Trump picks Betsy DeVos/education secretary/Last Rally @ Devos Place GR Mich?

Betsy Devos is the Ed Sec, is it a coincidence that Trump held his last rally of 2016 at Devos Place in GR Mich?

Trump picked Betsy Devos (Amway) for education sec. Good choice to shake things up.

President-elect Donald Trump selected a charter school advocate and GOP donor from Michigan on Wednesday to be education secretary.

Betsy DeVos becomes the second woman chosen to fill a spot in Trump's Cabinet. Earlier Wednesday, Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations earlier in the day. Both Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation.

Devos is a charter school and voucher supporter. Very good was to challenge the public school monopoly.

www.foxnews.com...
DeVos, from Michigan, is a longtime advocate for charter schools and school vouchers. She currently leads the advocacy group, American Federation for Children, and sits on the board of the Jeb Bush-led Foundation for Excellence in Education.

a reply to: seasonal

Betsy Devos is the Ed Sec, is it a coincidence that Trump held his last rally of 2016 at Devos Place in GR Mich?

Is it a coincidence that Betsy DeVos is a billionaire (her family was wealthy but she married Dick DeVos, Amway heir) big money fundraiser and the sister of Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater), one of a handful of donors to Robert Mercer's pro-Trump PAC aside from Robert Mercer himself?

a reply to: theantediluvian

The train keeps rolling, on and on.

This one will be interesting to watch. Betsy Devos is a supporter of common core.
Will she scale down federal involvement?

a reply to: UKTruth

That is disinfo being pushed by media adversaries.

She does not support common core.

Betsy DeVos Betsy DeVos – ‏@BetsyDeVos Many of you are asking about Common Core. To clarify, I am not a supporter—period.

Read my full stance, here: betsydevos.com...

a reply to: Deny Arrogance

Doesn't matter she is in the driver's seat.

That is disinfo being pushed by media adversaries.

She does not support common core.

a reply to: seasonal

The Mercer Cabal is racking up the appointments. Here's a brief list of Mercer connected people in the mix:


Steve Bannon - Mercer is principal investor in Brietbart, funds GAI. Purportedly paid Bannon via Glittering Steel (production company) from super PAC.

Kellyanne Conway - Ran Mercer's PAC when it was pro-Cruz (and Breitbart was pro-Cruz), has received a mil or more in payments from the PAC (Keep The Promise I / Make America Number 1)

Dave Bossie - took over running Make America Number 1 when Conway joined Trump campaign. Later joined campaign.

Ben Carson - one of three campaigns to use Mercer-funded Cambridge Analytica this election in some capacity. Became 1/2 of former candidtes to become Trump surrogate.

John R Bolton - his super PAC received $3 million from Mercer. After Trump, biggest political beneficiary of Mercer $. Notice how his name keeps getting floated?

Ted Cruz - Mercer's first pick. After Mercer switched to Trump (along with his super PAC and Breitbart), Mercer admonished Cruz for not supporting Trump at RNC and Cruz demured because Cruz is a spineless wimp. Became 1/2 of former candidtes to become Trump surrogate.

Rudy Giuliani - both former and current law firm (Bracewell Giuliani, Greenberg Taureg) paid by Mercer super PAC as well as Ben Carson's PAC to more than half a mil last time I checked (about a month ago)

Betsy DeVos - brother Erik Prince gave $150k to Mercer super PAC (3rd largest donor, principal being Mercer @ $15.5m), big donor in her own right. Also a friend of Chris Christie's.

There's a couple names that are missing.... hmmm.. oh yeah Kelli Ward who ran against John McCain. She got $750k from Mercer.

Not surprisingly, she got Breitbart's favor too: John McCain Goes Negative as Dr. Kelli Ward Surges in AZ GOP Senate Primary

I'm missing somebody... OH that's right, Paul Ryan's PAC got money from both Mercer and daughter Rebekah in September which I'm sure helped smooth things over a bit:

$244,200.00 on 9/15/2016 from Robert Mercer
$244,200.00 on 9/15/2016 from Diane Mercer

originally posted by: Deny Arrogance
a reply to: UKTruth

That is disinfo being pushed by media adversaries.

She does not support common core.

Betsy DeVos Betsy DeVos – ‏@BetsyDeVos Many of you are asking about Common Core. To clarify, I am not a supporter—period.

