CONTACT
Aaron Weiss, Deputy Director
Center for Western Priorities
aaron@westernpriorities.org
720-279-0019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 10, 2019
DENVER—The Interior Department Inspector General today released a report that found Douglas Domenech, Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, violated federal ethics regulations when he twice met with his former employer, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF).
In the meetings, TPPF, Domenech, and senior Interior officials discussed two lawsuits the organization had filed against the Interior Department over an endangered species listing and a private property dispute near the Red River. Shortly after the meetings, the Interior Department settled the Red River lawsuit, which TPPF celebrated as a “major win for private property rights.”
Similarly, in emails following the meetings, Domenech told TPPF’s top lawyer to “keep fighting” with litigation to remove the Bone Cave harvestman, a spider found in Texas, from the Endangered Species List. In October 2019, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would review whether to delist the Bone Cave harvestman after finding such an action may be warranted.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“This report lays bare the culture of corruption at Interior, and confirms the department doesn’t give a damn about ethics rules. Just months after joining the Trump administration, Doug Domenech ushered in his former employer and secured a ‘major win’ for them.
“Interior Secretary Bernhardt has known about Domenech’s ethics violations for months, but Domenech is still on the job. Clearly there are no consequences for helping former employers get what they want, because that is the example Bernhardt sets across the entire agency.”
At least five other political appointees at Interior remain under investigation by the Office of Inspector General, including Interior Solicitor Daniel Jorjani, who oversees the Interior ethics office.
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UNITED UTAH PARTY CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE SUPPORTS ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT
Jonia Broderick, candidate in 4th Congressional District, calls on Utah delegation to fulfill “solemn responsibility.”
Jonia Broderick, a candidate seeking the United Utah Party nomination in the 4th Congressional District, has announced that if she were in office, she “would vote to impeach on both the abuse of power and obstruction charges.”
“Rising to meet the challenge of our time by voting according to principle needs to be the guiding star for those elected as representatives,” Broderick said. “When blatant abuse of power is wielded by the President of the United States, those in the position to speak up need to do so. It is their solemn responsibility.”
Richard Davis, United Utah Party Chair, praised Broderick for “putting principle above partisanship.”
“Sadly, most of Utah’s congressional delegation made it clear very early in this process that the facts weren’t nearly as important as party loyalty,” Davis said. “These are serious charges that deserve serious consideration, but, by and large, that’s not what they’re getting when party is the only thing that matters.”
“Despite fears that impeachment will divide the country, the reality is that the country is already divided,” Broderick said. “A vote either direction will upset half of the nation. Fear of unpopularity cannot and should not govern our political leaders.”
More information is available at unitedutah.org and teamjonia.com.
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Dems deserve coal in their stocking
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A weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else — from the nation’s leading voice on education innovation and opportunity.
TIS THE SEASON TO BE (JOLLY) HEARD Like Shakespeare, we try not to repeat ourselves, but an event in 4 days is too important not to mention again. A reminder that the entire blob/aka industrial complex/aka cartel of anti-ed reform groups is uniting to interview the Democratic presidential candidates next Saturday, December 14th, in Pittsburgh, and on the docket already are plans to tear apart charter schools. It's a full day forum and will be broadcast live. Charter school advocates, particularly those in Pittsburgh where district schools spend $25,000 per student and among the dismal stats only 8.2 percent of 8th graders are proficient in math! take exception to the negative narrative being created by the candidates about charters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Just ask Propel Schools which since 2003 have served thousands who don’t have great schools at their disposal - and has a MUCH higher math proficiency rate! We could go on, and will, but watch @edreform on Twitter and Facebook to follow the counter effort in Pittsburgh this weekend.
EVERYTHING YOU’VE ALWAYS NEEDED TO KNOW… but the candidates neglected to ask. So let’s tell them the real story behind why parents want power, children need choices and charters are a life saving ed reform that has transformed education for millions since they began in 1991. CER’s handy dandy Education & the Election page collates in one place all the best articles, data and responses to the candidate folly going on now. Read, nominate an article for inclusion, and spread it around - so that everyone knows what you know...and acts on it.
LEFT COASTERS DON’T NEED TO FEEL LEFT OUT. Grass roots action for excellence and opportunity in education isn’t just happening in Pittsburgh. The Freedom Coalition for Charter Schools and education freedom hero Dr. Howard Fuller, fresh off his schooling of Senator Elizabeth Warren at the Democrat Presidential debate in Atlanta, have announced another rally to present the truth about charters at the upcoming debate on December 19th in Los Angeles. As with the Pittsburgh rally, this really needs to be an “all hands on deck” event. For more information visit the Freedom Coalition – link above. Also like Pittsburgh, these brave folks are on the front lines of our battle. Don’t let them be alone!
