Author Archives: Curtiswselby
They say not to write a blog from a tired space, but I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, so frankly, everything I do is from a tired space. Likely I'm not doing the greatest job of search engine optimization. But I know there are others like me. Passionate about life.
Big Media and Big Pharma
It’s Not a Game, Its Just a Rout
youtube.com/clip/UgkxqFGoyZvNP3_-fBOrX_XaG1z-qSXQooEX
If our ability to oppose power were real, then I’d say the system if fair. But neither is true.
I’m Thankful That We No Longer Have A Corrupt Governor Like David Walters…
Does anyone else remember the 90s? Not the gay 90s of the 1800s, but the wild 90s of the 1900s. Bush Sr. started the decade off right with the war of dubious morality. While he proved he was no wimp, the perception that he had broken his promises of “read my lips, no new taxes” led to his embarrassing loss to an upstart Governor of Arkansas (Arkansas no less) Bill Clinton. And the Oklahoma Democratic party gave one of their last gasps (though not quite their last one) when they got David Walters elected Governor. This was around the time when yours truly was turning Conservative, and I was listening to Rush Limbaugh and believing much of what he said. I was learning the Republican = Good, and Democrat = Bad. Governor Walters got embroiled in a scandal, and while he never resigned and never admitted to being guilty (except…you know…when he pleaded guilty) his political career was over. And in my youthful arrogance, I thought I understood all about it, and gloated over most of his misfortunes. But not over the death of his son. You NEVER gloat over pain involving children. After what I’ve gone through, I’m glad I didn’t. NOBODY deserves to lose a son. Except for people who abuse them.
I’ll post a link here for anyone who wants to remember that historic moment.
First off, let’s look at the number of scandals. As far as I can find and remember, Governor Walters was involved in two scandals (at any rate, they happened under his watch). I’ll leave a link here if you want to read further. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=SC001
Let’s see if I’m able to count high enough for the Stittenator.
I got on this kick because it suddenly dawned on me, while I was writing the last post, that it seems as if Ryan Walters, Governor Stitt’s Mini Me in education, rose awfully swiftly through the ranks. And I’ve been pondering…how did he do it? Was he related to David Walters?
As far as your Tired Blogger can find, he is not. In fact, my search shows that David Walters is no fan of Stitt, and criticizes him vociferously on Twitter (so well, in fact, I started following him).
Let’s do a quick comparison between the two governor’s scandals.
By a Tired Blogger’s count, Stitt is at least indirectly involved in 8 different scandals. I gather that figure from reading this site: https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/10/25/our-state-under-stitt-government-at-the-speed-of-business/
Second, let’s compare the dollar amounts involved. Under Governor Walter’s we were pressuring him to resign over…wait for it, the amount of money is truly breathtaking…$13,500! No wonder we are in such a poor state, when governors get 13,500 more in contributions than legally allowed.
How much is the dollar amount Stitt stands accused of (in the public media)? According to The Tulsa World, there’s at least $68 million involved. To be fair, not all of that was during Stitt’s watch, yet he seems to be unwilling to do anything but throw the blame on Joy Hoffmeister. This figure is as of 2015, so let’s say half of this is on Mary Fallon and half on Stitt. So that would be $34 million. The no-bid debacle with ClassWallet amounts to $8 million. The Swadley’s BBQ fiasco: $12.4 million according to The Oklahoman. The establishment of a Covid-19 lab that was never used at all cost us $8.5 million according to https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/lab/oklahoma-lab-struggling-after-move-privatization-8-things-to-know.html
$5.4 million was spent on PPE that was never delivered. $2.6 million was spent on the spiffy wonder drug hydroxychloroquine. And the controversial plan to buy 1,000 electric vehicles from Canoo Inc, that contract is worth $50 million.
Now to break out the abacus…Carry the 8….take it times e….add the square root of Cthulhu’s birthday in a Non-Euclidean universe…. 120.9 million dollars.
Last of all, which of these governors has the coziest relationship with the media? Neither of them has (had) a great relationship with the local media, but I think there are some telling differences.
The death of Governor Walter’s son by suicide was reported the day after it happened. We didn’t find out about Governor Stitt’s son being arrested for drunk and disorderly with weapons on Halloween until after the election, conveniently enough. OKC Fox reported the incident five days ago…on the 18th. Best I can gather, the police chose to file charges, but the DA sat on the paperwork.
