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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. In a move designed to elevate public education into a major issue this session and campaign season, a Florida teachers union has issued a call to action with a protest planned for Monday, the eve of the start of the state Legislatures 2020 session.

The Florida Education Association said it will bus thousands of teachers, parents and public education supporters to Tallahassee for a Take on Tallahassee march on the Capitol while a state Senate Education Committee discusses how to boost pay for classroom instructors.

The teachers union and its allies say a decade of inadequate funding has decimated Florida's public education system. It cites state statistics that indicate more than 300,000 students started classes last fall without a full-time permanent teacher.

When the new school year began, districts scrambled to fill more than 3,500 teaching vacancies statewide.

It is time to speak truth to power, said Fedrick Ingram, president of the FEA. We have seen more than a decade of disinvestment in public education in this state, and that has to stop."

Fedrick Ingram, president of the FEA, says we have seen more than a decade of disinvestment in public education in this state."(Photo: James Call)

Florida ranks among the bottom 10 states in teacher pay with many school staff earning a wage below the federal poverty line and in funding for students with per-pupil spending in constant dollars about $300 less than it was in 2007 ($8,490 to $8,817 when adjusted for inflation).

And while Gov. Ron DeSantis has proclaimed this the Year of the Teacher with a $600 million proposal to boost starting pay for classroom instructors to $47,500, which would be the second most in the nation, and another $300 million in bonuses educators want lawmakers to commit to a decade of progress" by spending an additional $2 billion a year in each of the next 10 years.

'Historic': Chicago teachers approve contract that ended 11-day strike

Lets not pretend theres not politics involved with this, DeSantis said of the unions criticism of his proposal.

Im a Republican. Theyre not. What Im doing is never going to be enough, DeSantis said when he rolled out his budget proposal.

My job is not to do what the union wants, its what I think is best for education and particularly for individual teachers, DeSantis said.

The Florida Education Association said it will bus thousands of teachers, parents and public education supporters to Tallahassee for a Take on Tallahassee march on the Capitol.(Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat files)

Allison Tant, the former state Democratic Party chair, candidate for statehouse, and mother of two high school students, said she plans to join the demonstration.

We need a strong public education system for our economy, the health of the state and for peace of mind, said Tant, who has wrestled with an education bureaucracy to provide services for a special needs child.

It is the underpinning of our society. How can someone go to work when they are worried about their child? How can a policeman do his job, or anyone for that matter, if they are worried about their child at school? Tant said.

Speakers at the rally will include Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Posts on Facebook promote activist and television personality Al Sharpton as a speaker for the event, but as of Thursday morning Sharpton's appearance had not been confirmed.

The NEA and AFT are the nation's largest unions. They are on something of a roll with teachers in the past year pressuring lawmakers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona to increase spending on schools.

Follow James Call on Twitter: @CallTallahassee.

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Florida teachers plan to march on Capitol demanding more money for schools - USA TODAY

TallahasseeThe Reverend Al Sharpton will join leading educators from across the nation to rally for public schools at the Florida Capitol January 13, 2020. Sharpton, a renowned civil rights advocate, MSNBC commentator and President of the National Action Network will keynote the event according to Florida Education Association President Fedrick Ingram. We are pleased to announce Reverend Sharptons participation in our fight. When you go to battle you need warriors. He joins other educators who know this effort is important to the future of this great state, according to Ingram.

Florida has a severe and ongoing shortage of teachers, and as many as 300,000 students started school in August 2019 without a full-time, permanent teacher. Every student in Florida deserves to attend a fully staffed, fully funded school. Ingram has conducted a series of town halls and a bus tour to hear public concerns, garner support and received positive feedback.

We want Florida lawmakers to know that we are serious about providing a quality education to our children in public schools. To do anything less would be to surrender them to failure. Thats not an option Ingram said.

The Republican-controlled Legislature has drained 1.3 billion tax dollars from public schools and funneled the revenue into a host of voucher programs and private schools.

Thousands of supporters are expected to attend the march that begins at the Leon County Civic Center at 1:00 pm and proceeds to the rally on the steps of the Old Capitol at 1:30 pm. For more information go to FEAWeb.org/jan13.

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Sharpton to Join Take on Tallahassee Rally Free Press of Jacksonville - Jacksonville Free Press

On January 9, Tom Cotton of Arkansas made a speech on the floor of the United States Senate about the shocking rise of anti-Semitic crimes in and around New York City. Everyone should read it. Here it is:

This holiday season, the ancient hatred of anti-Semitism cast a shadow over New York City during Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. The New York Police Department recorded at least nine separate attacks against Jewsmore than one attack for each day of Hanukkah. New attacks are reported seemingly on a daily basis.

