The US should cancel a lot more than $10,000 in student debt


Nate DiCamillo
Sat, September 3, 2022 

QUARTZ

On paper, US President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan looks pretty good.

The government will forgive $10,000 worth of student debt for those making under $125,000. That’s nearly a third of the average amount owed by student debt holders.

According to White House estimates, the policy wipes out the remaining balances for 20 million Americans—nearly half of all borrowers. This is great given that a third of them have student debt but no college degree, according to the Department of Education.

But these overall numbers obscure one key downside of the plan: It will do little to help borrowers who need it the most, those who hold large amounts of debt and have low incomes.

Though they only make up a small share of student loan holders, their plight is a result of everything that’s wrong with higher education. To address this, many loan reduction advocates were pushing the government to take into account racial disparities and offer more generous relief, said Fenaba Addo, an associate professor of public policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

But could the economy handle any more debt forgiveness without increasing consumer demand and pouring fuel on the inflation fire, like some opponents of debt forgiveness opponents argue? Isn’t Biden’s plan like giving a $10,000 check to millions of Americans?
There are millions of Americans who need way more than Biden’s $10k forgiveness

Most of the 43 million student debt holders account for a small amount of the $1.6 trillion pie, with a small share of borrowers who owe more than $100,000—7%— accounting for nearly 40% of overall student debt, according to College Board data. The result: Biden’s policy gives a big number of people with small burdens a big reprieve, while it barely helps a smaller group of students with large balances.

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More than 8 million borrowers who are on income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, which are determined by the borrower’s discretionary income rather than the amount of student debt they hold, will experience little financial impact from the cancellation.

If a borrower has a middle-class income of $60,000 and $40,000 in student debt, subtracting $10,000 from the balance won’t change their situation. They are still not on track to pay off their debt because their income is so low, making payments under an IDR plan means that the principal of the loan will continue to grow.

While another plan from Biden will put 7.5 million student debt borrowers that are in default back in good standing, nearly a third of all student loan holders have experienced default in the past two decades.Within this group many borrowers have defaulted several times. This is a large portion of the $1.6 trillion overall outstanding amount that the government wouldn’t see even if it wasn’t forgiven.
Student loan borrowers aren’t ready to spend

Claims that canceling student loans will only help rich people or increase inflation ignore what caused the student loan crisis in the first place.

“People are defaulting and being delinquent on their debts because they didn’t have the money to pay for it,” Addo said. “If you don’t have income or wealth, discharging $10,000 doesn’t mean you have income to spend.”

No one has been paying interest on their debt since the federal government paused payments at the start of the pandemic, and the current inflationary environment hasn’t been driven by student loan borrowers buying more stuff than the rest of the population.

Meanwhile, student loan debt has a crushing effect on a person’s financial future—creating a ripple effect across the economy. Economists at the New York Federal Reserve Bank found that student loan holders are less likely to move into higher paying jobs, more likely to default on other types of debt, and more likely to have lower credit scores.

When covid-19 hit the US, these borrowers were in the sectors that were hardest hit by the disease. They are well aware of their precarious financial position. According to the survey of consumer expectations, Americans with student debt are much more likely to fret about defaulting on debt than other Americans.

Many economists believe that cancellation encourages long-term economic decisions (i.e. moving) versus short-term decisions (i.e. buying a new TV). Debt forgiveness improves a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio, so they can borrow more for long-term expenditures like a car, a house, or a small business—in turn stimulating the broader economy.

“Anything that would help people answer some job openings, I think, would be good for the economy,” said Mike Konczal, director of macroeconomic analysis at the Roosevelt Institute.

Opinion: Why is helping young people crushed with debt a handout, but a PPP loan isn’t?

Pat Brothwell
Sun, September 4, 2022 

Pat Brothwell says most politicians are self-absorbed, but few are as blatant about it as Madison Cawthorn.

The notoriously reclusive Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on NewsMax last week to criticize Biden’s student loan forgiveness initiative as “completely unfair” despite records showing that the construction company she and her husband own had $183,504 worth of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven in 2020. Additional reporting by Yahoo News shows that the month after receiving a six-figure PPP loan, then congressional candidate Taylor Green donated $450,000 to her own campaign.

I figured conservative hypocrisy was imminent. I didn’t expect the official White House Twitter to showcase it. Per that account, Pennsylvania Rep Mike Kelly and Florida Rep Matt Gaetz, both vocal critics of loan forgiveness, had $987,237 and $482,321, respectively, in PPP loans forgiven.

Kelly especially stepped in it when he tweeted, “Asking plumbers and carpenters to pay off the loans of Wall Street advisors and lawyers isn’t just unfair, it’s bad policy,” which is willfully misleading. Wall Street advisers and lawyers typically make way over the $125,000 yearly-salary threshold for forgiveness eligibility. Despite what Republican politicians tweet, this isn’t for “elites.”

It’s bailing out indebted college-educated working-class Americans; teachers, nurses, physical therapists, customer success reps, graphic designers, realtors, small-business owners, the people you most likely live and work around, your family, friends, and neighbors.

On April 6, our own Chuck Edwards also tweeted about how “unfair” it would be to forgive student loan debt. On April 19, 2021, Charlotte’s WBTV published an article titled “Lawmakers push for PPP change that would give them tax break.”

Per that piece, “Under a law passed last year, the state currently does not tax PPP loans as income but also prevents businesses from deducting the PPP money that was spent as an expense, functionally making the money a wash. Under the proposals to change the law, PPP loans would remain un-taxed and companies could count the PPP money spent as an expense for the purposes of a tax deduction.”

The primary sponsor of the bill that “passed the committee with a unanimous voice vote, without any public disclosure that many of the lawmakers pushing for the bill owned businesses that accepted PPP money.” was good ole Chuck, who’d accepted a $1.1 million PPP government handout, and who stood to make $40,000 to $50,000 if the bill passed. You know what doesn’t seem fair to me? Using your position of power to create legal loopholes that benefit your wallet.

There’s a war of words that conservatives have perfected for years, and “handout” is the star of this semantic manipulation. Why is it a “handout” for student loans to be forgiven, but with large corporations, it’s always a “bailout?” Why is helping young people crushed with debt a “handout,” but a PPP loan isn’t?” Why are Trump’s two bankruptcies savvy business moves and not socialism?

Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, a man whose legacy needs to promptly be Paterno-ed, tweeted, “Why should a machinist in Ohio pay for the student loans of a jobless philosophy major in Los Angeles?” I’d ask why a machinist in Ohio should pay 435 congressional reps $174,000 annually for a large majority of them to spend more time tweeting than legislating?