Read my full stance, here: betsydevos.com...

Thanks for that - good news.

a reply to: theantediluvian

You've uncovered something amazing.

A group of people who want the same thing all supported by a guy who wants the same thing. How can it be that Trump keeps picking from a pool of people who want the same thing. This is terrible.

a reply to: UKTruth

Why is it good news? Do you know what Common Core actually is, where it came from and why it doesn't really matter any more?

It's not a curriculum, it's a set of standards. It was a bipartisan effort of the NGA. NCLB hasn't been a thing since a year ago December. There's no waivers to hold over state's heads anymore.

a reply to: UKTruth

A group of wealthy elites with their own psyops division and propaganda platform. Drain that swamp!

originally posted by: UKTruth
This one will be interesting to watch. Betsy Devos is a supporter of common core.
Will she scale down federal involvement?

She belongs to some groups that have supported it. She herself not as much.

I am all for loosening the stranglehold the teachers' unions have on public education by introducing more school choice into the mix. It's criminal how one's zip code locks you into your educational opportunity unless your parents are either wealthy enough to buy you out by either moving or paying tuition at a private school or lucky enough to win you a place at a charter or get you financial aid.

If your parent cares enough to pull you out of a failing school then they should be able to do it.

a reply to: theantediluvian

The problems is if you drain the swamp it fills back up.

It's the pinnacle of arrogance to assume your swamp isn't going to slowly fill. And yes, our swamps have been filling with trickle down sewage for years (35).

a reply to: ketsuko

Should the $ follow the student?

I've got a little problem with the quote from Fox News "Both Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation".
The pearl of knowledge here is that confirmation is required. But, Ambassadors are NOT cabinet-level positions - it's a small thing, I know, but facts are facts and there are no Ambassadors in the Cabinet (maybe the closet but that's another story).

What I'm getting really tired of (please don't take this as being directed at the OP) is all the gas being expressed about POTENTIAL nominees. Since every cabinet-level appointee has to be confirmed by the Senate, doesn't it just make sense that regardless of who the anticipated/potential nominees might be - it's all a moot point until a name actually goes before the Senate. It's like second guessing or even criticizing a candidate's Vice President pick while we are still voting in primaries.

All I'm saying here is that until the inauguration we're going to see a LOT of "flip-flop", bad intel, conjecture and opinion about who is nominated for what (like Christie). [rant off]

ganjoa

a reply to: ganjoa

Very good point, thank you for keeping us honest.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: UKTruth

A group of wealthy elites with their own psyops division and propaganda platform. Drain that swamp!

It is being drained and refilled with a new ideology. Good times.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: ketsuko

Should the $ follow the student?

I like that model much better and would be willing to tolerate it myself. I think we should reduce the Dept. of Ed. to basically a test/inspection house that makes sure that schools are educating kids to a basic level with a simple test administered to them on even (or odd) years, like the old SRA test, and doing inspection of schools on a regular basis.

Other than that, the schools are free to educate however they so desire.

I mean, yeah, my kid is getting a daily Bible lession, but he's also doing his addition and subtraction math facts, spelling his basic site words and learning basic reading, too, and he's kindergarten. He's doing stuff I wasn't doing at his age, so who cares if he's also getting some religion?

Sometimes it is good to repost things that others may not have seen. I present to my fellow ATS'ers 2 videos concerning education and I hope you will at least view them with an open mind.
I came from the inner-city, Detroit born and raised. I am fairly certain most of you with public school educations lived in some wonderful town whose schools had absolutely nothing in common with mine and so you believe your experience is the only legitimate way to address this issue.
I am/was a high school dropout....... no let me rephrase that.... I fled high school. I tried my best but it just wasn't worth dying over.
Every year we had the same lecture from the educators at the beginning of the semester and it went something like this ...... I dont care if you skip school everyday.... just be here on Sept. 7th cause that is when the government counts the students to determine how much money they send us...... I was never a young mind waiting to be filled with knowledge..... I was a commodity.......... nothing more. My story is not unique and is repeated year after year for millions of children who do not have the luxury of living someplace else.
For the sake of our young people, please watch these videos..... and lets try to at least agree that business as usual can not continue and that any change, no matter who opposes it..... is better than no change at all.