Tag Archives: illegal

Would You Break the Law to Change Your Kid’s Grades?

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Comic about Parents and Grades
I fear for the youth of today.  Seriously fear for them.  Not because of global warming or cyberterrorism or a zombie apocalypse, but because of their parents.

I’ve been quite outspoken on my distress that helicopter parenting has elevated (heh heh) to a point that would have seemed ridiculous a generation ago, and I keep hoping I’ll be proven overly cynical, the girl who cried wolf, or completely wrong.  After all, I am personally invested in this serious problem as a citizen, an educator, and … well, someone who sees an awful of parents whose kids control them the way a puppeteer directs a marionette.

But I think I’m right about this one, much to my chagrin.

There are news stories that crop up all the time, giving credence to my theory that far too many underage inmates are running an increasing number of asylums.

Consider this, from Time Magazine:

A Pennsylvania woman faces six felony charges for doing just that. Catherine Venusto, 45, hacked into the Northwestern Lehigh School District computer system and altered the grades of her two children, ABC News reports. Venusto had worked at the district as an administrative office secretary from 2008 through April, 2011. A year before she quit, Venusto, of New Tripoli, Penn., had been accused of changing her daughter’s failing grade to a medical exception. And in February, 2012, she was accused of changing her son’s 98 to a 99.

I have worked in enough school districts to know that, if a medical exception is warranted, it is given.  In fact, it’s not exactly difficult…

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Elementary School Teacher and Camp Counselor Charged with Possession of Child Pornography

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A New York City elementary school teacher and summer camp counselor, John E. Thomas, was arrested last Thursday for the alleged possession of child pornography. Specifically? 43 CD-R’s of images and videos of children “engaging in sexual acts.”

28 year-old Thomas taught elementary and nursery school for many years at various “elite” Manhattan prep schools. Oh, and sidenote?  I hate when tabloids tote the elite private school thing to sell papers, but more on that another time. He has also worked at the 92nd Street YMCA for over ten years as a camp counselor.

I’m tempted to ask how this man was allowed to be so close to young children for so many years. However, I know how intense screening processes are, and Thomas clearly hadn’t any charges on his record. According to people I know that worked with him, he was a nice guy and well-liked camp counselor. There was no indication at all that he had a collection of illegal child pornography.

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Gigi Gaston Claims in New Documentary That Obama Stole the Democratic Primary from Hillary

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Director Gigi Gaston has put together a documentary alleging that there was some funny business at the polls in the last presidential election. Specifically, Gaston’s clear message is that Hillary Clinton should have been the Democrat’s candidate. Oh, and that Obama totally stole the election.

From Mediate:

Amidst recent charges that the New Black Panther Party intimidated voters outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008, a new documentary called We Will Not Be Silenced charges that this was not an isolated incident. The film’s director Gigi Gaston appeared on Fox and Friends this weekend and was introduced by host Alyson Camerota who claimed that “the 2008 primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was rife with stories of voter intimidation and voting violations.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that this all came out on the infamously conservative Fox News Channel. They are ridiculously anti-Obama (which is, of course, their prerogative … and I do realize that he’s given perhaps more benefit of the doubt on other news networks than another candidate would), but it seems to me that this might cross a line into propaganda when you put Camerota’s clearly biased introduction into the mix.

But Obama must be really bad if the anti-Clinton Fox is on Hillary’s side about anything.

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Joslyn Johnson, Widow of Officer Killed by Illegal Immigrant, Opposes Former Houston Chief’s New Job

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Photo of Houston Immigration Protesters
Former Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt has been tapped by the Obama administration for a position with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is not sitting well with Joslyn Johnson, whose husband was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant who had already been deported once and arrested numerous times.

From Fox News:

Joslyn Johnson, whose husband, Rodney Johnson, was killed in 2006, is suing former Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt for failing to enforce federal immigration laws. She claims her husband would be alive today if the city had bothered to check up on the gunman’s immigration status.

Now that Hurtt is taking a job to oversee partnerships between federal and local officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson — and other critics — say they’re concerned the official who resisted immigration enforcement in Houston will now be in charge of promoting it.

“She was shocked at the irony,” Johnson’s attorney, Ben Dominguez, said.

Wow, this is a tough one. Obviously, Rodney Johnson’s killer should not have been running loose. More specifically, he should not have been running loose on American streets. That was 100% wrong, and you won’t find an argument about that from me. I can also understand Joslyn Johnson’s need to place blame with someone and finding it “ironic” that Hurtt is getting a federal immigration job when, in her mind, he is indirectly responsible for the death of her husband.

Hurtt’s views on immigration, an area in which he worked intimately, could be viewed as controversial even taking Rodney Johnson out of the equation:
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