Empires Fail

I have come to the realization that all the babble about freedom and liberty for all is just a slogan.  We were taught to believe that all we had to do was vote, obey the law of the land,  pay taxes, and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was ours for the taking.  Not.  My real life is interfering with my blogging life today so I invite you to read  field negro: The illusion of democracy who seems to share my cynicism and my belief that we don't live in a democracy, we are under siege in an Empire.

"This is my American Prayer"

We are at a crossroads between fear and hope

...there has been a wildness in the air around this president ever since it became clear first, that he was going to be the nominee, and then, that he was going to be the president. It was as though the glowing enthusiasm and the occasionally embarrassingly messianic fervor of his supporters back in 2007 and 2008 summoned up a dark energy on the other side, a Nemesis out of some undying part of the national soul, out of some dank cave of the American Id.

Speaking the unthinkable

We need to come face-to-face with some nasty facts, boys and girls: No president since Abraham Lincoln has been as passionately hated by so many Americans than the first African American to call the White House "home". Only this week some right wing Facebook page was able to raise $100,000 award money for anyone who would oblige them by "removing" Barack Obama from the presidency. Now everybody put on your thinking caps!

Thuggery on the Internet

Bullies basically thrive on attention.  They want to know they've made you feel hurt or frightened or upset, and they're looking for some reaction from you which confirms that.  When they get it, "the troll is being fed", as the internet saying goes, and they'll be back for more.

America has a race problem, and one of the best ways to deal with it is to acknowledge the systemic and structural manifestations that help reinforce the country’s contentious racial history.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray for my city, state, country, and the world.  Peace

#HCSBOE "This is a public meeting but not a meeting of the public" & "Interfering with with board business" one sad vote at a time *Sigh*

HSC superintendent Casey Wardynski's contract, a progress report on the combined Jemison/McNair campus, and changes to its bylaws and standing rules that would allow only Huntsville residents to speak during citizen comments, were on the agenda at last nights HCS work session.   I am going to refer you to the Geek Pavaler for in depth analysis and reporting, but here is what happened in a nutshell:

1. Make it harder for anyone, including board members, to see how he’s spending the district’s money;
2. Make his contract “auto-renewing” because they want “to simplify the work of the board; and
3. Silence the public from speaking out against Wardynski even more.

As one commenter said: It’s amazing how devious and underhanded the HCS board has acted. I hate to say it, but I thought they were just incompetent. I guess I would have preferred that, to them being obvious low down dirty rotten scoundrels. 

I would also like to refer readers to this post by Geek Pavaler from the first time Dr. Wardynski's contract was up for renewal when he asked the board to please provide the community with some reasonable justification for extending the superintendent’s contract.

A disgusted parent predicted the future:  If his contract is extended, he will have 5 more years to sit comfortably and dictate policy as he sees fit, with no fear of losing his job or having to cave to the wrath of the community. I emailed every Board member and not surprisingly, received zero responses, even though I requested one. These Board members need to be reminded as well that they represent a constituency, NOT themselves. Contracts are renewed or extended based on merit and accomplishment, not just because they were requested. Mr. Wardynski’s resume and expertise lies in economics, finance and policy making. I see no reference whatsoever to engineering or education. So why are we rewarding someone who sits up there on his throne pontificating about his engineering background and his imagined expertise in the process of education?

Why are we rewarding Wardynski you ask?  Because he is doing the job he was hired to do.

 Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

What, no mention of the super secret spy program?  I wonder why?  Snark

I want to talk about the update on the combined Jemison/McNair campus.

6:18 p.m.: An architect from Chapman Sisson Architects presented a slide show of artist renderings of what the new McNair Junior High and Jemison High School will look like when the schools open their doors in 2016. The schools, which will be separate facilities on a single campus, mirror one another in design, though each has its own touches.
AL.com will share images of the new schools when available.
Board member Jennie Robinson said that she sees elements similar to the designs of other Huntsville schools like Blossomwood and Goldsmith-Schiffman elementaries in the McNair-Jemison design.  
"We're starting to tie together the design of our schools," Robinson said. "I like that."

So, the update was a slide show of what the new schools will look like when they are completed, and Al.com will share images of the new schools when they are available?  I guess it depends on what the definition of update IS.

Allow me to give you a real update on the Jemison/McNair campus via the Keep Johnson High Schools Name Facebook Page:

JAGUAR ON THE PROWL NEWS:
Personal check up on the digging of Jemison from one contractor's perspective.
Xxxx: "What have you heard or seen with the new development at the Jemison High development so far?"

