Again Trump works his misdirection magic, this time with Gaza distraction, by Hal B. Brown

 

 

Trump worked his David Copperfield distraction beautifully yesterday when he suggested that the United States should take over Gaza, using the military if necessary. A good magician sometimes uses distraction and misdirection to pull off an illusion:

Whether the magic is of a "pocket trick" variety or a large stage production, misdirection is the central secret. The term describes either the effect (the observer's focus on an unimportant object) or the sleight of hand or patter (the magician's speech) that creates it.

Everybody, look here while I'm doing this here.

He's doing the same thing with his DEI purges and his scrubbing certain words from government websites. He's doing this with his nominations to misdirect from the worst of the worst.

On the website word scrubbing, he even had Rachel Maddow wasting time in her smiling and chuckling introduction about government websites scrubbing words with the story of sprinter Tyson Gay whose name was changed automatically to homosexual in some media in an effort not to be offensive. This led me to wonder if there were books reivews which changed the names of novelists Gay Talese, or worse, Gay Courter, but then that's the way my mind wanders since Gay Courter has been a friend since she was my childhood neighbor. Her name would have been Homosexual Courter.

Trump's lunacy has even led my mind to be misdirected.

Rachel wasted time with her lead story. We couldn't stand her smiling as she told her story. We turned off her show, and watched some streaming video. Then we turned MSNBC back on to watch Lawrence O'Donnell soberly address the cuts to USAID. He talked about how people were dieing because of this. That is one of the issues the media should be addressing. Website scrubbing is a comparatively minor story. Even these aren't the most important stories.

There are two major stories about what Trump is doing. One is, obviously, about what Trump is doing to destroy democracy and how he is becoming a dictator. The other is about how the media is being taken in by his misdirection.

Not every outlet is taken in all of the time. As I write this Mika  Brezinski is talking about how Pete Marocco was putting in charge of the USAID. He was a participant in the Jan. 6th attack on the Capitol. 

Look this way: Greenland, the Panama Canal, RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Krist Noem, even Leon, uh, Elon Musk. Pay attention to Trump flubbing Musk's name. I think Trump does his Leon thing on purpose so it makes the news.

Musk's machinations are marvelous misdirections as well. Consider:

With a cadre of engineers as young as 19 years old, and with the encouragement of Trump, Musk has demanded and been given access to sensitive government databases and the Treasury Department’s payment system with an unprecedented series of bureaucratic maneuvers. NBC News 

Put one 19 year old in a position like this and that will be a major part of the story. Don’t look too closely at the ramifications of what Musk is able to do at Treasury.

Most importantly, just don't look too closely at Kash Patel who is about to turn the FBI in Trump's personal Gestapo.

Trump's misdirection can be dealt with by the media if they explain how he does this to hide what he really is doing. He is paving the way for a modernized Hitlerian Project 2025. 

The media should explain that Trump is like Hitler in many ways, but unlike him because he doesn't care about initiating a thousand year reich. He wants to reign over his personal reich (German for realm or empire) for as long as he lives. After that he doesn't care what happens.

I'd like to see someone develop and publicize a checklist from both Project 2025 and the things Hitler did in the 1930's and call it "Steps On The Road To An American Dictorship" and as more and more of the steps are attempted and then accomplish the list should be republished.

There could be a countdown click similar to the Doomsday Clock. It is a symbol that represents the estimated likelihood of a human-made global catastrophe, in the opinion of the members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. As of 2025 the most recent clock shows us to be slightly less than 1½ minutes from midnight due to the "continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Middle Eastern crisis, increased nuclear proliferation, effects of climate change, biological threats, and advancing technologies." I think that it needs to be updated in light of what Trump has done in the last few weeks.

The media needs to prioritize. Everything from the blowback caused by Trump's tarrif threats to the price of eggs, including stories about Waffle House raising breakfast prices, should be covered. These are like straws added to the camel's back. Eventually they will break Trump's back. But until that happens more and more of the 50% of Amercians who still approve of Trump need decide that they really don't want to live in a cruel dictatorship which has it's own Gestapo.

They need to be reminded of the Martin Niemöller poem First They Came:

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

Addendum

I would agrue that Heather “Digby” Parton’s featured column about Trump’s Gaza proposal (or threat) in Salon today is an example of how Trump misdirects and distracts. I wish she had addressed this in what she wrote.

I post my Substacks (formerly blogs) on several platforms. They are on Substack where, if you want to submit your email, you can be notified of all new blog posts. They are on HalBrown.org. They are also on Stressline.org I also post them on Medium because this enables them to be easily found on internet searches

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The Federal Role in Education, from the Dept. of Education while it still exists, saved by Hal M. Brown

 

Federal Role in Education

Copied from the Dept. of Education website on Feb. 4, 2025

OVERVIEW

Education is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States. It is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation. The structure of education finance in America reflects this predominant State and local role. Of an estimated $1.15 trillion being spent nationwide on education at all levels for school year 2012-2013, a substantial majority will come from State, local, and private sources. This is especially true at the elementary and secondary level, where about 92 percent of the funds will come from non-Federal sources.