Having compared the two, I believe I will take Governor Walter’s 15 grand over Stitt’s $120 million. My math isn’t great, but it looks to me Walter’s hornswoggled a whole lot less, and suffered a whole lot more for it.
Likely I’m being unfair, but I’d be curious if we look up Laura Thomas a year from now, will we see some advancement in her career? And the officer involved, Katlin Dawn Long…if we look her up a year from now, will we find her career stalled? Maybe I’m being unfair, but I think it would be an interesting exercise in journalism if someone would keep track of these folks.
I promised to talk about the Epic fiasco, and I’ll at least begin to talk about it in this post. Give me a second while I change gears.
This is a hornet’s nest, and to be fair to Stitt, the problem goes all the way back to Mary Fallon. I’ll leave three links here so you can read further if you wish.
https://kfor.com/news/local/timeline-epic-charter-schools-years-of-alleged-wrongdoing/
The OSBI opened an investigation of Epic in 2013 at the behest of Mary Fallon. So I’ll give her some points for that. Epic was founded by Ben Harris and David Chaney. I wonder if they started it with a computer and $1000?
According to KFour: “Epic recruited teachers based on a pay scale where they were paid $1,000 per student per year. Epic teachers and families of students were encouraged to recruit more students for Epic. Teachers were given pay bonuses for each student they recruited, and families were given a bonus credited to their Student Learning Fund account for each student they recruited. The bonuses were paid with state funds and created a situation similar to a pyramid scheme. The more students that were recruited the more money Chaney and Harris made…
“Investors recruit additional investors (students) and are paid a bonus dependent on the number of investors recruited. The bonus is a small portion of the money the management/owners at the top of the pyramid receive from the addition of each investor. Even though the low-level recruiters make money through their bonus payments, the owners/managers make more money. The difference with Epic is that low-level investors (teachers/students) don’t lose money because the money is provided by the State of Oklahoma for each student enrolled.”
These words are nearly verbatim from the probable cause affidavit from the OSBI.
Channel 4 continues: “Most of the upper-level administration consisted of either family or personal friends of Chaney, Harris, or Brock,” the report states, adding that Chaney and Harris often gave expensive gifts worth thousands of dollars.
“The report says that Epic’s recruitment led to teachers at private schools becoming teachers for Epic, and simultaneously enrolling their private school students as public-school students at Epic. The teachers were then paid by both entities.”
I don’t know about you, but I think that is brilliant! The best of both worlds! If only Amway were taking notes I might sign on with them again.
“Investigators found that students from St. John’s Christian Heritage Academy, St. Peter and Paul Catholic School, Bridge of Hope and Rising High Christian Academy were dual enrolled with Epic.
“Some parents whose children were enrolled in these schools had no knowledge their children were fraudulently enrolled in Epic. A parent confirmed her child was enrolled in RHCA, but never enrolled the child in Epic. An administrator of RHCA reported she had an ‘arrangement’ with Epic that provided RHCA with supplies and services in exchange for the enrollment of RHCA students,” the report claimed.”
There is more on this topic here: https://www.courthousenews.com/giant-online-charter-school-probed-for-ghost-students/
“Harris directed and controlled the establishment and relationship between Community Strategies and CS-CA in a manner that would ultimately profit the expansion of their brand ‘Epic’ to California at the expense of Oklahoma tax dollars,” the report stated.
“Even before a California charter school was created, funds from Oklahoma taxpayers were being pledged to create a public charter school in California.”
“Epic did not perform required background checks on their instructors. Epic paid for extracurricular activities for Epic students in organizations whose coaches were not certified by the Oklahoma Secondary School Athletic Association,” the affidavit states.
“Chancey said he tried to correct problems at Epic, but Chaney and Harris would appeal to the education department. If the agency didn’t support Epic, Chancey claimed that Harris and Chaney would have their attorney threaten to sue the Graham Public School District.”
So…we are going to teach the students without certification, even though we are paying them twice over from Oklahoma taxes. What about their safety? What about the level of student education? If some parents had no knowledge of the enrollment of their children in the school, how could these students be given grades? I wonder what would happen if we opened some of the grade books? In a university, I have it on good authority from a non-disclosed source, that grades must be posted by the Wednesday after finals. But how can you post grades for children who aren’t even aware they are enrolled? Do you just flunk them? I’d think there would be a lot of angry parents…
I wonder what we would find if we opened up the grade books at some of these schools. I wonder what Screwtape would say?
