TPM Reader JO makes a point I confess had not occurred to me. If Republicans again place Donald Trump’s name in nomination to serve as the next speaker, Democrats should raise a point of order that Trump is in fact ineligible to serve as speaker under the 14th Amendment because he previously “engaged in insurrection” against the United States. The Constitution placed essentially no qualifications on potential speakers. They do not have to be members of Congress. But the 14th Amendment prohibition clearly trumps that open door by disqualifying anyone who has engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding “any office, civil or military, under the United States.” That unquestionably includes the speakership, one of only a handful of federal offices explicitly created by the constitutional text. If Trump engaged in insurrection, he is clearly ineligible to serve as speaker.
Continue reading “Trump Ineligible to Serve As Speaker”Ukraine’s Schools Are A Key Front In The Fight For The Nation’s Future
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
When Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on New Year’s Eve, the damaged buildings included a university and at least two schools.
As a researcher who is studying the role of culture and education in this war — and as co-author of a book based on my research on Ukrainians’ resilience; that is, their ability to carry on despite adversity — I see these attacks as part of a broader and long-standing effort to dismantle Ukraine’s schools and ultimately remake them as subservient to Russian interests.
Despite the attacks, at the start of the school year in September 2022, 51% of Ukrainian schools opened for in-person education, with an option for remote instruction if parents wanted it for their children. The fact that children are returning to school at all in the midst of this war is remarkable.
Nearly a year into the war, a look at how Ukraine has continued to operate its schools offers important insights on how the nation has provided education despite the most adverse circumstances.
A target
From the earliest days of the war, it became clear that schools were a target of Russian forces. On Feb. 27, 2022 — three days into the attack — the United Nations reported that six schools had already been shelled.
Some, like School 21 in Chernihiv, northeast of Kyiv, had been turned into shelters for families during the first days of the war, and painted with the word “CHILDREN” in big letters with the hope that the building would be spared. On March 3, the school was bombed, killing at least nine people, including one student — a 13-year-old boy.
It was by no means a rare or happenstance event. In what I believe is a clear violation of international law, schools across Ukraine are still being destroyed.
As of May 2022, Ukrainian authorities stated that Russia had shelled more than 1,000 schools. By August, that number doubled.
As of Sept. 23, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine reported that over 2,500 schools had been damaged by the war — 300 of which have been completely destroyed.
Not just physical
Much more than physical safety is at risk as Russia targets institutions of learning. Education is as much a front line of this war as the actual trenches in cities like Bakhmut, Kherson or Kharkiv. Oleksandr Pankieyev, research coordinator at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta, argues that Russia has “weaponized education.”
This is not new — Russia has waged war on Ukrainian history and identity for hundreds of years: Kyiv Mohyla Academy, founded in Kyiv in the early 1600s, was prohibited from using the Ukrainian language by Catherine the Great in 1763. In 1804, the Ukrainian language was banned in all schools and universities.
In 1876, Czar Alexander II of Russia issued a decree, the Ems Ukaz, banning the use of Ukrainian language in public. The decree also forbade Ukrainian publications, education and the staging of any lectures or theatrical events in Ukrainian.
With its declaration of independence in 1991, Ukraine gained control over its education system. Censorship of the Ukrainian language and study was lifted, and Ukraine was able to revise its school curriculum to include Ukrainian history and literature, and to teach about historical events that had been systematically omitted under Soviet rule, including the Holocaust and the genocidal Holodomor famine.
Now, when Russia occupies a city or town, one of the first things it does is forcibly replace the curriculum with one that is in line with the Kremlin agenda that erases Ukrainian history. Russia does this based on Putin’s claim of the unity of Ukrainian and Russian people, a claim that serves as the basis for the Russian invasion.
There are regular accounts of Russian soldiers ransacking civilian homes, not searching for weapons, but for books. Ukrainian language books, history books, textbooks and school laptops are among the items confiscated and destroyed.
Russian occupiers threaten to remove the parental rights of parents who refuse to send their children to designated “Russified” schools. Teachers are sent to Moscow for “certification” in the Russified curriculum. Teachers have resisted these attempts, refusing to collaborate despite the danger to their lives.
Returning to schools
At the beginning of the war, school districts and civic organizations like Saved Schools developed plans that addressed specific local circumstances.
The town of Bohdanivka, near Kyiv, for example, was occupied by Russia for 20 days in March 2022. During that time, the school was closed and converted into a base for the Russian military. When Ukrainian forces liberated the city, Russian soldiers torched the school building. Determined to keep students in school, local authorities resumed education in alternate places in the town, such as the public library or cultural center, for its 300 students.
By mid-March, schooling had resumed in most of Ukraine. The All-Ukrainian Online School was created by the Ukrainian government for students to ensure that all of them have access to education under all conditions. In regions where internet is not available, the lessons are broadcast on local television.
Bomb shelters and emergency drills
Ukrainian schools were required to build bomb shelters over the summer. Teachers, families and the school children themselves rushed to prepare shelters in time for school to start.. When a shelter is too small to fit all students at once, they attend school in shifts or online, where some are in person and some remote, to ensure safety.
