The Daily Escape:
Cherry Trees in spring, Japan
From the NYT: (emphasis by Wrongo)
Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees.
The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, had previously worked.
It is difficult to say which Cabinet Secretary is the worst member of the Trump administration. EPA head Scott Pruitt makes the list, judging by his personal proclivities, and that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s destructive impact is far-reaching.
But Wrongo’s vote goes to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for doing the most damage to America because of her undermining of America’s education system. And her relentless efforts continue the entrapment of millions of young people in the for-profit student loan system that has now reached $1.5 trillion. This will threaten America’s economy for decades.
More from the NYT: (emphasis by Wrongo)
During the final months of the Obama administration, the team had expanded to include a dozen or so lawyers and investigators who were looking into advertising, recruitment practices and job placement claims at several institutions, including DeVry Education Group. The investigation into DeVry ground to a halt early last year. Later, in the summer, Ms. DeVos named Julian Schmoke, a former dean at DeVry, as the team’s new supervisor.
With the reorganization, now just three employees still work on the team, their mission has been scaled back to focus on processing student loan forgiveness applications.
This is Trumplandia, where agencies are run based on the personal motivations of the head of the agency. DeVos has long had personal and financial interest in the for-profit segment of education. She has pursued funding of private charter schools and religious schools using public funds.
Corporations and moneyed interests now directly control several of our key agencies. Trump has opened the doors wide to industry lobbyists. Pruitt is running the EPA at the behest of industry, at the expense of the well-being of the American people. Zinke is out to shrink public lands to aid private interests.
People who want the best for the nation clearly are not welcome in the Trump administration.
This is another reason for people to go out and vote in huge numbers in November. It is the only way to change the dangerous course that Trump has placed us on.
And it’s not simply Trump. This is who and what the GOP is now.
Time to take the country back from those in Washington who see privatization as the holy grail of corporatism.
People are talking about impeachment if the Democrats take back the House in 2018. Rather than focusing on Trump, the idea should be to impeach DeVos. The Constitution provides for impeachment of cabinet secretaries.
But, it will be tough to choose between Pruitt and DeVos when it comes to high crimes and misdemeanors.
