.' It cited 'critical race theory,; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; 'anti-racism'; and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy.' President Trump has pledged to rid schools and universities of 'wokeness' and use federal funding as leverage. He also intends to dismantle the Department of Education, calling the agency 'a big con job' infiltrated by 'radicals, zealots, and Marxists' that misused taxpayer dollars. Judge Joun sided with the arguments laid out in a complaint filed by California and seven other Democrat-led states in her order, which is in force for 14 days while both sides make their cases. Joun concluded, based on a preliminary review of available evidence, that the federal action to cancel the grants was 'arbitrary and capricious and an abuse of discretion' as well as 'not in accordance with law.' 'Based on the evidence before me now, I find that Plaintiff States are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims,' the judge wrote. In canceling the grants, the Trump administration had sent out form letters that cited a list of factors that may or may not have contributed to the cancellation of the grant, according to the lawsuit. Those factors include 'programs that promote or take part in DEI initiatives' as well as programs 'that violate either the letter or purpose of Federal civil rights law; that conflict with the Department's policy of prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education; that are not free from fraud, abuse, or duplication; or that otherwise fail to serve the best interests of the United States,' according to the letter cited in the judge's order. Administration officials, including Trump, have made it clear that programs were at risk of losing funding if they have characteristics at odds with current administration policy — even if these elements were required by Congress and are part of fully executed contracts. In issuing the order the judge said an action is illegally arbitrary and capricious if, for example 'the agency relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider [or] entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem.' For a judge to issue a temporary restraining order, the jurist also must conclude that one side in a dispute would otherwise suffer irreparable harm. Judge Joun concluded that the states, in their arguments, satisfied this standard — and cited a California program as an example. 'The termination of funding for a program at the California State University with the objective of training and developing 'highly qualified community-centered teachers who could staff and support high-need or high-poverty urban K-12 schools and students, particularly with regard in the areas of special education,' has resulted in the loss of mentoring, training, and vital support for 26 students, and the loss of financial stipends for about 50 incoming students who need these stipends to participate in classroom teaching,' the judge wrote. Moreover, the cancellations have 'upended months, if not years of work required to implement programs that rely on these grants,' Joun concluded. Joun gave the federal government 24 hours to comply. The Trump administration and its leadership at the Department of Education had no immediate comment on the ruling. When the suit was filed last week, a department spokesperson said it would not comment on pending litigation. However, during a hearing on Monday, Michael Fitzgerald, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, had argued that the Education Department was within its rights to cancel the grants, the news agency Reuters reported. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta called the ruling an important preliminary victory. 'The Trump Administration recklessly and unlawfully terminated grants that had been awarded and obligated to K-12 teacher preparation programs in California and across the country — without any regard for the teachers and students who would pay the price,' Bonta said in a statement. 'This includes $8 million which California universities and colleges planned to use between now and September to make sure our schools have the teachers they need come fall. Today's decision is a crucial early victory to ensure these grant dollars continue to flow and our kids get the passionate, qualified, good teachers they deserve.' The Department of Education cuts amounted to roughly $148 million in California and $102 million for the other states that sued: Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin and Colorado. Nationally, the funding losses totaled $600 million. No Republican-led states filed suit. Three teacher groups filed a separate complaint last week in a Maryland federal court. The litigation attempts to preserve two Obama-era grant programs Congress created to address teacher shortages in rural and urban areas and encourage college students studying STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — to take on teaching jobs in K-12 education. The grant applicants also were, in the past, evaluated on their commitment to develop a diverse work force, including by training teachers from underrepresented groups. Among the canceled programs is a $7.5-million grant at Cal State L.A. to train and certify 276 teachers over five years to work in high-need or high-poverty schools in the Los Angeles Unified and Pasadena Unified school districts. Under the program, teachers would focus on working with disabled students as well as on STEM subjects and bilingual education. Nationally, there is a shortage of about 400,000 teachers, according to the Palo Alto-based Learning Policy Institute, including tens of thousands of positions in California.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