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY’S LIGHT CONTINUES TO SHINE BRIGHTLY. Given the contentious politics of the day it would be easy to be Eeyores, the perpetually gloomy donkey in “Winnie The Pooh” stories. But that would mask the almost daily good news about non-traditional education around the country. Our latest example is Shikellamy Virtual Academy in Sunbury, PA. which was named “Academy of the Month” by the National Education Foundation. The academy provides a more rigorous curriculum than outside cyber options and offers a virtual lab at the high school. As one student put it; “I love this, and it gives me an opportunity to work while I am in school. The flexibility of this is exactly what I needed and I am just learning so much more at my own pace.” Let’s hope some of the anti-parent choice zealots in Pittsburgh are listening.
JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH AND CHRISTMAS. Jeanne’s latest "Reality Check" podcast with John O’Neill, Annapolis graduate, former Supreme Court law clerk and author of The Fisherman's Tomb. It is the story of the search for and ultimate identifying of the tomb of the Apostle Peter – a pivotal figure for both Judaism and Christianity. But you don’t have to be Christian or Jewish to be enthralled by this historical detective tale of intrigue, fascinating archaeological finds and ultimate confirmation of the burial site. Give a listen.
LIGHTING A CANDLE FOR SCHOOL CHANGE. New York City and its newspaper “The Times” usually present a pretty critical picture of the need for education transformation but a bright candle was lit and a whole bunch of politicians got schooled on how bad our schools are despite billions spent on improving them over the last 20 years when Times Reporter Dana Goldstein, pulled no punches in both a column "It Just Isn't Working" and the paper’s The Daily Podcast. Both are critical run-downs on how billions of dollars can return essentially zero results.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education. We’re always delighted to hear from our readers...suggestions, questions and even the occasional complaint!
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Press Contact: (951)532-6803
Steven Sabel, Director of Public Relations
publicity@shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Marks Centennial
of Oxfordian Revolution in Shakespeare Studies March 4, 2020
NATION - The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship will present a symposium 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 4, 2020, in the First Amendment Lounge of the National Press Club (NPC), 529 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C., exactly 100 years after the original publication of the landmark book by British scholar John Thomas Looney, which identified Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford as the true author behind the pseudonym, William Shakespeare. Admission is free and open to the public with complimentary refreshments and ample opportunities for Q&A. Doors open at 12:30 p.m.
First published March 4, 1920, Looney's book, “'Shakespeare' Identified in Edward de Vere the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford," assembled and analyzed a mass of evidence pointing to De Vere as the true author of the works published under the Shakespeare name. Over the past century, that book has persuaded some of the greatest minds of our time, from Sigmund Freud to U.S. Supreme Court justices across the ideological spectrum, along with many respected scholars, judges, attorneys, historians, professors, Shakespearean actors, and thousands of thoughtful people around the world of the true identity of the Shakespeare author.
A group of leading scholars will reintroduce Looney and his thesis to the world. They will discuss the importance of his book and how it continues to be corroborated by newly discovered and analyzed evidence.
Retired U.S. Foreign Service officer James A. Warren, editor and author of a series of books on Looney and his work, will explore how his insights have changed our understanding of the author Shakespeare and his works, as well as the Elizabethan era and theatre, and the nature of genius and literary creativity.
Attorney Tom Regnier will explain why the evidence supporting De Vere has persuaded judges with a lifetime of experience analyzing facts and logical arguments that the Earl of Oxford is the true author. He will point out key factual weaknesses in the traditional authorship claim made for businessman and actor William Shakspere of Stratford-upon-Avon.
Author Bonner Miller Cutting will explore Looney’s evidence-based methodology and how it led him to the deduction that the author was Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Filmmaker Cheryl Eagan-Donovan will discuss her recently-released documentary, "Nothing Is Truer Than Truth," and its exploration of how De Vere's travels as a young man in continental Europe, especially Italy, influenced the Shakespearean plays and poems.
Professor Roger Stritmatter will survey the numerous connections between the works of Shakespeare and Edward de Vere’s life, private letters, early surviving poetry, and markings in his personal copy of the Geneva Bible. Much of this evidence was not even known to Looney in 1920, but it has provided powerful corroboration for his thesis over the past 100 years.
This symposium is an opportunity for anyone who loves the Shakespeare plays and poems to explore with fresh eyes the history and the evidence of the greatest literary mystery of all time.