See, the rich, the elites (who include multi-time congresspersons profiting off their connections) have done a solid job of fooling many Americans into thinking that they are above handouts or assistance, all while rigging the system with loopholes designed to give them the most government support. We squabble about handouts, the rich get richer.

On Aug. 7, our Senator Thom Tillis tweeted, “This is a slap in the face to middle and working-class Americans already struggling with high inflation who will now have to pay off the debt of higher earners.”

Tillis, however, had no problem voting for Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Acts. Per ProPublica, that bill ensured the top 1% of Americans “reaped nearly 60% of the billions in tax savings created by the provision.” Michael Bloomberg, then the 20th wealthiest person in the world, slashed his taxes by $68 million. Isn’t that a slap in the face to working-class Americans?

Since most cameos in this piece claim to be Christians, I thought we’d end with a quote by my favorite philosopher, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” He also strongly advocated helping anyone less fortunate. Conversely, I scoured the bible, but nowhere found, “Thou shalt provide tax-break handouts to billionaire space enthusiasts.”

Pat Brothwell is a former high school teacher, but current writer and marketing professional living and working in Asheville.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Why is helping young people with debt a handout but PPP loan isn’t?

My students struggle to pay for college. Student loan forgiveness doesn't fix the system.

Larry Strauss
Sun, September 4, 2022 at 4:05 AM·5 min read

If you believe that forgiving $10,000 or $20,000 of a person's student loan debt isn’t fair to those who through hard work and financial responsibility avoided college loans, I won’t argue with you.

If you think the Biden administration's loan forgiveness should have included checks or tax credits for those who made sacrifices to avoid borrowing, I won’t discount your grievance. Although I will say that it is also not fair that anyone who entered adulthood around 2008 was confronted with a dismal job market, or that kids had to grow up and the elderly had to be isolated from their loved ones during a pandemic, or that my father’s generation came of age at the start of a world war. Timing is everything.

And if you want to complain that this latest executive action is pandering to the electorate, you probably aren’t wrong. Politicians are politicians; they want to get reelected.

Debt relief could make problems worse

But please do not think that wiping out thousands of dollars of student loan debt is more than a compress on a hemorrhage. If we do nothing to address the unreasonable cost of a college education along with the fetishizing of so-called elite universities, then this debt relief could make the problem worse in the long run.

This one is personal for me. I have taught too many students who have worked tirelessly, often in excruciatingly challenging circumstances (in fractured families and perilous neighborhoods, poverty, depression, isolation, homelessness and food insecurity) to better themselves and their families, only to smack their heads against the glass ceiling of college tuition.

If you believe that every smart, hard-working, underprivileged student gets a scholarship to college, you are mistaken. There are too many such students and not enough financial aid, government or private, for all of them to afford college.

If you believe that every smart, hard-working, underprivileged student gets a scholarship to college, you are mistaken. There are too many such students and not enough financial aid, government or private, for all of them to afford college. I’ve seen too many kids staring in stunned silence at their financial aid statement and the gap between what a college charges and how much help they will receive.

For many of them it is a deal breaker. A few thousand dollars a year of debt may seem not insurmountable to most of us, but for someone who has never had more than a few dollars in their pocket, who has seen parents struggle to provide basic necessities and keep from living in a car or a shelter, the gap is a psychological assault and a threat to their future.

I question what I've told my students

Colleagues and I have spent hours trying to work through the anxiety and despair with these students, and it has led to my own despair and a professional crisis. Why am I preparing these kids for a college education that could be out of their reach?

And this is in California, which has one of the best and most affordable college systems anywhere. Community colleges are virtually cost-free in our state, but associate of arts degrees open few doors.

We need to expand free or nearly free college to every young person who needs it. And we should demand an explanation from colleges about the ballooning cost. Perhaps there are sound reasons, but if we continue to believe in the efficacy of these institutions, is it not fair to insist on transparency about the money they collect and where it all goes and why the increases seem to always outpace inflation?

If the accusations are true that increased financial aid, including secured loans, has fueled the hyperinflation of post-secondary education, then there ought to be a reckoning about such opportunism and exploitation.

Beyond that, we need to obliterate the elitism that marginalizes students who must, by circumstance, rely on the most affordable options in higher education. I’m not an expert in public policy, but I don’t see how we can legislate against the inequality of college status.

We cannot outlaw college rankings, which validate institutions that reject the most applicants. But rejecting young people who have overcome so much is nothing to be proud of and ought not be used as a measure of the quality of an education.

The influence of educational institutions ought to be measured by the degree to which they make our world a better place – mostly by the post-graduation accomplishments of their students.

Universities ought to lead the charge to deconstruct their own elite status and promote the worth of every deserving college graduate, regardless of the brand on their degree.
'Elite' schools are oversold

Educators in high schools, too. Starting with me. I’m guilty of encouraging students to apply to so-called elite universities, especially the ones with large enough endowments to meet the financial need of all students, if I think they have a chance to get into one. And I brag about my students who do.

It is difficult not to, although I should not use it as a criterion for bragging because I am proud of all my students who have overcome so much to change the trajectory of their lives and of their family's history.

I'm proud of those who have become social workers and teachers and otherwise committed themselves to helping the generations that follow them. I’m also proud of those who’ve become engineers, entrepreneurs, physicians, attorneys, artists and skilled tradespeople.

I shouldn’t perpetuate the idea that a student who managed to get into and through Harvard or Columbia or Bryn Mawr or Wellesley is more worthy of my thrill or satisfaction.

I am just as proud of those students who attended the elite universities but go out of their way to demythologize the false superiority of the education those places offer – and who give props to their peers who have made the most of their education, wherever they attended.

I am proud of those who managed to get through college debt-free or pay off their loans quickly, but I am also happy for those who will now get help with what they still owe.

Larry Strauss has been a high school English teacher in South Los Angeles since 1992. He is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors and the author of more than a dozen books, including "Students First and Other Lies: Straight Talk From a Veteran Teacher" and his new novel, "Light Man." Follow him on Twitter: @LarryStrauss

Larry Strauss, English teacher at Middle College High School in Los Angeles.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's student loan forgiveness is a bandage on a broken system

Don’t consolidate your student loans with a private company if you want forgiveness


Maskot

Alicia Adamczyk
Sun, September 4, 2022 

President Biden's student loan forgiveness program was welcome news for millions of Americans saddled with this debt. But there's already a lot of misinformation circling about how to take advantage of the program. And a Google search isn't necessarily going to direct you to the right answer.