The Tulsa World reports on how the Pandemic made banner profits for the virtual school. At one point they were the largest school in Oklahoma according to The Oklahoman. On April April 14 of 2021, the school released a flow chart of how all their funding worked. At this point, the founders had not yet been arrested, but the audit requested by Governor Stitt likely caused them to think the gig might be up.
The end of the story is, lots of people are pointing fingers and blaming others, three men with a unique but likely illegal business plan were arrested, and the Epic school with all its glitter and flash has been downgraded in its “accreditation status changed to “Accreditation with Probation” according to channel four.
What has all of this got to do with Governor Stitt!? Stay tuned Friday for more Tired Blogging, and we’ll find out!
Tulsa King or Tiger King? No, Just Stitt Dissing the Teachers
Weary apologies here, I said I’d have a post about Stitt by Friday. While I did post some things, none of them were about Stitt. So let’s begin. This post is going to be about how Stitt is terrible for Oklahoma education. I will link to the previous posts below.
https://wordpress.com/post/tiredmidnightblogger.com/3747
https://wordpress.com/post/tiredmidnightblogger.com/3715
The subject of Oklahoma teaching is (like a lot of the things I blog about) a source of contention to some of my friends. My best friend is a teacher, but then another of my closest friends is a hard-core conservative who is not too keen on the teachers union. Obviously, my sympathy lies with teachers, but my more logical conservative friends do have points we should not ignore. I’m going to state those points here, and please, if you are an intelligent conservative, leave any constructive criticism in the comments if you feel I misstate or mistake the position. The post is not going to be about these points, but I want to give the thinking opposition the credit for having intelligent and often correct ideas.
Looking at various articles, left, right, and centrist, its hard to pick and choose and yet be fair and respectful. But here is my effort. Remember, your Tired Blogger was conservative at one point of his life, so while these are not technically my views, I held very similar views in the not too distant past.
- While there is a correlation between higher education and higher income, there are also quite a few examples (though often exaggerated) of multi billionaires with little or no formal education.
- For the past century or more, there appears (at least to the conservatives) to be an enormous bias toward left-wing ideologies. Many conservatives feel that colleges are little more than breeding grounds for Communism, Anarchism, drug experimentation, sexual deviancy, and disrespect for both parental and governmental (well, Republican governmental) authority. Many points (some with and some without good evidence) to the propensity of teachers toward Democrat ideals.
- I was blessed with an incredibly positive school with amazing teachers, but I have learned that this is not the experience many are granted. Many of my friends tell me stories of sexism, ideological indoctrination, abuse, and incompetence. Can we really blame these folks for not having a high opinion of the modern American school system?
There is more, but I think that is enough for the discussion at hand. I’m not here to tell you what to think. If you are a conservative and all the above is true to you and then some, I’m not trying to convince you to change your mind. If you are liberal and all of the above is hogwash, I’m not here to change your mind.
I’m here to tell you that Kevin Stitt is NOT good for you, the schools, or the children of Oklahomans. He is failing Oklahoma education. (Ah…..finally the Tired Blogger gets to the point…only two hours in). I’ll be posting these sites:
https://freepressokc.com/stitt-scandals-piling-up-as-education-relief-fund-misuse-is-exposed/
https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/10/27/making-the-grade-has-stitt-fulfilled-his-education-promises/
https://kfor.com/news/oklahoma-legislature/ok-gov-stitt-targets-teachers-unions-in-executive-order/
From freepressokc.com we find the most execrable list of mishandled covid-19 funds that your Tired Blogger could ever imagine :
“Although undoubtedly some of these items were purchased as part of a “We’re going to Best Buy!” windfall shopping spree, the journalists included computers, laptops, tablets, headphones, most chairs, tables, desks and even game systems as education expenses, all in the service of isolating ClassWallet purchases that were definitely, absolutely not educational.
“These included dishwashers, car amplifiers, home theater equipment, brad nailers and air compressors, scooters and a vintage Pac-Man arcade game. Oh, and at least 548 televisions that total around $191,000.