She's Just the Tip of the Trump Administration's Racist Iceberg
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has had more than its share of scandalous personnel picks, but Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson takes 'scandalous' to a whole new level—as in, Protocols of the Elders of Zion–level. Last week, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that in March 2023 and August 2024, Wilson made social-media posts attacking Leo Frank, the Jewish factory manager lynched in Georgia in 1915 after being convicted in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in a trial widely regarded as an antisemitism-laden travesty. The posts also blasted the Anti-Defamation League, which fought for Frank's exoneration for decades and obtained a posthumous pardon in 1986. The Leo Frank libel is a popular cause among antisemites; shortly before Wilson's 2024 post, Candace Owens shared a video arguing that Frank was guilty of ritual murder. (She also asserted that the ADL was in cahoots with the Freemasons and the Ku Klux Klan to reverse the American Revolution.) Antisemites are nothing new on the far right, and their creep from the murky fringes of American conservatism toward something like center stage has been years in the making. But the presence of a right-wing antisemite like Wilson in an influential position in the federal government still raises eyebrows. Before Wilson became an official representative of the Department of Defense, she worked on Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and then took a job at the Center for Renewing America, the think tank founded by Project 2025 contributor and current Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. Wilson had also defended Christian nationalism, promoted the antisemitism-inflected 'Replacement Theory,' and declared Confederate general Robert E. Lee to be 'one of the greatest Americans to ever live.' She's a big fan of the far-right Alternative for Deutschland party, shunned even by many other right-wing populist parties in Europe because of its flirtations with Nazi apologism. She even praised the party using the neo-Nazi-linked slogan Ausländer Raus! ('Foreigners out'). Departing from MAGA's general pro-Zionist stance, Wilson has also opposed U.S. aid to Israel (along with Taiwan and Ukraine). Last year, she mocked Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for going to Columbia University to show solidarity with Jewish students who complained of a hostile environment created by pro-Palestinian protests. The campus protests, Wilson opined, were simply 'Sharia Supremacists vs. University Marxists' who should be left to fight each other. (Since actual university Marxists tended to side with the protesters, Wilson's use of 'Marxists' sure sounds like a code word for . . . another group.) While several prominent conservative pundits expressed dismay and urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to boot the 'blood libel apologist,' few congressional Republicans were willing to speak out. Sen. Lindsey Graham opined that 'if what you say about these posts are true, then she's completely off-script with President Trump'—obviously, the worst possible condemnation from Graham, for whom agreement with Trump is the only virtue. Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska warned about the importance of 'appropriate vetting.' The strongest comment came from Mick Mulroy, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East in the first Trump administration: 'If she stays, then in many ways, it says those comments are acceptable.' Indeed. Let us help you see around corners as the road ahead gets more twisted and fraught. Sign up for a free or paid subscription today: THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S tacit acceptance of Wilson contrasts sharply with, for instance, the 2018 firing of Trump speechwriter Darren Beattie for ties to white supremacists. Of course, times have changed, and Beattie, too, is now back in a Trump administration post—this time as acting under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in the State Department. Given this climate, it is perhaps unsurprising that other troubling entanglements between the Trump administration and antisemitic figures have been reported in recent days—such as the administration's apparent intervention on behalf of 'manosphere' influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who currently face rape and human trafficking charges in Romania. The Tates' supporters, among them Donald Trump Jr., dismiss the case as politically motivated. (Never mind that Andrew Tate bragged about his crimes on video.) In late February, the brothers returned to the United States after the Romanian government suddenly lifted restrictions on their travel. The extent of the Trump administration's involvement in getting the ban lifted is unknown, but the Financial Times has reported that several officials had brought up the case in phone conversations with the Romanians and that Trump Special Envoy Richard Grenell had talked about it in person to Romanian Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu. (Grenell downplayed his role but acknowledged