Now, when bombings disrupt power and internet in their school buildings, teachers set up outside, despite the frigid temperatures, to access public internet in order to teach online. They use computers that they charged at invincibility centers equipped with generators for emergency public use.
First aid and counseling
Schools have mounted emergency first aid programs so that students would know how to handle an attack, apply tourniquets and provide other emergency aid. In eastern regions of Ukraine such as Dnipro and Zaporizhya, these training programs began when Russia first invaded in 2014.
Local officials in Kyiv issued instructions for emergency bags for each child, which should contain a card with the child’s full name, emergency contact information, blood group, a flashlight and a container for water.
Psychological support of students is a central concern for parents, teachers and local government administrations, who understand that Russians are intent on occupying not only Ukrainian territory, but Ukrainian minds.
Students’ psychological care takes shape in a variety of ways. The routine and relative normalcy of school is itself a major component of support for students. School spaces are decorated in bright and uplifting colors. Teachers create and teach songs about the importance of self-care.
As Ukrainians defy the odds on the battlefield, they are also fighting to preserve their history and identity. It is a fight for existence, cultural memory, freedom and democracy. In this battle, schools are an indispensable and essential force.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Chipotle Borrows From Starbucks’ Playbook As Workers Push To Unionize
In December 2021, Winifer Pena Ruiz got a new job at a Chipotle in the Bronx. She was an aspiring student, and she hoped the work slinging burritos would help finance her future education.
Continue reading “Chipotle Borrows From Starbucks’ Playbook As Workers Push To Unionize”It’s The Anniversary Of Jan. 6 And You Can Feel The Steady Drumbeat Of Investigations
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Accountability Is Finally At Hand
As we mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, it can finally be said with high confidence that a credible, comprehensive criminal investigation of the conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election is fully underway.
Combined with the work of the House Jan. 6 committee, a degree of accountability for the coup attempt is at hand.
For a long time, months if not a year, it wasn’t at all clear we would get to this point.
The anniversary has prompted a flurry of new reporting on the ongoing investigations.
Let’s dive in.
Tantalizing Tidbits On Jack Smith’s Investigations
Bloomberg’s Zoe Tillman has some new reporting on the status of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigations, much of it based on anonymous sourcing. Some of the highlights:
- “He’s set to make critical decisions about whether to bring charges, possibly in a matter of weeks, according to people familiar with the matter.”
- “The special counsel’s office and Justice Department leaders realize that the historic investigations and the potential for politically explosive indictments and trials will collide with the 2024 presidential election calendar as the year goes on, according to people familiar.”
- “Investigators are also going through deposition transcripts provided by the now-defunct congressional committee and will have to decide if they want to bring in any of those witnesses for more questioning or to testify before a grand jury. “
Smith Brings On New Attorneys
While Special Counsel Jack Smith has mostly kept intact the same prosecutors and investigators that were handling the investigations before his appointment, CNN reports he has brought on two new lawyers to the team:
He is adding two longtime associates who have specialized in public corruption cases, according to a person familiar with the matter: Raymond Hulser, the former chief of the DOJ’s public integrity section, and David Harbach, who conducted cases against former Sen. John Edwards and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Things That Make You Go Hmmm …
Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney has done a commendable job tracking some of the secret litigation surrounding the DC grand jury investigations into Jan. 6. This morning he has some intriguing new filings at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals that suggest a new round of fights over the grand juries’ work. This thread is worth a read:
Marking The Jan. 6 Anniversary
- In a White House ceremony today, President Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second highest civilian honor, to a dozen familiar figures who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 or fought off the Big Lie to defend the 2020 election results.
- WaPo: Supporters raise millions to rebrand Jan. 6 rioters as ‘patriots’
- The FBI has increased the reward from $100,000 to $500,000 for information that leads to the arrest of the person(s) responsible for placing pipe bombs near RNC and DNC headquarters the day before the Capitol attack. The case remains unsolved.
- The biggest investigation in FBI history continues to grow.
- The estate of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died of a series of strokes shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against former President Trump and two Capitol rioters.
The Link Between Jan. 6 And The Speaker Fight
This hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves, but some of the figurative insurrectionists within Kevin McCarthy’s conference were also the literal insurrectionists on Jan. 6. You know some of the names: Perry, Gosar, Gohmert. Politico has a good rundown on the crossover between the two.
What Hath Kevin McCarthy Wrought?
With Kevin McCarthy having lost 11 straight ballots for House speaker, we’re deep into uncharted waters, at least since the first half of the 19th century. The speaker fight has been an amazing window into radicalization of the modern Republican Party, but we’re still coming to grips with the implications of one chamber of Congress basically ceasing to exist while it tries to organize itself:
- Michael C. Dorf: What the Constitution Has to Say About the Election of a Speaker of the House
- WaPo: Does the House even exist right now?
- AP: US House has no members
- Politico: The natsec implications of the speaker fight
- WaPo: Has McCarthy given up his House speaker powers before he’s even won?
- Dennis Aftergut: The Chaotic House That SCOTUS Built
My Oh My Oh My Oh My
CPAC honcho Matt Schlapp has been credibly accused of groping a male staffer for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign back in October, the Daily Beast is reporting in a story out last night. Schlapp, through his attorney, is denying the allegation.