“Now, I’m not shocked that some Oklahoma parents sold out their kids’ education for an air fryer or a new washer and dryer set while shouting “Let’s Go Brandon” to anyone within earshot. What’s completely inexcusable is that Stitt and Secretary of Education (Broheim Division) Ryan Walters did not put any safeguards on the system to keep people from abusing it. Instead of helping kids, Stitt “made it rain.”
They reference an OKlahomawatch.org. article about the incredible mishandling of the funds. I’ll leave that link here, and then quote from it.
This article relates about how Stitt and his protégé Ryan Walters rushed the dispersal of funds. To be fair, we were in a pandemic, and I don’t doubt that it would be easy to panic and make a mistake attempting to get things taken care of quickly.
But I think this one is a doozy.
Walters, who at the time was only a teacher, negotiated a contract with a Florida based software company ClassWallet to expedite the process. (Why is a mere teacher doing high level negotiations for our state? Hey Brook!!! Why aren’t you negotiating acquisitions for the state? I can think of quite a few items we need to buy…I’ll send you a Christmas wish list.)
Again, not upset yet, except I’m baffled why a teacher is doing all the negotiations. I mean, I get Governor Stitt didn’t have time to do that what with all his barbecuing, inspecting Air Force toilet seats, and fighting woke culture to save the purity of our precious bodily fluids. But…why wasn’t the head of Education doing that? Or even just a fricken’ superintendent? (Brook!? Ain’t Mary in administration? Can’t she negotiate some sweet Christmas gifts for us all?) Then it gets kinda sticky.
“While most parents spent the money on educational supplies, Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier found nearly half a million dollars in questionable purchases. Families also bought pressure washers, car stereo equipment, coffee makers, exercise gear and smart watches. “
According to the article, Stitt and Walters assumed that ClassWallet would oversee the dispersal of funds. Makes sense, especially since this is obviously the responsibility of someone in state government! Oddly enough, ClassWallet saw it differently, assuming the state would have the common sense to do its job. But they were wrong.
“Oklahoma ultimately returned $2.9 million in unspent relief money to the federal government intended to support students and teachers. ClassWallet ended the Bridge the Gap program one day early after federal investigators and attorneys for the state discovered the company was operating on an expired contract with almost no government supervision.
“Federal auditors are now investigating how the Stitt administration awarded the ClassWallet contract and distributed relief money, but the report has yet to be released.
“ A U.S. Department of Education review of Bridge the Gap and the private school voucher program, Stay in School, found that Oklahoma implemented few safeguards to prevent fraud or abuse. Records obtained by Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier show the state placed no limits on what items families could purchase from vendors.”
Walters and Stitt both claim this program was a smashing success, and say it should be used as a model for the future on how to disperse emergency funds. I might agree if I could have one of those TVs…..
Evidently, the purpose of using ClassWallet was to get around the federal mandate that forbade states from dispersing money directly to parents. While I’m no fan of bureaucracy, I think in this case the mandate has been proven justified. Unless…you know…I can have a TV…in which case the damned Federal government should quit sticking its nose in our business!
“
“But states could get around the ban by awarding the funds to an eligible entity “that provides services to students,” which could then distribute money to parents and students.
Publicly, the Stitt administration said the educational nonprofit Every Kid Counts Oklahoma would manage the Bridge the Gap program. The organization was less than 6 months old at the time. Walters served as its executive director.
“Yet none of the federal relief money passed through Every Kid Counts before it was parsed out to parents in small grants to spend through the ClassWallet platform, the nonprofit said in a statement.
“Instead, the Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, a state agency that oversees teacher certification, sent ClassWallet a paper check for $17.35 million (the program amount, minus ClassWallet’s fee) via certified mail in August 2020.”
“Dan Craig, who was the agency’s executive director at the time, said Rogers [who was then the secretary of State and Education] asked him to sign the contract with ClassWallet. He said in an interview with Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier that he thought the money was simply supposed to pass through his agency to ClassWallet and the company would oversee the rest.
Craig, who left the office in 2021 to be superintendent of Kingfisher Public Schools, was soon fielding questions from federal monitors about how the state was tracking family purchases.
By fall 2020, ClassWallet still had about 1,000 Bridge the Gap grants to distribute and the end of the company’s contract with the state was looming. More time was needed to get all of the money out.