Your loans need to be held by the U.S. Department of Education to be eligible for most kinds of loan relief. Loans held by private banks or financial institutions do not qualify for debt cancellation—and this includes if you had federal loans and you consolidated them with a private lender.

But a Google search of "direct loan consolidation" and "student loan consolidation" on Tuesday populated first with ads from private companies including SoFi and Credible, as Bryce McKibben, senior director of policy and advocacy at The Hope Center, which researches student loans, first reported on Twitter. The Federal Student Aid website is the fourth or fifth result.

That can be confusing for borrowers who do not know better. If they were to consolidate with a private lender right now, they would lose their forgiveness eligibility.

https://twitter.com/bmckib/status/1564663763462426624

After McKibben tweeted about the results, the Federal Student Aid site became the first Google search result for "direct loan consolidation" as of Wednesday. Still, other related search terms populate non-government websites first.

Here's what borrowers need to know about consolidating their loans so they don't miss out on any federal forgiveness programs.
Consolidated loans can still be forgiven—if they are federal loans

There are many reasons someone might consolidate their student loans, including to bring all of your loans under one servicer so your monthly payments are streamlined into a single bill.

And some of the Department of Education forgiveness programs require borrowers consolidate their loans to be eligible. One example is cancellation via the limited Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver.

The waiver allows public servants on the PSLF track to receive credit for partial or late payments they've already made, or for payments made on the wrong repayment plan. To use it, applicants need to first consolidate all of their loans into a Direct Loan.

Borrowers also need to do this to be eligible for income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. These plans can lower a borrower's monthly payment and are eligible for forgiveness after 20 to 25 years.

Additionally, borrowers with loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program can be eligible for forgiveness if they consolidate into a Direct Loan. Plus, consolidating commercial FFEL and Perkins loans into a Direct Loan makes them eligible for the current pause on federal student loan payments and interest accrual, McKibben told Fortune in an email.

But again, that's only if the loans are held by the Department of Education (and serviced by one of the companies it contracts with)—not by a private lender.

"We know for certain that borrowers who consolidate loans that were disbursed on or before June 30, 2022 will be able get forgiveness," McKibben says. That means many commercial FFEL loans and all Federal Perkins Loans are eligible for the cancellation.

That said, the government is still negotiating with the commercial FFEL industry to see if there is a way for borrowers to receive forgiveness without the need for consolidation, according to McKibben.

"We don’t know what timeline they are on, and some borrowers may want to consolidate now to take advantage of the payment and interest pause," he says.
The government won't charge you to consolidate loans

The Department of Education doesn't charge borrowers any fees to consolidate. Private companies may reach out and offer to consolidate your loans for a price, but they have no affiliation with the government.

Private lenders may be able to offer a lower interest rate, although that is unlikely and based on your credit score. But consolidating your federal loans into a private loan has risks—including that you'd lose the option to have your debt forgiven.

Another thing to consider when consolidating, according to McKibben: whether you have a lot of unpaid interest.

"When a borrower consolidates, their interest is capitalized into the principal balance," he says. "If a borrower doesn’t have much accumulated interest, or if the new balance after capitalization would be less than, or very close to, the $10,000/$20,000 offered by cancellation, it makes financial sense to consolidate."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Student loan forgiveness frees up money

 for millions of Americans - but it won't 

spark a spree of stock-buying like 

pandemic stimulus did

Carla Mozée   Sat, September 3, 2022 

President Joe Biden.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

• The Biden Administration is gearing up to deliver $300 billion in student loan forgiveness.

• Unlike pandemic stimulus checks, retail investors are unlikely to use debt relief to rush into stocks.

• Individual investors now have to contend with hot inflation and a slump in asset prices.

The US government's $300 billion student loan forgiveness plan will provide financial relief to millions of Americans, but don't expect a replay of the "stimmy" boom of retail investors who used pandemic stimulus checks to load up on stocks and cryptocurrencies, market experts told Insider.

"I don't expect it to ignite a new meme-stock rally. These are monthly payments that will lead to some of those assets flowing into the market over time that otherwise would have gone to pay off debt. I don't think there's going to be a big wave of capital rushing into the markets," Richard Smith, CEO of RiskSmith, a risk-assessment tool for retail investors, told Insider.

President Joe Biden recently outlined the program that cancels up to $20,000 for some borrowers of federal student loans. More than 43 million people will be eligible under income requirements.

"While the effects of debt forgiveness may help re-kindle interest in highly speculative assets such as crypto or meme stocks by the younger generations, we believe the impact will be smaller than during the distribution of government stimulus checks," Marco Iachini, senior vice president of research at Vanda Research, said in emailed comments. Vanda tracks US retail investing activity in individual stocks and ETFs.

Debt forgiveness "will probably have a marginally positive impact on middle- and lower-income consumers over the long-run, but it is unlikely to have a meaningful impact on the economy or stock market near-term," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird.

"Stimmy" phase 

Retail investors stormed the stock market in 2021 as they drove huge gains in meme stocks including GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Many young people used stimulus- or "stimmy" - money to battle hedge funds shorting such stocks.

Student debt forgiveness applications will start in October and about 8 million people will be processed automatically. During the pandemic, the government sent three rounds of stimulus checks, and individual tax filers received a total of $3,200 between April 2020 and March 2021 via checks or bank deposits.

"Those checks replenished cash accounts as soon as they hit citizens' mailboxes," said Iachini. From an implementation perspective, loan borrowers may not see the impact until the end of 2022 or early in the first quarter of 2023, he said.

The average monthly student loan payment is around $400-$500, including private loans compared with the stimulus impact of $3,200 for each adult, Vanda said.

"It would take therefore about 6-8 months on average to reach the same impact while the eligible share of beneficiaries (% of population) is smaller relative to the wide reach of stimulus checks," Iachini wrote.

An estimated $100 billion of the $800 billion total from stimulus checks made its way to the stock market, according to a working paper co-authored by an economist at Harvard Business School and two finance professors at NYU's Stern School of Business published in March.

The newfound money energized retail investors with millions of them stuck working from home, or out of work, because of COVID. Alongside the meme-stock craze, bitcoin climbed to a record above $68,000 in November 2021.

