It is always fascinating to research the ways liberals find legislative maneuvers to skirt around the realities of running out of money to pay for their various “social justice” causes.  A review of Baltimore Maryland education spending highlights their approach when they run out of other people’s money.

We say “other peoples money”, because we all know that liberals don’t spend their own money on these programs – instead they develop ways to “reach out” beyond their own economic roadblocks.
In Maryland there is a program called the Geographic Cost of Education Index or GCEI. A liberal legislative maneuver described thusly:

… a discretionary fund for school systems where educational costs are above the state average.

Removing the parseltongue you find the GCEI actually means a state budgetary funding trick to help pay for education within a community that has already exhausted its own ability to fund itself.
Expanding on the reality the GCEI also means: a state budgetary funding trick to pay for unsustainable union wages and benefits for educators within the school system that has exhausted its own ability to fund itself. (more…)

It is a sentiment that runs rampant within the current administration. The State Department says radical Islam will stop beheading if they can just implement a Jobs for Jihadist program; now the Education Secretary says Chicago gangs will stop shooting if they have a Jobs for Thugs program. Then again, we thought the unemployment “problem” was fixed now….
(CNSNews.com) – Education Secretary Arne Duncan said on Tuesday that he has met with gang leaders in his hometown of Chicago and they’ve told him that it’s a lack of jobs that keeps them on the streets.

“We have to have jobs for young people,” Duncan said at the National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention in Crystal City, Va. “I probably shouldn’t say this in a room like this, but occasionally when I go home I’ll sit down with some of the gang leaders – back home in Chicago.” (more…)

Long before anyone was paying attention to Baltimore.

…”It will take hard, collective action to dramatically reduce the overuse of exclusionary discipline and to consistently create positive school climates. But we know it can be done. There are amazing examples all across the country of leadership making a difference. And in fact, it’s being done right here in Baltimore, and right here at Frederick Douglass High School”….

[…] I thank you for your unwavering commitment to equal opportunity for all students and your leadership in rethinking school discipline in Maryland. And I’m so pleased to be joined here today [Frederick Douglas School] by my good friend and colleague, Attorney General Holder.

[…] So today, the Departments of Education and Justice are joining together to release a guidance package on school discipline for a broad range of stakeholders–educators, principals, district administrators, school board members, charter school heads, school resource officers, counselors, social workers, parents, community leaders–and, importantly, students themselves.
[…] This is the first Administration to provide guidance to the public on discrimination in school discipline. And we want to continue to provide leadership on this critical problem going forward to ensure equal opportunity for all students.
[…] Racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem today, and not just an issue from 40 to 50 years ago.
[…] The need to rethink and redesign school discipline practices is long overdue. Too many schools resort too quickly to exclusionary discipline, even for minor misbehaviors (more…)

♦ In 2009 nobody cared when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos participated in daily phone strategy sessions with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
♦ In 2011 nobody cared when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos oddly questioned Mitt Romney, during a presidential debate, about contraceptive coverage under insurance plans.  An entire audience curiously looked at Stephanopolous trying to figure out where that came from.  Then, like magic, a mysterious Democrat Party Platform evolved itself around a college student named Sandra Fluke and her demands for contraceptive coverage.  Which famously evolved further into the 2012 WAR ON WOMEN narrative.
So why exactly is everyone now jaw agape at the revelations that ABC’s George Stephanopoulos gave $75,000 to Hillary Clinton’s foundation?

Let’s be reasonable, with 15 cents of every donated dollar actually going to “charitable endeavors”, the reality is: Stephanopolous gave $11,250 to the Clinton foundation, and bought $63,750 worth of planes, booze and hookers for Bill. (more…)

On April 26th we wrote:

Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer appeared on This Week and faced a very skeptical George Stephanopoulos, who argued that his accusations that Hillary Clinton exchanged favorable treatment from the U.S. State Department for multimillion dollar donations to the Clinton Foundation were unsubstantiated.
However, what ABC doesn’t tell YOU is that Stephanopoulos has a SEVERE conflict of interest about this story as it relates to its 2005 origin and his former Boss Bill Clinton. (link)