Stitt raised the income cap and extended the deadline so more families could apply. ClassWallet continued to distribute federal relief money to families even after its contract with the state expired on Dec. 30, 2020, records show.
ClassWallet CEO Jamie Rosenberg acclaimed the transaction as “incredibly successful.” And he is correct. His company saw profits triple during the pandemic. I wonder why…?
Ok…so he mishandled millions in Covid-19 funds. That doesn’t really mean he is bad for education! Maybe he just felt squeamish about handling other people’s money (which would explain how he was so successful at banking).
He’s so diligent, in fact, about handling other people’s money that he has written an Executive Order to protect the teachers from their predatory union. According to Oklahoma News channel 4: “Governor Kevin Stitt has issued an Executive Order to ensure Oklahoma’s teachers’ and school district employees’ right to decline an invitation and fees to join a union.
“It is time we fight back against the liberal unions that have been keeping a stranglehold on their cut of teacher pay, and stand up for Oklahoma educators’ first amendment rights,” said Governor Stitt. “Teachers should know they have the freedom to opt-in not opt-out of unions.”
“The order “urges the State Board of Education to take action to ensure that payroll deductions meet the requirements of state and federal law and that school district employees are fully informed of their First Amendment rights.”
Man! That sounds so good. So Conservative. Stick it to that liberal pile of filth that is the Teacher’s Union. Only…the order is pointless grandstanding.
“KFOR reviewed the Oklahoma Constitution and found mandatory unions are a misdemeanor under current law.
No one should be required, as a condition of employment, to:
– Resign from voluntary union membership;
– Become or remain a union member;
– Pay dues, fees, or charges of any kind to a labor union;
– Pay a pro rata portion of dues to any third party, in lieu of union payments; or
– Be recommended, approved, referred, or cleared by a union.
Union dues or fees may not be deducted from an employee’s wages without their authorization.”OKLAHOMA CONSTITUTION (ART. 23, § 1A)
To be fair, Stitt is a businessman and not a lawyer. Maybe he was just unaware that his order was an empty gesture. KFOR reached out to the Oklahoma Education Association and received this comment: “The Oklahoma Education Association is a respected organization that works tirelessly to protect and advocate for our public schools. We have always been an opt-in organization since our first meeting in 1889. We follow all state and federal laws and always have. The Supreme Court decision on JANUS also has no effect on Right to Work states like Oklahoma. The Executive Order filed on August 19, 2022 is a baseless attack on the voices of educators ahead of an important election. This only distracts from real issues like the educator shortage crisis and Oklahoma ranking 49th in education funding. The 90% of Oklahoma children who attend public schools and the professionals who serve them deserve better.”KATHERINE BISHOP, OKLAHOMA EDUCATION ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT”
I can personally vouch that my best friend, who is a teacher, would not join the union for a long time because he is a conservative Republican. It was only in the last few years when the Union actually started obtaining some of the benefits his family needed that he finally joined the union.
We’ve established Stitt has (badly) mishandled Covid-19 funds meant for education. But that doesn’t prove he’s bad for education…right?
The real measure of a man is how he keeps his promises. I don’t claim I’ve been perfect myself, but if Stitt is good for education, we’ll be able to see in his record promises either kept, or at least some strong efforts at keeping them.
Jennifer Palmer with Oklahoma Watch reminds us that the teacher walk out happened just about the same time Stitt was being elected. She reminds us that Stitt promised to “improve education and make Oklahoma “a top 10 state.””
Stitt made it a goal to make Oklahoma a top 10 state when it came to education (he has nearly succeeded when it comes to violent crime, as Oklahoma now ranks 14th in the nation).
‘In 2018, Oklahoma’s average teachers’ salary ranked third in the region following the $6,000 boost. Stitt approved another raise in his first year in office, allocating $59 million for an average increase of $1,220.
“That put Oklahoma’s average compensation for a classroom teacher at $54,096 in 2021-22, the latest available data. That includes retirement and health insurance premiums, benefits valued at about $16,900 a year — or about one-third of a teacher’s total compensation.
“Oklahoma ranks fourth among surrounding states by that measure and 34th in the nation. Colorado, Texas and New Mexico reported higher teacher compensation — meaning the state lost ground under Stitt.”