That means the Federal contribution to elementary and secondary education is about 8 percent, which includes funds not only from the Department of Education (ED) but also from other Federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services' Head Start program and the Department of Agriculture's School Lunch program.

Although ED's share of total education funding in the U.S. is relatively small, ED works hard to get a big bang for its taxpayer-provided bucks by targeting its funds where they can do the most good. This targeting reflects the historical development of the Federal role in education as a kind of "emergency response system," a means of filling gaps in State and local support for education when critical national needs arise.

History

The original Department of Education was created in 1867 to collect information on schools and teaching that would help the States establish effective school systems. While the agency's name and location within the Executive Branch have changed over the past 130 years, this early emphasis on getting information on what works in education to teachers and education policymakers continues down to the present day.

The passage of the Second Morrill Act in 1890 gave the then-named Office of Education responsibility for administering support for the original system of land-grant colleges and universities. Vocational education became the next major area of Federal aid to schools, with the 1917 Smith-Hughes Act and the 1946 George-Barden Act focusing on agricultural, industrial, and home economics training for high school students.

World War II led to a significant expansion of Federal support for education. The Lanham Act in 1941 and the Impact Aid laws of 1950 eased the burden on communities affected by the presence of military and other Federal installations by making payments to school districts. And in 1944, the "GI Bill" authorized postsecondary education assistance that would ultimately send nearly 8 million World War II veterans to college.

The Cold War stimulated the first example of comprehensive Federal education legislation, when in 1958 Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik. To help ensure that highly trained individuals would be available to help America compete with the Soviet Union in scientific and technical fields, the NDEA included support for loans to college students, the improvement of science, mathematics, and foreign language instruction in elementary and secondary schools, graduate fellowships, foreign language and area studies, and vocational-technical training.

The anti-poverty and civil rights laws of the 1960s and 1970s brought about a dramatic emergence of the Department's equal access mission. The passage of laws such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 which prohibited discrimination based on race, sex, and disability, respectively made civil rights enforcement a fundamental and long-lasting focus of the Department of Education. In 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act launched a comprehensive set of programs, including the Title I program of Federal aid to disadvantaged children to address the problems of poor urban and rural areas. And in that same year, the Higher Education Act authorized assistance for postsecondary education, including financial aid programs for needy college students.

In 1980, Congress established the Department of Education as a Cabinet level agency. Today, ED operates programs that touch on every area and level of education. The Department's elementary and secondary programs annually serve nearly 18,200 school districts and over 50 million students attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools. Department programs also provide grant, loan, and work-study assistance to more than 12 million postsecondary students.

Mission

Despite the growth of the Federal role in education, the Department never strayed far from what would become its official mission: to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

The Department carries out its mission in two major ways. First, the Secretary and the Department play a leadership role in the ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of our education system for all students. This involves such activities as raising national and community awareness of the education challenges confronting the Nation, disseminating the latest discoveries on what works in teaching and learning, and helping communities work out solutions to difficult educational issues.

Second, the Department pursues its twin goals of access and excellence through the administration of programs that cover every area of education and range from preschool education through postdoctoral research. For more information on the Department's programs see the President's FY 2025 Budget Request for Education.

Staffing

One final note: while ED's programs and responsibilities have grown substantially over the years, the Department itself has not. In fact, the Department has the smallest staff of the 15 Cabinet agencies, even though its discretionary budget alone is the third largest, behind only the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, the Department provides over $150 billion in new and consolidated loans annually

Mission

Despite the growth of the Federal role in education, the Department never strayed far from what would become its official mission: to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

The Department carries out its mission in two major ways. First, the Secretary and the Department play a leadership role in the ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of our education system for all students. This involves such activities as raising national and community awareness of the education challenges confronting the Nation, disseminating the latest discoveries on what works in teaching and learning, and helping communities work out solutions to difficult educational issues.

Second, the Department pursues its twin goals of access and excellence through the administration of programs that cover every area of education and range from preschool education through postdoctoral research. For more information on the Department's programs see the President's FY 2025 Budget Request for Education.

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Mission of the U.S. Department of Education

ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

Congress established the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on May 4, 1980, in the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88 of October 1979). Under this law, ED's mission is to:

• Strengthen the Federal commitment to assuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;
• Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;
• Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;
• Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through Federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;
• Improve the coordination of Federal education programs;
• Improve the management of Federal education activities; and
• Increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public.

It may just be YouTube, but Fox was just bounced out of first place by a liberal media outlet and they are panicking, By Hal M. Brown

In progress 

Today's Substack is about FoxNews being kicked out of first place on their YouTube channel. Read about it here:

Meidas Just Humiliated Fox…They Are PANICKING

Excerpt:

Now, this is the type of news I love to report! It’s official, folks—the MeidasTouch Network has taken the lead over Fox in digital ratings. Fox, with its billion-dollar budget and oligarch investors, is LOSING to the MeidasTouch Network, which has NO INVESTORS and grows thanks to subscribers on this Substack.

And the news gets even better.