Local Contractor: "The land is not draining properly and it's a pure swamp. It's actually a marshland. The land has to be built up and mold WILL be the culprit along with the Rock Quarry issue. This is a bad area."
Xxxx: "What role does the rock quarry play with this new
development?"
Local Contractor: "Everything... The land need to be built up to an extent that when the explosions from the quarry rattles, the soft land of this new school will have a solid ground. This land has serious draining challenges from what I am hearing and what I saw when I was viewing the digging process. We need to remember that nothing has been built on this property ever and it's wetland which will have mold problems."
Xxxx: "Do you think they (the contractors for the new development) should build the soil properly?"
Local Contractor: "Yes. This doesn't make any sense right now."
Xxxx: "Thank you.
Local Contractor: "More than welcome."
In conclusion to this new story, I was attached to the Civil Engineers while I was stationed in Germany. It's very crucial at this time that this conversation from a local contractor be taken seriously. We need a thorough sure and solid soil recheck that reaches beyond a Quality Control Site Supervisor at this time.
The Quarry issue now this? We need to hear from all Jaguars and the Huntsville community at large from this "Jungle Eyed View".
Presently; the city and HCS is following the builders code by placing a full length gated fence around Jemison. This is a safety precaution and must be adhered to in the building process.

Eye update, You decide.

NOTICE: Due to Huntsville City School Superintendent Casey Warydynski's  Executive Orders, the school district may have read your social media accounts without warning, warrant, or notice. You have no recourse nor protection but to call for the resignation of the Superintendent and the Board of Education who enabled him.

#TBT #SpyGate #SandyHook #RacialProfiling #LifesUnfairness #hsvboe #environmentaljustice

NOTICE: Due to Huntsville City School Superintendent Casey Warydynski's  Executive Orders, the school district may have read your social media accounts without warning, warrant, or notice. You have no recourse nor protection but to call for the resignation of the Superintendent and the Board of Education who enabled him.

In addition to bashing any media who dares the report the facts (not to be confused with spin), and blaming everything on the black guy, I mean Al Langford, I mean the NSA, one of the memes HCS officials, including the Mayor, cite to justify monitoring some (not to be confused with all) students social media accounts for threats of potential (not to confused with real) violence is to evoke the memory of Sandy Hook, and other mass shootings.

There was a recent opinionated, and irresponsible, article in "The Huntsville Times" about a program the HCS has implemented to help keep the schools safe. We have only to look at national tragedies such as Columbine, Sandy Hook or Virginia Tech to see how badly things can go...or even locally at Madison City Schools or UAH.

 Like most every school system across America, the HCS has instituted security procedures to try to intervene before there is a tragedy. Unlike the picture painted by The Huntsville Times, we do not have a secret group that trolls the social networks across the world for possible threats. Instead, we follow best-practice protocols used by others.

But, but you do have an off the books spying program that  trolls  the social networks of some students for possible threats.  We don't know if you follow best-practice protocols used by others,  because some members of the BOE were kept in the dark about this program.  The public would still be kept in the dark if someone hadn't leaked it to Al.com.  

Both Blair and McCaulley voiced concerns about the information provided to AL.com and the subsequent media attention the program is receiving.
Blair said students intending to do harm at school might be less likely to put information about their intentions online if they know the district is watching.
"This kind of stuff puts kids in danger," Blair said.
McCaulley said that whoever leaked the security presentation to the media may have broken Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) laws because the presentation included pictures of students.

So now they are worried about FERPA?  Excuse me while I ROTFLMBO.

I am convinced this Superintendent, and this BOE  must think we are stupid.  I mean, really?  Do they honestly believe we are going to believe they are spying on some students (and who knows who else) because of concerns about student safety, and to prevent another Sandy Hook?  

The reason I know this isn't about student safety is because Huntsville City Schools risk the health of the next generation, for the sake of giving our community a school, located less than half a mile from an active rock quarry, aided and abetted by the city of Huntsville.

Mayor Tommy Battle and the city's air quality chief, Danny Shea, both say the amount of particulate matter in the air on Pulaski Pike is far below levels considered potentially harmful by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The city has an air quality monitoring station next door to the school site; Shea said it measures airborne particulate matter every six days.
The EPA threshold for particulate matter is 150 micrograms per cubic meter.
Shea said 46 micrograms is the highest reading detected by the city on Pulaski Pike in the past five years. The average particulate concentration was 14.8 micrograms in 2009; 17.8 micrograms in 2010; 16.3 micrograms in 2011; 14.9 micrograms in 2012; and 13.5 micrograms in 2013.
The levels are similar at Huntsville's other air quality monitoring stations on Airport Road, South Memorial Parkway and Madison Street downtown.
In a May 27 letter to the mayor, Shea said the city's measurements "demonstrate the absence of substantial adverse air quality impacts from quarry operations at the proposed school site."