Inflation bites

But retail investors are in a different place compared to 2021 when the S&P 500 flew up nearly 27%. Stocks have since plunged into a bear market. There's been a resurgence in meme-stock activity led by Bed Bath & Beyond, but Vanda said speculative buying looks set to wane through the rest of 2022.

Inflation will be a major reason why many loan borrowers won't reallocate forgiven debt payments to stocks or cryptocurrencies.

"In the last 12 months, the cost of everything else they buy has gone up – the cost of gasoline, cost of food, mortgage rates. So I suspect that some of that $300 billion will probably be used just to offset some of the cost of living increases," David Sacco, practitioner in residence of finance at the Pompea College of Business at the University of New Haven, told Insider.

"People are more risk-sensitive because they've been burned," said Smith. "Bitcoin went [down] to $19,000. Lots of risk-on bets that were very popular during the pandemic are down and people are underwater on those positions."

Repayments for federal student loans will restart in January 2023. A March survey by Student Loan Hero found that 6% of respondents used paused repayment money to invest in the stock market, well below the 52% who used the money to pay for rent and other household expenses.

"I do believe that whatever [debt-forgiveness] money does go into the investment side of things will probably go into more traditional, safer investments," said Sacco.

A Vanda chart shows growing retail participation in the stock market since Covid and two large spikes in net flows roughly coinciding with pandemic checks.

Vanda Research

Meet a professor who qualifies for Biden's student-loan forgiveness but still has years of repayment to go and feels 'disheartened' the relief wasn't bigger: 'There's this looming sense of hopelessness'

Ayelet Sheffey

Sun, September 4, 2022 

U.S. President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Miguel CardonaAlex Wong/Getty Images

• Biden announced up to $20,000 in student-loan forgiveness for some federal borrowers.

• Nick Garcia, 42, will qualify, but he's disappointed Biden didn't take the relief further.

• Garcia said the student-loan payment pause has been much more impactful for him.

Nick Garcia is one of the millions of Americans getting President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness — and while many are celebrating the announcement, it's complicated for him.

A 42-year-old college professor on the East Coast, Garcia has three young children to support with his wife. The student-loan payment pause has been instrumental in helping them save and pay off other forms of debt. Following Biden's announcement that he is canceling up to $10,000 in student debt for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year, Garcia was certainly glad that his $39,000 balance was decreasing, but with years of repayment still to go, he was disappointed Biden chose to stop there.

Nick Garcia, 42, with his wife and three children.Carletta Girma

"I feel disheartened because it shows that more can be done at the executive level," Garcia told Insider. "Although I'm glad to see action from Biden that will improve the lives of millions, I don't know that it rises to the moment. It just doesn't resolve our debt crisis."

The pause on student-loan payments, Garcia said, has been much more important to him than broad student-loan forgiveness. Biden has extended that pause five times so far while in office. He said that the most recent extension through December 31 will be the "final" one, meaning federal borrowers have to start paying off their debt again in the new year. With over 200 payments to go, the looming $400 monthly payments Garcia will face means he will have to think about cutting back on necessities while supporting his family.

"It has a real impact on stress, on mental health. It's hard not to let that bother you and get you down," Garcia said. "Having $400 a month virtually waived for the last couple of years meant a lot, especially with paying down other debts and planning for the arrival of our baby."

The student-loan payment pause 'meant so much to our family'

Not having to worry about monthly student-loan payments — coupled with the pandemic stimulus checks — allowed Garcia's household "to make great strides to improve our lives," from paying down personal debts to making needed repairs to his home. That will all go away in six months.

"My debt will be reduced, but everything shaping my household budget, the impact on our debt-to-income ratio, our ability to keep up with new expenses, and the mental toll of carrying this debt? None of that will go away," Garcia said.

Biden's administration has frequently touted the financial impact the payment pause has had on federal borrowers, with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimating it has saved borrowers $200 billion since the pandemic began. As Biden said during remarks announcing loan forgiveness, though: "I'm extending to December 31st, 2022, and it's going to end at that time. It's time for the payments to resume."

Nick Garcia, 42, with his three children.Nick Garcia

The White House has said that the idea of implementing student-loan relief around the same time as payments resume should have a neutral impact on inflation. That hasn't stopped Republican lawmakers from calling for payments to resume as soon as possible, even introducing legislation in prior months to end the student-loan payment pause.

While Biden is planning to introduce a new income-driven repayment plan intended to make monthly payments more affordable, it's unclear when exactly it will be implemented and Garcia is preparing to face his new financial outlook come January.

"Having hundreds of dollars committed to debt each month has persistently shaped where we can live, whether needed repairs have to be put off, and day-to-day stress," Garcia said. "There is a mental toll of this decades-long debt that is hard to convey, but it is devastating."

'I worry it sends a message that the fight is over'

With Biden framing his student-loan forgiveness as "one-time" relief, Garcia said the students he teach "feel like they're in a losing position" because of the debt they are still facing upon graduation.

"I worry it sends a message that the fight is over," he said.

Amid those concerns, Biden has vowed to continue tackling college affordability in ways aside from debt cancellation, such as cracking down on for-profit schools that cause debt to spiral and strengthening accountability measures over student-loan companies. Some lawmakers, though, have said they will continue fighting for more loan forgiveness.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the weekend following Biden's announcement that "it is up to us, and to you, to decide if we are going to stop here, or if we are going to keep pushing."

"I am very grateful for this watershed moment of a first step  — it is so encouraging, thrilling, and has already changed SO many people's lives," she said. "But I am also thinking about how this still leaves a question mark for those in the highest amounts of debt, who need the most amount of help. So let's celebrate and keep going."

Garcia hopes that Biden can once again be convinced to go further on student debt.

"I hope executive action on the student loan crisis doesn't end here," he said. "It is a decision not to cancel more to help more people. I don't know where this tolerance for lifelong debt comes from, but we should not settle."

U$A

After Teaching For 11 Years, I Quit My Job. Here's Why Your Child's Teacher Might Be Next.


Katie Niemczyk
Sun, September 4, 2022 

The author posted this picture on social media and the digital platform she used to communicate with students when Covid forced them into remote learning in 2020. (Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

The author posted this picture on social media and the digital platform she used to communicate with students when Covid forced them into remote learning in 2020. (Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

I didn’t become a teacher with the intention of going deep undercover and spying on the U.S. education system. But for better or worse, that’s what I did for the last 11-plus years. I’ve taught in charter and traditional public schools, in wealthy districts and desperately poor ones. I know teachers all over the country, and despite our different experiences, we all agree that it’s not working.