In Crown Heights, site of the deadly anti-Semitic riots incited by Al Sharpton in 1991, a group of men beat up an Orthodox Jew and attacked another with a chair.

In Williamsburg, another group terrorized an elderly Jewish man on the street. Jew, Hitler burned you, one of the criminals reportedly said. Ill shoot you.

And just outside the city, in Rockland County, a man with a machete stormed a Hanukkah celebration in a rabbis home and injured five worshippers, leaving two in critical condition. The family of one victim, Josef Neumann, says he may never wake up from his coma.

These heinous attacks are part of a growing storm of anti-Semitism that has made Jewish Americans fearful to worship and walk the streets in their own communities. They come in the wake of the deadly rampage at a kosher market in Jersey City that left four innocent people dead, including a police detective. And of course, they come in the wake of the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in our nations history: the massacre of 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh by a white supremacist.

According to the FBI, our country suffered a 37 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes between 2014 and 2018. According to the New York Police Department, the city suffered a 26 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes in the past year alone. That increase is alarming enough. So is the fact that most hate crimes reported in New York are crimes against Jews. And while some of the increase is due to better reporting, much of it is not. Jewish Americans bear witness to this harsh reality.

Anti-Semitism is the ancient hatred, but today it can appear in new disguises. It festers on Internet message boards and social media. It festers in so-called Washington think tanks like the Quincy Institute, an isolationist blame-America-first money pit for so-called scholars whove written that American foreign policy could be fixed if only it were rid of the malign influence of Jewish money. It festers even on elite college campuses, which incubate the radical Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movementa movement to wage economic warfare against the Jewish state. These forms of anti-Semitism may be less bloody than street crime in New York, but they channel the same ancient hatred, the same conspiratorial and obsessive focus on the Jewish people.

Anti-Semitic attacks are a symptom of a larger breakdown of public order in our nations cities caused by politicians who are letting dangerous criminals roam our streets.

While Jews were being attacked in New York City, a law went into effect eliminating pretrial detention and bail for most crimesincluding serious crimes like stalking, arson, robberyeven manslaughter and negligent homicide.

This law was a gift to criminals just in time for the holidays. In some cases, it came with an actual gift: New York Citys criminal-justice system gives goodies like taxpayer-funded movie tickets to criminal suspects just for showing up to court. Movie ticketsfor criminals. I wish I were joking, but the joke is on law-abiding citizens in this nation. These soft-on-crime politicians are doing their best to make crime pay in New York.

Releasing criminals is the logical next step for the criminal-leniency movement. Thanks to the new bail law, an estimated 3,800 criminal suspects were released from New York jails before New Years Day. Many of those suspects were arrested for new offenses within hourswithin hoursof their release.

Case in point: On the sixth day of Hanukkah, December 27, Tiffany Harris was arrested for attacking three Jewish women in Crown Heights. She shouted F-U Jews as she slapped them in a rage. Despite the violent nature of her crime, Harris, amazingly, was released without bail the very next day, December 28th, the seventh day of Hanukkah. And on the eighth day of Hanukkah, Harris was arrested yet again for assault. She was released for a second time the day after that, and is only in custody now because she was arrested a third time for failing to comply with a court order.

I can only imagine how demoralizing must it be for New Yorks police officers to arrest a violent criminalonly to risk their safety arresting them the next day for harming somebody else, and the next day, and the next day. How terrifying must it be for witnesses of those crimes to contemplate giving evidence while the criminals they witnessed stalk the streets the very next day. And how enraging must it be for New Yorks Jews to suffer constant anti-Semitic attacks and know that the perpetrators will slide through a revolving door from the lockup back into their communities to spread more of their virulent, anti-Semitic hatred.

Soft-on-crime politicians claim that cash bail and strong policing punish the poor. But is there a worse punishment for poor communities than flooding them with dangerous criminals? Making them unlivable for many law-abiding Americans who call those neighborhoods home? Because guess what, those dangerous criminals arent going back to live in fancy penthouses on the Upper East Side. They arent living in gated communities in Bethesda and Arlington. Theyre living in the very communities that most need policing. Thats why the consequences of criminal leniency never fall on rich elites who praise it the most. Instead the consequences fall on the less fortunate, and on the brave officers who are duty-bound to uphold the law, even as they receive less and less support from the political class.

The real solution to disorder in our cities is the same as it always has been: More and better policing. New Yorks finestand police officers all across the countryhave broken crime waves in the past, using steely resolve and superior force. They can do it again, if only we give them the freedom and support they need.

Thankfully, most Americans know whose side were on in the fight against crime. We stand with cops, not criminals. And we stand with the Jewish people against the ancient hatred that stalks them even to this day.