So we have gone from 3rd to 4th…and yet Stitt claims this as a win and promise kept. He says that of the seven surrounding states, Oklahoma ranks first when you factor in cost of living.
So let’s say in some Non-Euclidean universe he has at least made progress. What are we to make of the fiasco that is Epic Schools? Stitt ordered an audit in the midst of the Pandemic. Joy Hoffmeister, who was then the Superintendent of schools (and was at the time a Republican) claimed he had done this on purpose to essentially pay back the teachers for the insult of winning a pay raise with the teacher walk outs. There is no way to prove whether or not this is true, but what was brought to light was nothing short of disgusting.
“State Auditor Cindy Byrd has called it “the largest amount of reported abuse of taxpayer funds in the history of this state.”
“A grand jury investigating called the school board’s cozy relationship with the management company “a system ripe for fraud” that allowed the owners to make a substantial personal profit “on the backs of Oklahoma students.”
“To Oklahoma Watch’s questions, Stitt said the important thing is to separate Epic the school from Epic’s management company.
“That management company is gone…so don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. We have to have vendors in our state, and as soon as we find out there’s a bad vendor, we’re going to sue that vendor,” he said.
“Epic Youth Services is no longer managing the school. Epic’s school board severed ties with the company after the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board moved to revoke the school’s authorization to operate. The company is suing the school for more money, and the school is countersuing.
“But the type of management arrangement criticized by the grand jury is still allowed under Oklahoma law.
“Stitt blames the state Education Department for Epic, claiming it was “asleep at the wheel.” Hofmeister said her efforts to hold Epic accountable were routinely blocked by the governor, including in 2020 when she recommended probation for the school, and the Stitt-appointed Board of Education rejected the move.
“Hofmeister said her agency used “all legal authority to root out waste, fraud and abuse by Epic.” Unlike many other state agencies, the department does not have subpoena power, and state statute doesn’t permit the superintendent to request an investigative audit of a school. Only the governor, attorney general, senate pro tem, house speaker or the state board of education may do so.
“Epic’s co-founders and chief financial officer now face criminal charges for allegedly embezzling school funds. Their arrests called into question whether the donations they made to political campaigns over the years were actually embezzled funds. Both Stitt and Hofmeister received donations from Epic-connected individuals.”
This post is running long, but I feel I’ve made a pretty strong argument that Stitt (and honestly, possibly Joy Hoffmeister as well) is not good for education. I feel I need to make another post about this. Wednesday (hopefully, I know I just trounced Stitt for breaking promises) I hope to write more about the Epic situation, and possibly about Oklahoma’s battle to keep pornography out of the schools. Stay tuned for more Tired Blogging! And until Stitt reveals how he made millions from a mere thousand…make mine Marvel. (And don’t sue me, Disney).
Normally I would leave you with a video. This time I’m going to leave with some images to consider. These images may not persuade, but I think they should be considered. Thanks for reading.
It’s All Spiritual
youtube.com/clip/UgkxX30Jqf82QO5wYeFB-RAdJAPcy347hAw3
Things truly will work out.
Let’s Crush the Hidden People
youtube.com/clip/UgkxqMp4gwrPqKz2beDrPYW07Ij-ALEMyz08
This has been going on for at least 30 years.
My Son, I Did My Best to Get You Justice
youtube.com/clip/Ugkx6Fvy86quQEY4hK2rJ7wPLiFBGzUFI017
I would give all the rest of my life if I could simply see justice done for the abused children. But I doubt it comes. It never did for me. But it would be sweet to see.
Voting Results: Three Reasons Why the Last Election Makes a Tired Blogger Sad
There were not many surprises for me in the last election. People keep saying that things are changing, but they seem like the same old corruption to me. I was told after some personal disappointments that I should write a fun post. I don’t know at this point what that would be, but I have a lot of fun poking fun at corrupt politicians.
So let’s get started on three reasons Stitt’s reelection irritates a Tired Blogger.
- Oklahoma does not care about honesty.
- Oklahoma basically told teachers and our children to go kick rocks.
- Oklahomans listen more to social media than to the candidates themselves, and that only exacerbates our other profound problems.
Let’s begin the roasting.