Some of us still have enough optimism and/or masochism to keep trying, but after last year, I had to walk away. Despite the unprecedented strain caused by the pandemic, for so many teachers, there has been no abatement of professional development, evaluation, or pleas to sub for other teachers from district leaders who choose to gaslight teachers with toxic positivity rather than address their concerns. In my last district, there was no mask mandate and I went home every day to children who were still too young to get vaccinated.

I knew when I decided to pursue teaching that it would be an extremely difficult and mostly thankless job. Former aerospace engineer Ryan Fuller puts it brilliantly in his essay, “Teaching Isn’t Rocket Science. It’s Harder”: “To solve engineering problems, you use your brain. Solving classroom problems uses your whole being.” I gave my whole being for a long time, because I really believed I could make enough of a difference in the classroom that it would be worth the stress. For a while, it was. But the last few years have made it clear that no single teacher can ever make a big enough difference, because she is a cog in a broken machine that wears her down more and more with each year it grinds on. It will never be enough until the people who rely on the machine and take it for granted start giving it the care and maintenance it needs.

Let’s be clear: Educators are not the problem. They are, in fact, the duct tape that holds the whole janky thing together. Duct tape is probably the best analogy ever for a teacher: durable, endlessly versatile, and unbelievably cheap in proportion to its utility. It should be a no-brainer that schools can’t function without teachers, and that they are fundamental to student success. And yet, more and more districts don’t have enough teachers, qualified or otherwise. Google “teacher burnout” and you’ll start to understand why: “‘Exhausted and underpaid’: teachers across the US are leaving their jobs in numbers.” It’s not a new problem, but it’s gotten worse.

The author's kids during the 2021-2022 school year, before they were eligible to get vaccinated. 

(Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

Unquestionably, Covid has made teaching more difficult, but in many ways, it has simply exacerbated preexisting issues. For example, the perennial cycle of praising teachers one minute and throwing them under the bus the next was put in comically stark relief by the pandemic. We were heroes for five minutes, when school suddenly went remote and teachers bent over backwards to make it work. But then came the backlash: Pandemic fatigue set in and we had to be the (exhausted) voices of reason about logistics and safety. Even in the “hero” phase, nobody except Will Ferrell wanted to put their money where their mouth is.

Teacher pay is abysmal compared to other professions, and has actually gone down since 2010. And the average teacher more than makes up for “summers off” with hours worked during the school year. According to The Rand Corporation’s 2020 survey, “Among teachers who left primarily because of the pandemic, 64 percent said they weren’t paid enough to merit the risks or stress of teaching.”

One such risk that keeps increasing senselessly is school violence. We’ve all been horrified by the systemic ineptitude revealed by the Uvalde massacre, but if you don’t regularly simulate hiding from an active shooter by crouching silently in a dark corner, you can’t really understand the psychological impact this threat has on students and educators.

I lived through a real lockdown in 2019 with a class of ninth-graders. Rumors swirled that morning about a threatening video on social media. Then, mid-morning, there was an announcement over the intercom that the school was in lockdown. After students helped me barricade the door with a couch and desks, we huddled in my classroom for almost an hour, straining our ears for the sound of gunshots or sirens. I eventually found out police had arrived by crawling to my classroom window and catching a glimpse of officers in bullet-proof vests. Once they had swept the building, another announcement was made dismissing students for the day. My husband was waiting anxiously for me outside, so I went and hugged him before going back into the building to have a staff meeting, where we learned a student had been detained. A week later, I found out I had been pregnant with my second child during the lockdown. Shortly thereafter, when the full force of the trauma finally hit me, I landed in the ER with a massive panic attack, terrified I was miscarrying. (I wasn’t – blessedly, my youngest just turned 2.)

The text message the author sent to her best friends when she got home early from school on the day of the lockdown in 2019. (Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

Another huge stress for many teachers? Sucky parents. Don’t get me wrong: Most parents don’t suck. My estimate is that about half of parents are neutral, and another quarter are actively wonderful. But then there’s that last quarter of parents, who are just plain difficult. They seem determined not to allow their children to ever experience anything unpleasant, resulting in some less-than-gracious behavior toward educators striving to prepare students for the real world. Increasingly, this behavior is not only abusive but relentless, sapping the time and energy educators need to do their jobs well for all students.

My most common encounters with these parents were in situations that involved cheating, which has exploded with increased internet accessibility. Teachers know making dumb choices is part of being a kid: our students’ brains aren’t fully developed, and this is the time for them to learn important lessons with relatively low stakes. But this type of parent either refuses to believe their child is capable of doing anything wrong or simply doesn’t want them to face consequences.

I had many experiences like this throughout my teaching career. I never even brought up the specter of plagiarism unless an instance was blatant, and still, many parents would side with their child who denied any wrongdoing, despite all evidence to the contrary. (It’s standard for teachers to require students to submit written assessments to TurnItIn.com, a program that uses sophisticated software to detect matching text from other student submissions and the internet.) This inevitably meant they directed their anger at me, and even at administration, for trying to hold the student accountable. My worst experience was when I was freshly back from my first maternity leave and had just learned that my son might have a life-threatening medical condition. I had parents sending me angry emails and demanding meetings with administration while I was juggling my newborn’s specialist appointments and still pumping during my prep period, lunch break and commute. This was the last thing I wanted to deal with, but they preferred to believe I was malicious rather than dealing with their child’s mistake.

Every time something like this happened, I wondered why it’s so hard for some people to remember that teachers are human beings with feelings and families, too. To ask a question instead of making an accusation. To assume best intentions and come to the table with us as partners rather than adversaries. To realize your child’s version of events may be biased, and that most teachers didn’t get into education to bully kids! Teachers are just so tired of being treated like the enemy.

There’s a reason this kind of behavior has gotten worse in recent years. One teacher reflected recently, “born during the added pressures of a pandemic and divisive political climate, jackhammer parents take their intensive parenting to new heights. [...] They’re not just interested in getting their way; they need anyone who gets in their way obliterated.” Sound familiar? Parental behavior is mirroring broader political attitudes. As such, it has become increasingly common for non-educators to demonize teachers and unions, “diagnose” all the wrong problems, and oversimplify education to justify treating teachers like glorified babysitters.