I am not a rocket scientist, but you tell me how airborne fine particulate matter can be lower less than half a mile from an active rock quarry than at some other spots in town?

The reason I know this BOE doesn't give a flying flip about potential threats to some students is because not one of them has contacted the Environmental Protection Agency or conducted a health risk analysis.

One reason I know Sandy Hook is a red herring is because the targeted students were black and brown, wanna be gang members (not to be confused with real gang members who wouldn't be caught dead on Facebook), and studies show most school shooters are white males.

Sex of the shooter is fairly much a no-brainer – female spree/school shooters are rare, and the one entry here is only because I lowered the level to three fatalities.
Race of the shooter – there is a nearly 80% chance that the perpetrator will be white.
Age group – broadly speaking, there is about a one-third representation for teens, twenties, and 30-52.

Another  reason I know Sandy Hook is a red herring is because what is the first thing white males did in response to the Sandy Hook massacre?  Call for comprehensive gun control laws?  Nope, the demand for weapons and ammunition skyrocketed.  Which leads me to the conclusion if the school district were really trying to prevent another Sandy Hook, the NSA would be calling them about potential threats of violence from the people pictured below.   I'm just saying...

A crowd winds around Larry's Pistol & Pawn Friday morning along North Memorial Parkway. Interest in guns and ammunition has soared since the shootings of over two dozen students and staff at a Connecticut elementary school. WT Martin/HNW

As the #SpyGate Story Changes with Media Enabled All Spin, All the Time, Unfair, and Unbalanced

 

So, Huntsville City Schools has gone from... Huntsville City Schools say a call from NSA led to monitoring students online  to... We don't monitor Facebook. We do very selective targeted reviews and they're based on tips that come in"  because  (get this)  the media botched the story.  RedEye Roll

SAFE has run into controversy after recent media reports characterizing it as a Big Brother-esque initiative sifting through student social media activity.
"The stories are wrong,” McRae said. “They've been mischaracterized. There's partial truths and partial accuracies in some of the stories. And then there are some blatant errors in other parts of the story. We are reacting to specific tips, specific link analysis."

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with BullPoop.  First it was NSA, now it's specific tips from students, parents and specific link analysis. Oh, OK.

Formerly with the FBI and now with the school system's SAFE (Students Against Fear) initiative, McRae said he has discovered a variety of online threats, weapons and violence in the course of investigating Huntsville students who may bring violence into school grounds or to school activities like football games

Key words: students who may bring violence into school grounds or to school activities like football games.  So this is a preemptive strike, you know kind of like the preemptive war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I digress

Via Wardynski's main mouth piece:

The original story on AL.com should have included these paragraphs:Wardynski said Huntsville schools have seen sporadic gang recruitment and what he called “wannabe” gangs. “We don’t want them to get into the major league,” he said.Acting on tips from students or teachers or others, schools security staff scour numerous social media sites, including Facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, and more. They look for evidence of imminent threats to the schools or of gang activity. Wardysnki said the program has led to about a dozen expulsions each year so far and that security is actively monitoring social media at all times.Those paragraphs change the entire tone of the story, the omission makes it appear there is a massive dragnet and not a targeted program.

Who said anything about a massive dragnet?  Everybody knew this was a "targeted program",  including the ACLU.

Internal documents explaining Huntsville Superintendent Casey Wardynski's supper secret spying without a warrant program, obtained by AL.com, show examples of four different students posing on Facebook with handguns. None are on school grounds. Three are listed as expelled. One was referred for counseling (I wonder where?).  All the students are black/brown.

But, but  Newtown Conn.   My personal opinion is the school board made up the NSA part to try and cover their tracks in regards to racially profiling some students they do not like having in the school system.

To believe that the answer to the problems facing our schools will be as easy as monitoring social media belittles teenage students and treats the symptoms of our problems rather than the cause. We as Americans need to get the guts to fix our problems, not expel them or throw them in jail.

These are the questions I would like to see the media ask, and school district answer, regarding #SpyGate:

1.  Where did the budget, man hours, and equipment for this come from, and on whose authority?

2.   When did holding a gun or throwing a gang sign become illegal, and where does a school district get the legal authority to investigate, prosecute, and punish students for non-school activities?

3.  How/where are minors obtaining sub machine guns and fists full of $100.00 bills?

4. If students are entering schools with guns wouldn't it be more economical to install metal detectors like the ones citizens have to go through when they come to the Merts Center to attend school board meetings?
Say, have you seen my democracy?  I want it back.