I may be alienating some of my readers here, but I’m not terribly proud of my state tonight. I’ll try to be objective here, but I’m already emotional from personal stuff, and the election didn’t help.
Let me explain. I don’t have anything against anyone who voted for Stitt because they researched and found that they found Stitt’s ideology to fit better than Joy’s. I don’t have anything against anyone who saw a few mud-slinging ads linking Joy to Biden and voting because “Biden is bad.” But if you read the next two articles and still would vote for him “just because he is Republican,” you my fellow Oklahoman, are a big part of what is wrong with the whole fricken’ country.
I take my information about Stitt’s honesty from these websites:
https://oklahomawatch.org/2022/10/25/our-state-under-stitt-government-at-the-speed-of-business/
Oklahomawatch.org tells us there have been several instances of misspending, “much of it from no-bid contracts.” Here is their list of examples:
- A no-bid contract for pandemic school supplies worth $8 million.
- The Tourism Department hiring barbecue company Swadley’s to renovate and run restaurants at state parks with enhanced management fees.
- Privatizing the operations at the state’s relocated public health lab, where much of the new equipment sat unused.
- Paying up front for $5.4 million in personal protective equipment that was never delivered.
- More than $2.6 million spent on hydroxychloroquine, a once-promising treatment for COVID-19.
- A purchasing waiver so the state could make a commitment to buy 1,000 electric vehicles from financially shaky startup Canoo Inc.
Oklahomawatch.org also points out his lack of transparency. While he complains about $20 million in “dark money” being spent against him, demanding that the names of the donors be disclosed. “But he refused to provide details as a massive incentive package moved through the Legislature at record speed this year, citing a non-disclosure agreement he signed. More recently, secrecy agreements have been cited as he raised money for a new governor’s mansion, according to TV station KFOR. Oklahoma Watch had to sue the state to get access to billions in requests for federal pandemic relief money under the American Rescue Plan Act.”
I can hear my fellow Republicans now. “Yeah, he misspent some money, but I am not perfect with my budget either. We can cut him some slack.” Ok, fair enough. What does kgou.org have to say? Maybe they have something to say that will change my mind about the governor who looks most like a b-rate actor from a bottomlessly awful Hitchcock rip off.
According to KGOU.org “Stitt told host Tucker Carlson that someone could “show their Indian card” and get a criminal conviction overturned. He was referencing cards that show citizenship in the six Oklahoma-based tribes that have jurisdiction to prosecute crimes that happen on their lands following the 2020 Supreme Court decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma.” KGOU.org states that this is patently false, but you needn’t just take their word for it.
According to themarshallproject.org the ruling can be seen several different ways, but the Native American Tribes mostly see it as a victory for the partial independence they have struggled for so long. The truth according to this article is that rather than going free, all the Supreme Court ruling means is that Native Americans can, if they so choose, decide to be retried by the Federal Court system instead of the state court system that convicted them in the first place.
According to Pew Research, 83% of trials in Federal Court result in conviction, whereas Oklahoma State cases result in…please stand by as your Tired Blogger searches diligently for these figures…in the meanwhile, I’ll provide the Pew Research site…
Twenty minutes later, I still can find no figures. I may have to give up on this aspect of the analysis. But even without numbers to go on, I think it is a safe bet that roughly 83% of those that attempt to have their cases retried will still be convicted. Oklahoma does have the second highest incarceration rate in the world, so it’s possible that might be a fair number of releases.
I didn’t stutter…and no, I don’t mean in the US…I mean in the world…don’t believe me? Check out this site https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/mniebc/oc_louisiana_oklahoma_have_the_highest/
Based on that data, Stitt may be right…a floodgate of criminals may go free, not because many of them will get exonerated, but simply because we have SO MANY locked up. How many of them are Native Americans (the only demographic this Supreme Court ruling impacts)?
According to prisonpolicy.org, in 2017 there were 3133 Native Americans incarcerated in Oklahoma. If all of them apply to be retried, and there was the usual 83 % Federal conviction rate, this leaves us with 533 prisoners that might conceivably be freed. So on one hand, Stitt’s fears are not wholly ungrounded, but they are drastically exaggerated. According to the same site, Oklahoma releases 9365 people every year. This means a 5.69% increase in prison release. Roughly one more out of twenty.