This is a magnetic strip that kept the author's locked classroom door from latching during the day, so students could go in and out. "This makes it faster to lock the door in an emergency, rather than having to find the classroom keys and lock it from the outside," she notes. (Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

One example is the troubling trend of increasing class sizes in order to save on teacher salaries. This may seem like simple math, but the reality is more complicated: larger classes come at the expense of educator effectiveness and student success. A well-regarded study from the 1980s found that a “large” class-size reduction “increase[d] student achievement by an amount equivalent to about 3 additional months of schooling four years later.” The study defined a “regular” class as having 22 students, and a “reduced” class as having 15. During this last year teaching high school English, I regularly taught classes between 28 and 35 students. Recent research shows how class size affects teachers’ ability to form relationships with students. In huge classes, it’s impossible to give the individual support students need, and a higher number of students with special academic and behavioral needs means many other students fly below the radar, including the increasing number battling mental health issues.

Recently, a former student of mine who struggled academically and emotionally told me, “Yeah, there was no way I was reading those books [you assigned], sorry. [But] I think the most valuable part of my education was good teachers. Teachers who care [...] The actual curriculum did not stick one bit, even when I tried, but I learned how to learn from teachers who were motivated to teach and help.” For context, this student tried to die by suicide as a sophomore. I’m the person she confided in the next day, the one who called her mom and the school counselor. She hadn’t even been in my class since the year before; she just hung out in my room after school because she felt safe. Many teachers have similar stories; it’s one reason Minneapolis teachers recently went on strike. Most of us believe it takes a village to raise a child, and with good reason. Teachers are not only education experts, but also serve as mentors, role models, coaches and advisers, unofficial therapists, occasionally surrogate parents, and — all too often — first responders. Those are some pretty crucial members of a child’s village.

And yet, there is currently a full-blown cultural war against teachers (and counselors and school board members). It’s not a coincidence that the anti-teacher narrative has grown in tandem with the push for “universal school choice.” The corporate education reform movement is far from organic. The people pulling the strings (and providing the dark money) have a very specific ulterior motive: to discredit the public school system so they can completely privatize education. Ironically, their “indoctrination” accusations and efforts to restrict educators’ professional autonomy are actually in service of their own goals to censor what students learn and gradually eliminate the separation of church and state. If you think I’m exaggerating, read this.

This movement is not democratic. Proponents want to consolidate power over the education system among an even smaller group of decision-makers with different priorities from most Americans. Currently, decisions about how to operate schools are made by school boards composed of district residents — usually elected by other district residents — who, at least in theory, have students’ and communities’ best interests at heart. But when public institutions become vehicles for profit and political influence, shareholders do not historically prioritize the common good.

"This school picture that my dog chewed up is a symbolic representation of what it feels like to be a teacher right now," the author writes. 

(Photo: Courtesy of Katie Niemczyk)

Public education is in crisis. However, the answer is not privatization but the opposite: Regular citizens need to invest more time and energy in their school districts. An investment could be as small as voting in local elections or as large as running for school board, with lots of options in between. Vote in elections at the state and national levels: Politicians can have an outsize effect on the direction education takes. Attend school board meetings (preferably in-person, since some districts turn off streaming during the public comment section). Talk to teachers about how things are going in the district. (If you gain their trust, you’ll be shocked at the issues they bring up.) Speak up supportively in your community and at your child’s school.

The bottom line is, there is no quick fix here. As a society, we have failed to pay enough attention to public education, and now it’s failing us. Like anything in democracy, the only real, long-term solution for the American education system is for people to care enough to do the hard, sustained work. The truth is, the system has been broken since it began, and teachers have limped it along, martyring themselves for the cause of uplifting children — our nation’s professed “most precious resource” — while making themselves complicit in the process. But now we’re hitting a crisis point; the broken system is breaking teachers faster than they can be replaced. This country needs to start taking them seriously, before it’s too late. I am not exaggerating when I say our future depends on this.

My relationship with teaching has always been complicated. In spring 2016, in what we might call a simpler time, I wrote, “Sometimes I think about quitting teaching and getting a nice, boring desk job. The kind where you can have adult conversations by the water cooler, take longer than 25 minutes to eat your lunch, and don’t feel bone-tired and brain-fried by the end of the day. Being a teacher is grueling. It is so easy to feel inadequate, despite what my Master’s degree, countless hours of professional development, and the Department of Education say. But the truth is, I don’t stay just for what I can teach them. I also stay for what they teach me. About human resilience, and about what I take for granted. I bring them anguish from literature, history, and the news, and they come back to me with hope that things will be better when they are in charge.”

None of that changed in the last six years; the world outside my classroom did. This world has eroded my love of teaching beyond repair. It feels strange not to be in the classroom with school starting again, but when I think about going back, I just feel so, so tired. That breaks my heart and it makes me angry, because I thought I would always be a teacher. But I did not sign up for what teaching has become. And while I’m now in the private sector, I’m not done fighting, and it’s for the very reason I got into teaching in the first place: the kids. They still give me hope, but we can’t expect them to fix this. They deserve better. Now.

Katie Niemczyk is a freelance writer and former teacher who lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two children. She has a BA in English from Wake Forest University and a Master’s of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. You can find more from her at her website, on Twitter,TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

Investigative reporter Jeff German, a Marquette grad and former Journal intern, killed outside his Las Vegas home


Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mon, September 5, 2022 

Jeff German, host of Mobbed Up, with Planet Hollywood

, formerly the Aladdin, on the Strip in Las Vegas, Wednesday, June 2, 2021.

LAS VEGAS – A Las Vegas investigative reporter was stabbed to death outside his home and police are looking for a suspect, authorities said.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers found journalist Jeff German dead with stab wounds around 10:30 a.m. Saturday after authorities received a 911 call, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

German was a grad student at Marquette University and interned at the Milwaukee Journal in the late 1970s.

It appears the 69-year-old German was in an altercation with another person that led to the stabbing, which is believed to be an isolated incident, police said.

“We believe the altercation took place outside of the home,” Capt. Dori Koren, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman, said at a news conference. “We do have some leads. We are pursuing a suspect but the suspect is outstanding.”

Glenn Cook, the Review-Journal’s executive editor, said German had not communicated any concerns about his personal safety or any threats made against him to anyone in the newspaper’s leadership.

“The Review-Journal family is devastated to lose Jeff,” Cook said in a statement. “He was the gold standard of the news business. It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after more than two decades at the Las Vegas Sun, where he was a columnist and reporter who covered courts, politics, labor, government and organized crime.

He was known for his stories about government malfeasance and political scandals and coverage of the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 60 people and wounded more than 400 others.

Jim Romenesko was a police reporter for the Milwaukee Journal in the late 1970s when German was an intern at the newspaper.