The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship (SOF) is a nonprofit educational association founded in 1957 with members across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several other countries around the world. Among other activities, the SOF holds annual scholarly conferences and publishes an annual peer-reviewed scholarly journal, "The Oxfordian." Its all-volunteer board of trustees includes two theatre professors, a law professor, a medical doctor, and leaders in government, business, the arts, and the nonprofit sector. For additional information, visit: ShakespeareOxfordFellowship.org.
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Environmentalists wrong to blame capitalism for climate change
By Dr. Jay Lehr & Tom Harris
Famed Canadian environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki has his facts backwards again. Just before slamming American climate realist Marc Morano as “evil” and a “badass,” Suzuki declared at the UN climate summit in Madrid: "Capitalism is at the heart of what is driving" climate and "we've got to throw the system out.”
We often hear this theme during UN climate gatherings. But, as Dr. Calvin Beisner, Founder and National Spokesman of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation, explains in his book Is Capitalism Bad For The Environment?, replacing capitalism with socialism would be a huge mistake. Here are some of the examples he gives that illustrate this:
· When East Germany was unified with the West, the true impact of its socialist/communist form of government was revealed to outsiders for the first time. Its drinking waters were polluted beyond anything Western nations had experienced, its lakes were dead, and its forests were damaged.
· China’s Three Gorges Dam, on the Yangtze River, is the most destructive engineering project ever built—and it was built under socialist/communist rule. It pollutes everything in its path, submerging 140 towns, 1350 villages, and hundreds of factories. It has displaced 1.2 million people in its 420-mile wake, while releasing vast amounts of toxic waste into its reservoir as well as downstream.
· 40% of China’s rivers are polluted, 55% of the groundwater supplying 200 cities is polluted beyond safe levels.
· China’s severe air pollution blocks enough sunlight to reduce photosynthesis and thereby reduce crop yields. It is estimated that in 2010 there were a total of 8,000 premature deaths from air pollution in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xian.
· Deforestation in China has led to the creation of 950 square miles of desert each year.
These socialist environmental calamities are partly a result of a lack of property rights, where no one takes responsibility for the state of the environment. It is also due to the fact that socialism does not create enough wealth to afford the costs of making protection of the environment a high priority. In Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels” (CCR-II-Fossil Fuels), a 780-page report issued last year by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), it is shown “how prosperity makes environmental protection a higher public goal and provides the resources needed to achieve it.” CCR-II-Fossil Fuels continues:
“Once basic demands for food, clothing, and shelter are met, people demand cleaner air, cleaner streams, more outdoor recreation, and the protection of wild lands. With higher incomes, citizens place higher priorities on environmental objectives.”
CCR-II-Fossil Fuels cite researchers Grossman and Krueger (1995) who:
“conducted an extensive literature review of air quality over time and around the world and found ambient air quality tended to deteriorate until average per-capita income reached about $6,000 to $8,000 per year (in 1985 dollars) and then began to sharply improve. Later research confirmed similar relationships for a wide range of countries and air quality, water quality, and other measures of environmental protection.”
CCR-II-Fossil Fuels describes what economists call Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKCs). EKCs show how environmental degradation rises with national per-capita income (although the benefits of industrialization to health and life nonetheless lead to declining rates of disease and premature deaths (i.e., to rising life expectancy)) until a certain critical point is reached, after which the environment starts to improve.
Source: Ho, M. and Wang, Z. 2015. Green growth for China? Resources. Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.
Before the creation of EKCs, many well-informed people thought that wealthier countries damaged their environment more than poorer nations. The only way out of this dilemma was to de-industrialize and reduce incomes, they thought. But we know now that the exact opposite is true. While factors such as the strength of democratic institutions, levels of educational achievement, and income equality play a role, environmental protection is closely correlated with prosperity.
Capitalism’s historical track record shows that it’s better than any other economic system so far devised at raising people out of poverty and at making efficient use of resources.
No other system better protects or improves our natural environment. CCR-II-Fossil Fuels demonstrates that the prosperity made possible by free markets creates the circumstances needed to better protect the environment. The report concludes:
“Without markets, a poorer and hungrier world would have little regard for the environment or the interests of future generations, being too busy meeting the more immediate needs of finding food and shelter.”
Suzuki needs to understand that capitalism is not the cause of climate change, or indeed environmental degradation of any sort. The prosperity and free markets that accompany capitalism are what are really needed for environmental protection.
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Dr. Jay Lehr is Senior Policy Advisor with the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC). Tom Harris is Executive Director of ICSC and a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute which is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
Hi Jim,
Please feel free to use the below article as is. For an interview or comments from Ngan Nguyen for a story that you are writing please reach out and I will be happy to coordinate.