America liberated Nazi death camps in World War II, and weve served as a haven for persecuted Jews for longer than that. We must not allow the bigotry so common in Europe and the Middle East to spread here, to our free shores. And we must not allow our city streets to be plunged into the lawlessness of the not-so-distant past.

You can also watch the speech by clicking on this link.

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Tom Cotton on the New Wave of Anti-Semitism and Violence - Commentary Magazine

WASHINGTON. Last week, a federal judge approved warrants allowing Special Prosecutor Dan Webb access to Empire actor Jussie Smolletts Google account with its photos, private messages, and location data. The probe seeks to discover if the actor/singer violated the law by claiming he was a victim of a vicious hate crime in January 2019.

Jussie Smollett speaks with ABCs Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. ABC screen capture.

You may recall the fake-news frenzy that followed Smolletts explosive charge that two MAGA-hatted thugs hurled racial and homophobic slurs his way, beat him, doused him in bleach, placed a rope around his neck, and ended the assault with the ultimate coup de gras: they yelled,

The Washington Posts Karen Attiah expressed her outrage.

California Rep. Maxine Waters added her own measured and thoughtful opinion to the mix during an interview with The Grio:

Fellow Empire star Lee Daniels posted an emotional video to Instagram, saying the outrage over the Smollett attack,

But there were aspects to Smolletts story that struck skeptical observers as odd.

Tyrus. Fox News screen capture.

Chicago police, unlike fake-news outlets, took Smolletts statement, followed the evidence, and smelled a rat. They reported Smollett paid two men, both from Nigeria, $3,500 to stage the attack. According to Chicagos CBS 2,

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson. Fox News screen capture.

Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson later told reporters,

As if this story could not get any stranger, the Rev. Al Sharpton weighed in as well. During an episode of his MSNBC show Politics Nation, Sharpton said,

Tawana Brawley speaks to reporters as advisor Al Sharpton looks on. CBS News screen capture.

This from the man who was at the center of the racially-charged Tawana Brawley sexual-assault hoax of the late 1980s (HERE). But Sharpton, ever the race-baiting scoundrel, sought to hide behind President Trumps coattails.

According to Chicago police, no less than 20 murders and 134 sexual assaults saw their investigations impeded by the inquiry into Smolletts bogus, racially-charged claims. As Superintendent Johnson told reporters,

Judge Michael Toomins sanctioned warrants ordering Google to hand special prosecutor Dan Webb Smolletts digital footprint may force the actor, in the words of Rev. Al Sharpton, to face accountability to the maximum.

MAGA hat image from https://shop.donaldjtrump.com/.

Recently, CNN was forced to pay millions of dollars in punitive damages for recklessly accusing high-schooler Nickolas Sandmann of racism and physical intimidation.

Smolletts phantom attackers, like Sandmann, supposedly wore Make America Great Again hats. And Smollett instinctively knew the mere mention of MAGA hats would inspire fake-news outlets to begin manufacturing narratives to attack President Trump and his army of deplorables as violent racists.

What Trump asked of Jussie Smollett could just as easily be directed at fake-news scribblers:

I suspect the loud and clear answer will come election day, November 2020.

Top Images: Empire actor Jussie Smollett. CBS News screen capture.(Inset) Special Prosecutor Dan Webb. WGN News screen capture.

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Jussie Smollett and the brotherhood of the traveling MAGA... - Communities Digital News

When I used to go to movies regularly, I would sometimes come across fairly explicit sex scenes in some of them. Although I am not, strictly speaking, a prude, I used to hate them. For one thing, if I had come to like the characters, they made me feel like a voyeur. But even if I didnt identify with the characters, those scenes invariably took me out of the movie. Instead of thinking about the characters, I would sit there wondering what the actors and actresses kids, friends, spouses and parents, would feel when they watched the movie. Yes, I know theyre just acting and that there are 50 members of the crew looking on, but none of that would matter when it came to the emotional response of their friends and family.

These days, I rarely go out to see a movie. But I am left having somewhat similar reactions when I see the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff and Sheila Jackson Lee, devoting all their time to lying about President Trump in order to undo an election for strictly partisan reasons.

Im assuming that all their children arent as squalid and as morally bankrupt as Chelsea Clinton and Hunter Biden. Are they having as difficult a time as I would be if one of my parents or even a friend was behaving in such a contemptible way? Does it even occur to them to speak up and question the role their parent is playing in this unconstitutional farce? Do the participants themselves ever wonder how they have wound up here, dog-paddling through the muddy swamp?

As I see it, nearly every man and woman, including some very bad people, has a conscience. Of course, there will always be exceptions. There are famous psychopaths, monsters like Hitler, Stalin and Mao; and less famous ones that include serial killers, rapists and pedophiles those who are born lacking the empathy gene.