“He was interested in the police beat and he had an interest in crime, that’s where we bonded,” Romenesko told the Journal Sentinel. “He was a very passionate and intense reporter. You can tell he was a guy who wanted to make his mark on the profession.”

German used to wear a “gold chain,” Romenesko remembered.

“People laughed because it was very un-Milwaukee,” Romenesko said. “It was more of a Las Vegas chain than a Milwaukee chain. He had designer jeans. He was a sharp looking guy who looked like he wanted to fit into Las Vegas more than Milwaukee.”

Romenesko remembers one night when a boat capsized on Lake Michigan and although they were off the clock, German convinced Romenesko to go to the scene.

“We went out there and I was ready to leave at midnight and he wanted to stay until 2 a.m., and I think we left at 3 a.m.,” Romenesko said. “He was just that passionate and that interested. I knew he would go places.”

Romenesko recalls the then-young intern having an interest in organized crime.

“He was fresh out of Marquette but he had ambitions to go to Las Vegas,” Romenesko said. “He left, I believe, right after the Journal internship to go out to Las Vegas.”

Shortly after German left Milwaukee, Romenesko took a trip out to Los Angeles and stopped in Las Vegas to have dinner with him.

“He was pretty fresh at the Las Vegas paper but he was so excited about working out there and talked about what an exciting news town it was, and he was brimming with excitement about covering news in Las Vegas,” Romenesko said. “He got to where he wanted to be... and he never left.”

Romenesko followed German’s byline over the years and called his death “a tragic ending.”

“It looked like he was able to do what he loved to do for many decades, and I’m happy to see that,” Romenesko said. “He stuck with the (journalism) business and judging by the comments I’m reading on Twitter from his current colleagues, he had not lost any of that ambition and intensity and love for the news.”

According to the Review-Journal, German was the author of the 2001 true-crime book “Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss,” the story of the death of Ted Binion, heir to the Horseshoe Club fortune.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Trump called on lawmakers to institute the 'death penalty for drug dealers' despite the fact that he pardoned people convicted of selling drugs

Kelsey Vlamis
Sun, September 4, 2022

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in 

Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022.

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press

Trump spoke at a rally Saturday for the first time since the August 8 search at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump said he was calling on lawmakers to institute capital punishment for drug dealers.

But before leaving office, Trump pardoned numerous people who were convicted for selling drugs.

During a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, former President Donald Trump called for drug dealers to receive the death penalty, despite having pardoned several people convicted of selling drugs before he left office.

In his first rally appearance since the Mar-a-Lago raid on August 8, Trump criticized the FBI, the Department of Justice, and President Joe Biden, labeling him an "enemy of the state" in a lengthy speech.

"Under Democrat control the streets of our great cities are drenched in the blood of innocent victims," Trump said, adding that drug dealers were responsible for killing hundreds of people every year.

It's unclear where the numbers Trump cited came from.

"Every drug dealer is responsible and that doesn't include what they've done to families of people that haven't died, but families that are just devastated by what happened to their children and to themselves," he said.

Trump then said he was calling for drug dealers to receive capital punishment, which he claimed would "reduce drug distribution in our country on day one by 75%" and "save millions of lives."

"We would solve that problem so fast and I'm calling on Republicans and Democrats immediately to institute, to get to Washington and institute the death penalty for drug dealers. You will no longer have a problem," he said.

Trump used his broad clemency powers as president to grant pardons or commutations to numerous people who were convicted of selling drugs.

In October 2020, Trump granted pardons to four people who had been convicted of non-violent drug charges, including drug trafficking, conspiracy, selling, and distribution. In a statement announcing the pardons, the White House noted all of them had been model inmates who worked to improve themselves while in prison.

"In light of the decisions these individuals have made following their convictions to improve their lives and the lives of others while incarcerated, the President has determined that each is deserving of an Executive Grant of Clemency," NPR reported the White House said at the time.

During his final few days in office, Trump granted pardons and commutations to 143 people. A partial list of those granted clemency, compiled by NBC, showed many of them had been convicted for drug trafficking, conspiracy, or similar charges.

Trump also pardoned Jonathan Braun, a drug smuggler serving a 10-year prison sentence for running a large-scale marijuana ring. The White House said Braun would "seek employment to support his wife and children" but failed to mention that he had also been accused and was under investigation for violent crimes, The New York Times reported.

Lebanon flotilla rallies at Israel sea border ahead of talks


Lebanese protesters ride in a yacht with an Arabic banner that reads "No compromises No waivers, No negligence, Our maritime resources belong to us," during a demonstration demanding Lebanon's right to its maritime oil and gas fields, in the southern marine border town of Naqoura, Lebanon, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022. The protest came days before the mediating U.S. envoy is scheduled to land in Beirut to continue maritime border talks. 

(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)More

KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Sun, September 4, 2022 at 10:06 AM·2 min read

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese protesters on Sunday sailed down the country’s coast in dozens of fishing boats and yachts toward Israel, days before a U.S. envoy is expected in Beirut to continue mediating in a maritime border dispute between the two countries.

Lebanon and Israel, which have been officially at war since the latter's creation in 1948, both claim an area of some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore gas reserves as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern history. Lebanon and Israel kicked off maritime border talks almost two years ago.

Sunday's flotilla carried Lebanese flags and banners, with slogans in Arabic, French, and Hebrew expressing what they say is Lebanon’s right to its maritime oil and gas fields.

“We are demanding our right to every inch of our waters,” Aya Saleh, one of the protesters on a fishing boat, told The Associated Press. “And we are sending a message from the Lebanese people.”

Lebanese and Israel navy vessels were present, though no tensions occurred.

Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department, has shuttled between Beirut and Jerusalem to mediate the talks. He was last in Beirut in late July, when he informed Lebanese officials of Israel's response to a proposal Lebanon made in June, and signaled optimism after his trip.

According to Lebanese President Michel Aoun’s office, Hochstein notified adviser and deputy parliament speaker, Elias Bou Saab, that he will visit Beirut later this coming week. Lebanese media have speculated that both countries could soon reach an agreement.

However, tensions between Lebanon's Iran-backed militant Shiite group Hezbollah and Israel have also simmered in recent months surrounding the border talks.

The Israeli military in early July shot down three Hezbollah unarmed drones flying over the disputed Karish gas field in the Mediterranean.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati criticized Hezbollah, saying the move could pose risks to the country. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in an interview that month said the militant group can locate and strike Karish and any other Israeli gas field.