Ashley
3 Ways To Build A Community
That Leads To Business Success
In the business world, making new connections and interacting with people — commonly known as networking — is essential in achieving and sustaining success.
But Ngan Nguyen (www.nganhnguyen.com), an intelligent leadership coach and author of Self-Defined Success: You Have Everything It Takes, says taking the next step beyond networking is where some people stumble. She calls that next step “community-building” and it can only happen with consistent relationship-building.
“Networking means little if strong relationships aren’t built for the long haul, sustained, and other connections don’t spawn from those relationships,” Nguyen says. “Being open and available for when opportunities come is what positions us to move forward. But you really can’t do so if you haven’t done enough relationship-building in order to build the community you need around you.
“Weaving a wide net of connection is the essence of community-building, which provides a solid foundation of true support to help you keep moving forward in business.
It’s taught to a degree in networking, but building a community requires much more than honing that perfectly scripted pitch, going to countless networking events, talking to as many people as you can and handing out your card. What is required is the ability to build, foster, and hold relationships.”
Nguyen offers these ways to build relationships and a community of support around you:
Believe in the value of you. “Inwardly and outwardly, be clear about who you are and what you offer as a person,” Nguyen says. “Fully believe in the value of you, before your product. When you embody the confidence of your message, clients will clearly see your value and be more likely to buy.”
Seek to give, not to pitch. “Giving to others genuinely creates goodwill, and as you show you care for others, you build a rapport and they naturally are drawn to you,” Nguyen says. “Scrap the elevator pitch. Be real and someone people want to know. People will refer people they like, people who had an impact on them with their kindness. It’s much more effective than the salesperson at a networking event circling the room and handing out cards.”
Be in the right place, right time. Nguyen says one needs to trust their intuition to find the right networking places where long-term relationships can spawn. “You hone your intuition so it guides you to the right place, where you can be in the perfect opportunity that will skyrocket your success,” Nguyen says. “People do business with people they know, like, and trust. To find an environment that fosters this, seek out events that are more likely to attract a culture of giving and fun so it is more likely to build friendships. Then, business can happen naturally and organically.”
“The miracles and best things in our lives are often influenced by other people,” Nguyen says. “To build influence and a community of people who support you and constantly send you referrals requires relationships that keep growing, and much of that depends on what you put into it and how sincere you are.”
About Ngan Nguyen
Ngan Nguyen (www.nganhnguyen.com) is the author of Self-Defined Success: You Have Everything It Takes, and the founder/CEO of Cintamani Group, an executive coaching and consulting firm. Nguyen coaches on leadership and empowers entrepreneurs as an intuitive strategist. With over a decade of business strategy experience as an advisor to Fortune 100 companies, Nguyen is also a certified master-level intelligent leadership executive coach with John Mattone and was an analyst for McKinsey & Company. Nguyen graduated with a double honors degree in biochemistry-biophysics and bioengineering from Oregon State University and completed a research fellowship at MIT in nanotechnology.
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SCHEDULES & BEHAVIOR
House Rules for Happier Holidays
The holidays bring schedule disruptions, plus hours cooped up in cold weather with relatives. How to survive: Revisit problems from seasons past — and define a few ground rules for your children… and your visitors. | Keep reading →
A Truly Magical Season
Want to create meaningful family memories? Use these tips for spending less money and more time together.
Keep reading →
Intelligent? Yes.
Rational? Not Necessarily.
Children with ADHD and high intelligence ("twice exceptional" or "2e") can articulate a persuasive argument, but that doesn’t mean they are making smart choices.
Keep reading →
"My Spouse Doesn't 'Believe in' ADHD"
Q: "He thinks our son behaves this way by choice, and that punishment is the answer. This is heartbreaking to see. How to make him understand?"
Watch Ryan Wexelblatt's response →
"Following His Own Beat"
"As a young teen, my son got interested in making music. Along the way, he found that the heavy, fast beats he was creating calmed his body, brain, and emotions."
Keep reading →
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Utah Legislature Passes One of the Largest Tax Cuts in State History
Salt Lake City – Speaker of the House Brad Wilson and Senate President J. Stuart Adams issued this statement following the Utah Legislature passing legislation that stabilizes the state's funding structure and implements a tax cut for Utahns:
“Earlier this evening, the Utah Legislature passed significant tax reform legislation. The bill includes targeted credits for lower-income individuals and families, as well as a $160 million tax cut in ongoing funds and $88 million in one-time funds that Utahns should see reflected in their take home pay in early 2020. We express our appreciation to the many citizens, lawmakers and other community stakeholders who contributed to this tremendous effort. These critical changes to our tax structure will ensure a bright and prosperous future for our state.”