I’m not saying Stitt or those who support him are 100% wrong, but I do believe he has overdramatized the situation, and while the Tribes may be “super liberal” as he likes to say, allowing them to handle more of their own internal issues does not worry me. What worries me is a willingness to pander to our baser fears. When I listen to him I can’t help but feel like he’s feeding off the age old Oklahoma fear of the Native American. Almost as though he were suggesting that allowing them to try more of their own cases (or, as is most likely, just having the Feds handle more of them) is just one step away from the Ghost Dance invoking the Great Spirit to drive us all from their lands. Who knows…maybe they should…
Well, your Tired Blogger is exceptionally tired. I will continue this series on Friday when I will tell all my friends in education to get stuffed. Till then, thanks for reading, and make mine marvel!
Put an “R” in Front of It and Oklahoma Will Vote For IT
Please watch the video, it will make the rest of my post make more sense.
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6315063835112
I had so many friends that voted for Stitt, and I had so many vote against him. My next post (I hope) is going to be a Tired Blogger analysis of Governor Stitt.
As you can likely tell from my title, I’m not a fan. But it is altogether likely that I am being unfair. Maybe I have allowed my life to color my views too much. Maybe I should be more objective. Maybe I should give the man a break.
Ok…seriously…while I may not be the most objective writer on this topic, I want to do a Tired Blogger analysis of the Fox Interview above.
He actually handles the interview very well at first. “Oklahomans are too smart” to fall for the “lies” put forth by his opponents. The Oklahoma economy is doing great (I’ll get to that in another post). We have the biggest surplus in history (again, I’ll get to that in another post).
Then we get to the part where the Faux News reporter challenges him. J. C. Watts endorsed Joy Hoffmeister. Not gonna lie, whoever was in the right in this election, that had to hurt. Did anyone else notice his response?
Stitt’s defense of J. C. Watt’s statement that there has been too much corruption under Stitt was met with “He’s on the board of Pay Pal. He’s like a George Soros of Oklahoma.”
I gotta admit…these were fighting words to me. Who should I believe? Stitt, or Watts?
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=WA046
https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/23468
https://www.encyclopedia.com/african-american-focus/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/watts-j-c
Doing a quick read of these three sites, I find J. C. Watts is the son of a politically active farmer. His father was a city council member, and his brother was President of the Oklahoma NAACP. He was elected to Congress in a district that was extremely predominantly white and Democrat (I guess some things DO change). He rose to the fourth-ranking position in the house. Since then he has served on the board of directors for the Boy Scouts, a little-known backward school at West Point, and several companies. The New York Times wrote an article about him claiming that the only problem with him was that he thought for himself rather than just touting the party line (does that mean that he, like Lou Ferrigno, is disloyal?). He was good friends with Newt Gingrich (she turned me into a newt!). When he was elected, he was the only…let me repeat that…the ONLY black Republican in the House. Ironically the man who had been discriminated against most of his young life for being black (Barry Switzer took quite a lot of flack in Oklahoma for choosing a colored man to be his head quarterback, I guess courage belongs to all races) was called an Uncle Tom for being a Republican. He was supposed to be a mind-numbed Democrat. But he was his own man, no matter what party he belonged to. After serving eight years, he decided that, while being called “Congressman” was a great honor, it didn’t hold a candle to being called “Dad.” He did not run for a fifth term.
This is the man we are supposed to believe is a blackguard turncoat. We should take Stitt’s word over this man’s words.
Pray tell…why?
Let’s compare him with Stitt. Stitt did…NOT have to overcome racial prejudice. He was a businessman before he came to office. According to him, he grew his multi-million dollar business from a thousand dollars and a computer.
The fact is, I can find that figure all over the place. The one thing your Tired Blogger can’t find is how he did that? I had friends with a few thousand around the same time. How is it that he became a multi-millionaire, and my friends and I are struggling just to get by? I can tell you it was not his dashing good looks or his winning personality. I call a bs that it was a positive mental attitude. So how did he do it?
I promise in my next few posts I’m going to do some digging. But your Tired Blogger is going to leave you with this thought…how he handled money in business is likely similar to how he handled money in government. If we take him at his word he has grown the Community Chest. But so much of that money is under investigation. Am I the only one who’s Spidey Sense is tingling?
Tired Midnight Blogger (What Blogs at Midnight) 