his support for the Tates; meanwhile, Trumpworld insider Roger Stone has written on X that Grenell 'secured the release of the Tates.') It's also worth noting that Andrew Tate's former attorney, Paul Ingrassia—author of a cringeworthy 2023 post hailing his client as a model of 'human excellent among men,' persecuted because of the 'threat' he posed to 'global elites'—is now the White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security. Andrew Tate is notorious mainly as an unabashed and self-proclaimed misogynist who says that women shouldn't vote because they're too emotional and boasts on video about punching, slapping, and choking women to keep them in line. But it's a good rule of thumb that someone with such hateful views of women probably also hates Jews—and (surprise, surprise!) the rule holds for Andrew Tate. He is, among other things, a vocal Hamas supporter: After October 7th, he not only pointedly refused to condemn the terror group but actually praised its 'masculine spirit of resistance.' He has also waxed poetic about the 'heroic' death of Yahya Sinwar, the architect and leader of the October 7th pogrom. In January 2024, Tate also speculated that since 'they' lied about Gaza and Israel, about Ukraine and about every other war, it stood to reason that everything we're told about World War II is probably a lie, as well. The war, he wrote, is 'still used to this day to psyop the populace' with the message that 'Bad guy = Nazi.' Upon his return to the United States, Tate quickly booked himself on the Full Send podcast, which boasts millions of followers, to complain that 'you can't criticize the Jews.' CONTROVERSIES ABOUT ANTISEMITISM in Trumpworld date back at least to the 2016 campaign, when Jewish journalists critical of Trump were often bombarded with antisemitic abuse from the pro-Trump 'alt-right.' Trump notably declined an invitation from CNN's Wolf Blitzer to rebuke his supporters who were directing such harassment at journalist Julia Ioffe because of her 'nasty' profile of Melania Trump. While Trump sought Jewish support by stressing his devotion to Israel, his flirtations with his antisemitic far-right supporters culminated in the debacle of Charlottesville, where marchers in August 2017 chanted such slogans as 'Jews will not replace us.' Trump then ostensibly condemned Nazis and white supremacists while commending the 'very fine people' who marched alongside them. At the same time, the administration presented itself as a stalwart protector of American Jews from the depredations of antisemitism on college campuses. Trump issues an executive order in 2019 directing colleges to consider an expanded definition of antisemitism, including some anti-Israel speech, when enforcing civil rights protections. Share The Bulwark Responding to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed October 7th, the Trump administration has portrayed itself as leading the charge against left-wing antisemitism, taking new measures whose benefit so far are unclear and which, in some cases, arguably threaten protected speech. Most recently, the administration announced that it had canceled $400 million of federal grants to Columbia University because the school failed to protect Jewish students from harassment. What must Kingsley Wilson be thinking? WHILE THE ALT-RIGHT as a separate movement has largely faded from view, white nationalist and/or antisemitic views have infiltrated the right-wing mainstream—and with it, the government—to a degree unthinkable eight years ago. Tucker Carlson, who has coyly flirted with such views for a while, is now brazen about it, portraying pro-Israel conservative Jews like Ben Shapiro as rootless interlopers who care more about Israel than about America. Finally, last September, Carlson aired a long, fawning interview with 'popular historian' Darryl Cooper, a Hitler apologist who finds continued Nazi rule in France vastly preferable to drag queens at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Unscathed by the outrage among many conservatives, Carlson continued to play a prominent role in the Trump campaign. The 'vibe shift' is not necessarily that more people on the right are antisemites compared to eight years ago; it's that much of the right now appears to reject the basic notion that there should be any stigma against even the vilest bigotry. This was evident in the controversy over DOGE employee Marko Elez, briefly fired after his racist social media activity came to light but then rehired after a plea from JD Vance, who benignly described Elez's racial invective (e.g., 'Normalize Indian hate') as merely posts he 'disagree[s] with.' The 'antiwoke' backlash, which views the stigmatization of bigotry as a form of leftist speech-policing, is compounded by an anti-establishment backlash that valorizes norm-smashing—at least, smashing of liberal norms. And so we shouldn't be surprised when as prominent and influential a media figure as Joe Rogan, whose support was actively courted by Trump during the election, publishes an interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist Ian Carroll, who claims that Jeffrey Epstein's child sex abuse ring was an Israeli intelligence operation to compromise Americans or that a group of 'dancing Israelis' had advance knowledge of the September 11th attacks. And that's not all: Among Rogan's upcoming guests is the same Darryl Cooper who discussed his World War II revisionism on Tucker Carlson's show last fall. Share