After being busted by WFB: “Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Bill Clinton, confirmed the donation to POLITICO’s Dylan Byers after the Free Beacon contacted ABC News for comment“, today tries to apologize for his lack of disclosure…
(Via Politico) ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos has given $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, charitable contributions that he did not publicly disclose while reporting on the Clintons or their nonprofit organization, the On Media blog has learned.
In both 2013 and 2014, Stephanopoulos made a $25,000 donation to the 501 nonprofit founded by former President Bill Clinton, the foundation’s records show. Stephanopoulos never disclosed this information to viewers, even when interviewing author Peter Schweizer last month about his book “Clinton Cash,” which alleges that donations to the foundation may have influenced some of Hillary Clinton’s actions as secretary of state. (more…)

This is like a never ending song with a repeating chorus. It was not long ago the entire Baltimore jail system had to be torn apart and restructured after it was discovered that corrections officers were part of the gang trade, smuggling drugs to prisoners, allowing prisoners to leave jail on weekends, having sex with prisoners and several female officers were pregnant.
Now video discovers Baltimore corrections officers participating in the looting and riots…

Do you know why they’re smiling?  Think about where they’re headed !

(Via Daily Caller) Two correctional officers who work at the Baltimore City jail were suspended without pay Wednesday after video emerged showing them looting a 7-11 store during last month’s riots. (more…)

“Budget Cuttin’ Violence“…

Hank “Tippy Guam” Johnson – During an interview last week on WABE radio’s “A Closer Look” program Johnson said he voted against the GOP budget measure because of its domestic spending cuts and added that its passage could result in violence.

“If we’re not careful the have-nots of this country will rise up like the people in Baltimore,” Johnson said.

“What happened in Baltimore stems from deeper economic issues and if you would take a ride down the streets of some of the greatly impoverished areas of Baltimore where change has not come, where things are the same as they were 50 years ago and have been allowed to grow worse then you will understand the lack of hope of which those riots were born from.” (more…)

Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, handed Obama a stinging defeat Tuesday afternoon when a procedural motion to proceed with the President’s trade bill, “Fast Track”, failed to get the 60 votes necessary to pass.  Only one Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper (Del.), voted for it.

WASHINGTON DC – […]  Fast-track is a top legislative priority for the White House, but it has run into significant Senate opposition that has been led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
It faces even more opposition from Democrats in the House, and the surprise Senate failure will raise doubts about whether the legislation will make its way through Congress.
Labor unions and other left-leaning groups have declared war on the fast-track bill, which they argue would ship jobs overseas. The Senate is generally a more pro-trade body than the House, and it has been easier to move trade agreements through the upper chamber.
(more…)

Grande Lum’s team of CRS “peacekeepers” have been on the ground in Madison Wisconsin for weeks preparing the community to hear that no charges will be filed against police officer Matt Kenny who shot 19-year-old street thug Tony Robinson. (Backstory)
As shared by an eye witness:

…This so called “gentle giant” was high on suspected hallucinagenics, and in a violent, volitile rage, walking down the streets of madison battering citizens, whom were frantically calling 911 for police assistance.
This out of control, violent man, high on acid hallucinagenic drugs, which not only gave him super human strength but made him impervious to pain, then battered a peace officer. Yes a peace officer who’s job that night was to protect the citizens screaming for help, and to protect the community from further harm from this man.
Again a man who made the choice to consume quantities of drugs, that made him a mad man, who was on a mission to critically harm others in his path”… (link)

The police scanner and other witness testimony confirms this account. We previously wrote about it HERE.
Using a CRS organized group called “Black Leadership Council” whose member organizations include: the Dane County NAACP, the African American Council of Churches, black Greek organizations, the Urban League and 100 Black Men of Madison, Lum’s Community Relations Service has been busy trying to aide District Attorney Ismael Ozanne in making the announcement. (more…)

Of course most of those arrested were from husband Nick Mosby’s council district; but, meh, who’s paying attention to those pesky details.

[…]  The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office tells WJZ prosecutors are dropping all charges against individuals arrested solely for curfew violations. They say those arrests were punishment enough. (link)