Christians against Christian nationalism say the ideology distorts both American and Christian values

Kelsey Vlamis
Sun, September 4, 2022 

Christian nationalism has been embraced by some of former 

President Donald Trump's supporters.

Michael Arellano/Associated Press

Some GOP lawmakers are embracing Christian nationalism and dismissing critics as the "godless left."

Christians Against Christian Nationalism represents 27,000 Christians who have rejected the concept.

The organizer of the campaign told Insider Christian nationalism violates core Christian values.

Proponents of Christian nationalism have suggested those expressing concerns about the ideology are simply the "godless left," but tens of thousands of Christians maintain the concept directly defies the teachings of their faith.

Christian groups launched a campaign in 2019 aimed at denouncing Christian nationalism — the belief that the US and Christianity are intrinsically linked and therefore the religion should have a privileged position in American society and government.

Christians Against Christian Nationalism has since had more than 27,000 Christians of different denominations and political philosophies sign their statement of principles rejecting the concept. The principles include assertions like "one's religious affiliation, or lack thereof, should be irrelevant to one's standing in the civic community" and "government should not prefer one religion over another or religion over nonreligion."

"Many of our signers believe that pushing against Christian nationalism is essential not just for our democracy but also for the preservation of our faith," Amanda Tyler, the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the lead organizer of the campaign, told Insider.

She said the effort was the result of growing concern over Christian nationalism becoming more violent, citing the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and the 2019 mosque shootings in New Zealand. In both cases, the suspects espoused Christian nationalist ideas.

Despite dismissive claims made by supporters of the ideology, opponents of Christian nationalism say it violates core American and Christian values.

Violating two core Christian beliefs

There are numerous ways in which Christian nationalism defies Christianity, according to Tyler, but the most overt involves two of Jesus's most fundamental teachings: first, to love God above everything else, and second, to love your neighbor as yourself.

"Christian nationalism creates this false idol of power and leads us to confuse political authority with religious authority," Tyler said. "And in that way causes us to put our patriotism, our allegiance to America, above our allegiance to God."

Christian nationalists believe the US has a special relationship with God. This overlap of patriotism, politics, and Christianity was on full display at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Supporters of former President Donald Trump carried flags with messages like "Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president" and "Make America Godly Again."

Tyler said Christian nationalism "leads people to idolatry of the country over worship of God."

"One can be a patriot as I am. We can love God and we can love country at the same time, but if our patriotism causes us to sacrifice our theological conviction then it ceases to be patriotism. It becomes nationalism," she said.

Christian nationalists also believe that the government should declare the US a Christian nation, advocate for Christian values, and return prayer to public schools.

But these ideals "create this second-class status for our neighbors who aren't Christian," Tyler said — and sends the message that in order to be a true American you have to be a Christian.

"That causes harm to our neighbors who are not Christians, and also causes us to violate our call to love our neighbor," she said.

She added Christianity is also a global religion, so the Christian nationalist belief that God has a special plan for the US dismisses members of the faith around the world.

'Troubling' embrace of Christian nationalism

As for American values, the separation of church and state has long been considered a defining characteristic of religious freedom in the US. But recently some on the right, such as Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have suggested that separation has been taken too far. Boebert went as far as to say "the church should be controlling the government."

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has openly identified as a Christian nationalist and said the Republican party should be the party of Christian nationalism.

Though the concept is not new, Tyler said she was concerned with the way it's been increasingly embraced in recent months, noting she saw numerous instances of Christian nationalism at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.

"It was always present but the fact that they're openly embracing the label is different and troubling," she said, adding: "Unfortunately I'm seeing this almost one-up game in some circles, who can be the bigger Christian nationalist."

Tyler said the overt support for the ideology makes it especially important for Christians to speak out against it to show that people of faith also view it as dangerous.

"We're at risk of normalizing Christian nationalism," she said. "It's even more incumbent on us to explain why that is un-American and a departure from Christian values as well."

Trump could be charged with crimes he suggested Edward Snowden should be executed for, says former Fox News analyst

Alia Shoaib
Sat, September 3, 2022

Trump could be charged with crimes he said Edward Snowden should be executed for, a legal analyst said.


The DOJ is investigating if Trump broke federal laws, including the Espionage Act, by taking government records.

Trump said there should be a "death penalty" for Wikileaks and that Snowden "should be executed."

According to a former Fox News analyst, former President Donald Trump could be charged with the same crimes that he suggested a National Security Agency whistleblower should be executed for.

"In a monumental irony," former New Jersey Superior Court judge Andrew Napolitano wrote in an op-ed in the New Jersey Herald, both Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and the NSA's Edward Snowden "stand charged with the very same crimes that are likely to be brought against Trump."

"On both Assange and Snowden, Trump argued that they should be executed. Fortunately for all three, these statutes do not provide for capital punishment."

The FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in August as part of a Department of Justice investigation into whether Trump broke federal laws, including the Espionage Act, when he took government records.

While the former president is yet to be charged with any crimes, Napolitano said that a federal grand jury could indict him for three alleged offenses. They include removing and concealing national defense information, giving the information to those not legally entitled to possess it, and obstruction of justice by failing to return the information.

Assange and Snowden face charges which include violations of the Espionage Act. Assange is currently in prison in the UK, fighting extradition to the US on espionage charges. Snowden, who leaked highly classified information on surveillance, is wanted in the US but remains in Russia, where he has been granted asylum.

Trump wrote on Twitter in 2013 that Snowden was "a spy who should be executed."  Snowden, an American former computer intelligence consultant, leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency.

He also said in 2010 that he thought there should be "a death penalty or something" for Wikileaks, although he did not mention Assange, who exposed secret US activities during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, by name.

Andrew Napolitano, then judicial analyst for the Fox News Channel, testifies during a Federal Spending Oversight And Emergency Management Subcommittee hearing June 6, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

In his op-ed, Napolitano noted that Trump's claim that he declassified all of the documents he took is irrelevant, as the charges relating to handling national defense information do not require proof of classification.

He notes that Trump did the FBI "a favor" when he inadvertently admitted to knowing he had the documents when he made his claims about declassification.

"He committed a mortal sin in the criminal defense world by denying something for which he had not been accused," Napolitano said.

Former judge Napolitano was a legal analyst for Fox News for 24 years before parting ways in 2021.

He told friends in 2017 that he was on Trump's shortlist to be nominated as a Supreme Court justice, according to Politico. Trump ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh. Napolitano's name did not appear on any public list of Trump's possible nominees.