But there are no creatures so vile, so lacking in human feeling, as the typical mob. So long as theyre part of a group be it the Cossacks, the French revolutionists, the Red Guard, a lynch mob, Antifa or the U.S. Congress they will commit the vilest, cowardly, most gruesome acts with impunity.

One of the mysteries that has come out of the House impeachment hearings is the charge against President Trump of obstructing Congress. How it is even possible to obstruct a government body that has devoted three entire years to obstructing the President is a question I cant even begin to answer.

Once sideshows disappeared, the carnival freaks needed to find work elsewhere. Apparently, they all found their place in politics. If you think Im making this up, consider the dwarf (Michael Bloomberg), the former fat men who went on crash diets once their weight was no longer a means to gainful employment (Jerry Nadler and Al Sharpton), the pencil neck man (Adam Schiff), the hermaphrodite (Michelle Obama) and the wild man and woman of Borneo (Al Green and Maxine Waters).

Theres no question that the Internet has been a boon to the world, including me. But the drawback is that it has enabled lies, in the memorable words of Mark Twain, to travel around the earth while the truth is only getting on its boots.

This truism was brought home to me recently when someone passed along what appeared to be a nugget. The claim was that Adam Schiffs daughter Alexa was dating Rep. Schiffs favorite whistleblower, Eric Ciaramella.

I looked into it, so anxious to share the glad tidings that I was drooling all over my keyboard. It turns out that Ms. Schiffs boyfriend is named Eric, but its not Eric Ciaramella.

While Im at it, Ill also scotch the rumor that Adam Schiffs sister is married to one of the sons of George Soros. Someone else named Schiff, not a relative, is married to the Hungarian ghouls son.

Most rumors, Im convinced, are just lies gussied up in their Sunday best.

The bad news on the economic front is that the feds are subsidizing the pot industry and we taxpayers are subsidizing the electric car industry. Sebastian Gorka reported that virtue-signaling rich people who buy $80,000 Teslas are receiving $7,000 tax credits that you and I are paying for. Whats more, half the Teslas are sold to environmental faddists in California.

I suppose since were helping pay for it, some of that reflected virtue is rightfully ours. But, personally, Id prefer the cash.

A lady weighed in on the question whether disagreements in marriages are resolved through compromise or because, as I suggested, one sideusually the husbandfinally capitulates to the wife. My correspondent insisted that its always compromise in her home. But then she added that she always leaves the final decision up to him, concluding And I never say: I told you so.

That certainly doesnt sound like compromise to me. It also sounds a little too good to be true. I warned her that if she really never says I told you so, the pressure can build and build until one day she simply explodes. So, for a small fee, I will write to your husband and tell him She told you so, moron whenever you sense the pressure gauge is entering the red zone.

As I am often on the lookout for a way to make a little extra money, I thought I would offer this service to all you husbands and wives who have swallowed your I told you sos for so long that you are in real danger of popping your cork.

Patrick Miano let me know he has come around to my way of thinking when it comes to Chris Wallace. He wrote to say that Wallace recently accused President Trump of being the greatest threat to a free press in our countrys history.

Mr. Miano went on to say that Lincoln, Wilson and FDR, all tried their best to muffle the press. Obama tried to ban Fox News from White House press conferences. But not one of them had to deal with a press corps that was aligned against him the way they are against Trump.

Every time that Trump tries to defend himself against the Marxist propagandists, the twerps at CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times, the Washington Post and even, in the case of Chris Wallace, Fox News, pretend hes setting fire to the 1st Amendment.

Chris Wallace is as big a jerk as his father Mike was. And like his father, Chris blew his cover as an impartial journalist a long time ago. Back when I used to tune in his Sunday morning show, I couldnt help noticing Chris always stacked the deck by having kneejerk Liberals on one side and spineless RINOs like Karl The Architect Rove on the other. Not exactly fair and balanced.

Penny Alfonso sent me a meme. On the top half, theres a photo of President Trump announcing that hes signing an executive order protecting American Jews. On the bottom half of the page, it shows how the news is reported on CNN. It shows Trump in a Nazi uniform and the copy reads: Donald Trump targets Jews with executive order: He is literally Hitler.

Bob Hunt, who never takes a nap, passed along a few memes:

Bread is a lot like the sun. It rises in the yeast and sets in the waist. (Someone else pointed out that even though bread has existed for thousands of years, it wasnt until a few years ago that people suddenly woke up and discovered they were allergic to something called gluten.)

Apparently, you cant use beef stew as a password on your computer. Its not stroganoff.

A guy is shown holding a note while talking on the phone: How could you just walk out on me like this? Oh, and by the way, 'nit-picking has a hyphen.

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Burt Prelutsky: What Do Their Kids Think? - Patriot Post