“Matt Schlapp of the CPAC grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length, and I’m sitting there thinking what the hell is going on, that this person is literally doing this to me,” the staffer said in a video he recorded shortly after the alleged incident.
The staffer, who remains unnamed in the story, credits the Walker campaign with handling the incident professionally.
Trump Ordered To Cough Up Names Of Private Investigators In MAL Case
Former President Trump must provide to prosecutors the names of the private investigators who conducted a search on his behalf for additional classified documents he may have retained post-presidency, the chief federal judge in Washington, D.C. has ordered.
5th Circuit Blocks Deposition of Jen Psaki
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again fired a warning shot across the bow of a federal district judge in Louisiana who has become a favored venue for Republican attorneys general challenging the Biden administration:
The order on Thursday afternoon from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is another not-so-veiled rebuke to District Court Judge Terry Doughty, who has been overseeing the suit the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana filed last year claiming that the administration’s pressure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube was so intense that it amounted to censorship.
To summarize, the district judge was so out of line that even the uber-conservative 5th Circuit is having to reel him in.
‘Lovely One’
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is writing a memoir` for Random House. It is titled “Lovely One,” which is the English translation of Jackson’s given and middle names: Ketanji Onyika, suggested by an aunt who at the time was a Peace Corps worker in West Africa.
Huge News Though It Might Not Seem Like It
The FTC is boldly stepping into a huge area of employment law: noncompete clauses for employees. Historically disfavored by law as an unfair trade practice, the courts have carved out so many exceptions in recent decades that noncompete clauses have become ubiquitous. Now the FTC is proposing to ban them.
Latest On Dem Presidential Primary Schedule
President Biden’s preferred calendar for the 2024 presidential primary season is encountering some speed bumps in Georgia and New Hampshire.
Lava Waves!
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano resumed erupting Thursday afternoon, following a period of quiescence since mid-December:
Sizable bright orange lava fountain and fast moving flows visible during the first hour of the eruption from the Keanakākoʻi overlook. NPS video/Janice Wei pic.twitter.com/ThMxKEEcY4
— Hawaii Volcanoes NPS (@Volcanoes_NPS) January 6, 2023
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Republicans Win Second Vote As Majority – To Adjourn. Again.
After a third day of voting and 11 rounds of roll call with no real change, the Republican Party still hasn’t managed to elect a speaker, MAGA-infused conservative hardliners are holding the House hostage and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is still trying to convince everyone that he can pull of some sort of deal.
Continue reading “Republicans Win Second Vote As Majority – To Adjourn. Again.”George Santos Will Almost Certainly Be Sworn In—It’s Just A Question Of When
The neverending speakership-election debacle that’s left Congress in an unprecedented legal limbo has also stranded George Santos, the member-elect who fabricated several aspects of his resume, in his own void. Santos — and the other freshmen members of Congress — have not been sworn in, and won’t be until the ongoing feud within the Republican Party reaches a truce and members finally elect a House speaker.
TPM spoke with experts to find out whether the floor fight might affect his future. The consensus was that neither the scandal nor pending investigations are likely to stop Santos from being seated.
Continue reading “George Santos Will Almost Certainly Be Sworn In—It’s Just A Question Of When”Where Things Stand: There Is Still No Speaker
That is where things stand.
(In all seriousness we will be bringing back my daily Editors’ Blog post next week after our brains recover from the dumpster that is on fire on the House floor right now.)
In the meantime, Emine Yücel and I are covering all of today’s madness here.
🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃 🙃
Biden Will Award 12 Who Defended Capitol, Blocked Big Lie On Jan 6 Anniversary
The White House announced on Thursday that President Joe Biden will give several individuals who defended democracy after the 2020 election the Presidential Citizens Medal to mark the second anniversary of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Continue reading “Biden Will Award 12 Who Defended Capitol, Blocked Big Lie On Jan 6 Anniversary”Trump Who?
There’s a dog not barking here that may be obvious but is worth mentioning. It’s not just that Donald Trump’s low-energy endorsement of Kevin McCarthy isn’t carrying the day. It’s that Trump’s name hasn’t really come up at all. Lauren Boebert, in her nominating speech, name-checked him to note how his endorsement of McCarthy was not swaying her. But that’s the exception that proves the rule. Not in the sense that she’s not taking Trump’s guidance but because she’s even discussing him. Trump’s wishes, feelings, threats, anger and really anything else about him are just completely absent from this entire drama. In a way that is the biggest story here.
It’s Messy and It’s Fine
I thought it was worth making a simple point. The spectacle of the last two days is an embarrassment. The House GOP and really the GOP generally has shown itself incapable of governing in the most basic sense. But I’ve heard some suggestions that this is sort of a lo-fi reenactment of the events of two years ago: more chaos, more craziness, more dysfunction. It’s worth pushing back a bit on that appraisal. This is democracy. If anything there is something a bit invigorating about seeing vote after vote where the outcome, immediate or eventual, isn’t at all clear. One vote, followed by various frenzied negotiation, another vote, followed by more.
Continue reading “It’s Messy and It’s Fine”