The MeidasTouch Network is the most-watched network on all of YouTube across ALL categories. We beat every news network, every sports network, every gaming channel, every influencer, every musician, and every other genre in between. Our message is resonating THANKS TO YOU. We are averaging almost 30 million views every 48 hours, and just yesterday alone, we picked up over 70,000 new YouTube subscribers.

I thought I'd check out the Midais Touch Network (MTN) on my laptop and watched one segment. Then I realized I could get YouTube on my TV. I expect that since most people now have smart TVs they can too. I thought that instead of writing about a particular issue today I'd share this with you.

I took a minute to get MTN on my laptop. It took a few steps to get on my TV because I had to active YouTube for the first time.

 I am watching now.

Addendum: Here's the Wikipedia entry for Meidas Touch.

I post my Substacks (formerly blogs) on several platforms. They are on Substack where, if you want to submit your email, you can be notified of all new blog posts. They are on HalBrown.org. They are also on Stressline.org I also post them on Medium because this enables them to be easily found on internet searches

Marjorie Taylor Greene's latest attempt stroke Trump's - uh - ego, gets blowback, By Hal M. Brown

 

There are so many Trump travesties every day that it is hard for me to decide which is bad enough to write about. Here's one comparatively minor story that got my attention from HUFFPOST:

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘Disturbing’ Post About Reporter’s Foreign Accent Is Slammed.

I followed up on this and found that this was also covered in marie france.

Above: BFMTV journalist attacked for her French accent in the United States, "She thinks I should be deported"

Here are translated excerpts from the long article which is written in French:

BFMTV journalist Sonia Dridi, who was criticized for her French accent by MP Marjorie Taylor Greene, has received support from her channel.

The latter was the target of harsh criticism from far-right US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who pointed out her French accent.

BFMTV JOURNALIST SONIA DRIDI CRITICIZED BY US MP

In a tweet published this Sunday on X (formerly Twitter), the SDJ of BFMTV, an association of journalists formed within the editorial staff of the continuous news channel, defended its correspondent at the White House.

Earlier, Sonia Dridi, based in the US capital Washington, took the microphone during a press briefing led by Karoline Leavitt, the new spokesperson for Donald Trump's government. The French journalist, who had asked two questions about diversity within aeronautical agencies after the terrible plane crash in Washington, was then criticized for her accent by a far-right US Congresswoman. 

BFMTV SOCIETY OF JOURNALISTS DEFENDS SONIA DRIDI

Faced with this situation, the SDJ of BFMTV was quick to react. In a statement published on social networks, the society expressed its unconditional support for Sonia Dridi, emphasizing that such an attack constituted a direct attack on freedom of the press.

The SDJ recalled that the work of foreign correspondents, like that of Sonia Dridi, is essential to offer a global and critical vision of international issues.

"The SDJ of BFMTV gives its full support to its correspondent in the United States Sonia Dridi, ostracized as a foreign journalist by the American far-right MP Marjorie Taylor Green, who attacked the fundamental principle of freedom of the press. The work of national and foreign media in the United States is more necessary than ever at this time to highlight the reality of Donald Trump's mandate," we can read in the press release.

Here's the post from The Honorable Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene:

Marjorie Taylor Greene has decided that a foreign accent is toxic. Of course she means the accent of someone from another country, since all American accents are considered foreign by people in other countries. This is Make America Great Marjorie, so an accent from anywhere else is considered foreign the way a parasite is an unwelcome foreign creature in a human being,

For some people a southern or Maine accent sounds foreign to people from other parts of the country. When I went from New York to Michigan to go to college my accent led one kid in the dorm to ask me "what are you?" There are at least 30 accents or dialects spoken in the United States (reference), but Greene doesn't care about this because the reporter was a woman from, horrors upon horrors, France. You know, those French women with offensive accents...

Sonia Dridi, a reporter from France24, was asking about Trump's repsonse to the Washington, DC plane crash. 

After Greene attacked her on X, this was her straightforward response:

Translation: Marjorie Taylor Greene apparently didn't appreciate my accent while I was occupying the seat reserved for the few foreign journalists who are in our White House Foreign Press Association. She is now suggesting that we kick the foreign press out of the press room.

I doubt that Greene would be able to identify the French flag on Dridi's first post.

I am curious about how Dridri even found the Greene post. She follows over 7000 people on X and I have no way of knowing if Greene is one of them. Perhaps she is.

I see Greene's X post as an attempt to stroke Donald Trump's, uh, ego, and prove what a loyal soldier she is.  Let's wait and see whether Trump follows Greene's suggestion and ends up barring members of the Foreign Press Correspondents USA from his press conferences.  He has to contend with American reporters asking inconvenient questions especially as they, hopefuly, get more bold.  I doubt he wants some woman with what many would find a sexy French accent asking him a question.

Addendum:

Some of the comments on the HUFFPOST article...

I post my Substacks (formerly blogs) on several platforms. They are on Substack where, if you want to submit your email, you can be notified of all new blog posts. They are on HalBrown.org. They are also on Stressline.org I also post them on Medium because this enables them to be easily found on internet searches