Oh no. Look who's back. It's General Tata

Sarah Palin with Gen. Tata

I first wrote about Gen. Anthony J. Tata back in 2012. Back then it was considered hip for some reason, to put generals and admirals and such, in charge of the schools. We did it here in Chicago when Rahm Emanuel appointed Marine Col. Tim Tyrrell and paid him $180,000/year to run his mass school-closing operation.

Tata, a brigadier general who doubled as a right-wing ideologue, was brought into D.C. by evil corporate school reform demon Michelle Rhee as her second in command. He then became fast friends with Sarah Palin (remember her?) and wrote a glowing review of her book, "Going Rogue," on the Big Hollywood site operated by the late wing-nut journo-goofball Andrew Breitbart.

Tata wrote that Palin "is far more qualified to be president of the United States than the current occupant of the White House" and that she is "precisely the kind of leader America needs."

I guess that wasn't enough of a clue for the embattled Wake County, N.C. School Board that hired Tata as their schools chief to take command of the board's re-segregation initiative. The program, which was pushed mainly by Republican school board members, backed by national tea party conservatives, aimed at reversing years of gains by the North Carolina civil rights movement. Pledging to "say no to the social engineers!" the board rolled back one of the nation's most celebrated integration efforts.

After mass protests by the NAACP and court actions, the school board finally was forced to fire Tata. But he was then appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory to head of the State Dept. of Transportation.

Then there was this in 2015, when Tata was accused of having committed adultery with “at least two” women --- but I digress. 

FAST FORWARD...So quite naturally, who should pop up yesterday as Trump's proposed appointee to the third-highest post in the Pentagon? None other than Brig. Gen. Tata himself. The job includes managing policy decisions on everything from Afghanistan and the Middle East to China, North Korea, and Russia, as well as artificial intelligence, hypersonic weapons, and more.

Tata would succeed John Rood, who was ousted as undersecretary for policy in February after being viewed as insufficiently loyal to Trump.  TaTa could even become next in the line if the secretary of defense and the deputy resigned or were removed.

Only this time, the recommendation caused the shit to hit the fan. 

Tata, a frequent guest on Fox News and ardent defender of President Trump, was accused of making Islamophobic and inflammatory remarks against prominent Democratic politicians, including falsely calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim and a "terrorist leader".

In several tweets from 2018, Tata said that Islam was the "most oppressive violent religion I know of" and claimed Obama was a "terrorist leader" who did more to harm the US "and help Islamic countries than any president in history." 

 Tata, in one radio appearance, speculated the Iran deal was born out of Obama's "Islamic roots" in an attempt "to help Iranians and the greater Islamic state crush Israel."

Here's more Tata tweets.

Many among the top brass are worried about the "politicization of the military", especially after Trump used the military against the protesters in D.C. following the police killing of George Floyd. 

At least three retired Army generals have now pulled their support for Trump's nominee after the embarrassment of seeing Tata's comments.

If they would have asked me, I could have told them I knew him back then. 

Gen. Tata led the efforts to re-segregate Wake County schools. But now...

Gen. Tata with his pal Palin. 

Remember Brigadier Gen.Tony Tata?

He was fast friends with Sarah Palin and Michelle Rhee's second in command in D.C. who then became the superintendent who led the school re-segregation initiative in Wake County, North Carolina.

For some reason, it became trendy a few years ago, to appoint former generals and colonels as school leaders. We did it here in Chicago when Rahm Emanuel appointed Marine Col. Tim Tyrrell and paid him $180,000/year to run his mass school-closing operation. Tyrrell also was charged with selling or finding new uses for closed school buildings, a project that so far has failed miserably.

BUT BACK TO TATA...After mass protests by the NAACP and court actions, the school board finally was forced to fire Tata. But he was then appointed by Tea Party fave, Gov. Pat McCrory to head of the State Dept. of Transportation.

Col. Tyrrell resigned in January.

It was Tata’s credentials as military man that helped him land the superintendent's job and become state transportation secretary, and the retired general continues to trade on his military experience as a TV news commentator and the author of action thrillers. But it turns out, Tata’s Army career included phony court order, at least 2 affairs, according to the News&Observer.

After Tata decided in June 2008 to retire from the Army, Pentagon officials were still asking questions about a mysterious, phony court document he had given investigators in 2007. An Army probe found that Tata had committed adultery with “at least two” women during his career, court and military records show. The adultery complaint against Tata involved affairs with three women and a son born out of wedlock.

Tata resigned as Department of Transportation secretary suddenly in July, citing the needs of his family and the demands of his burgeoning side career. He said he was considering a run for Congress.

According to Army investigators rejected Tracy Tata’s complaint that her ex-husband had failed to meet his court-ordered obligation to support their daughter, based on evidence in the general’s favor -- a court order that criticized Tracy for willfully burdening Tony with medical bills that “need not have been incurred at all” because Brooke qualified for free military health care.

But this court order turned out to be a fake. Military and court officials agreed later that someone had forged the signatures of two lawyers and the Georgia judge.

It remains a mystery.

Tyrell resigned from CPS in January to pursue an unspecified "opportunity in public service."

Good riddance, Gen. Tata

Sara Palin and Gen. Tata hawking their books. 

If there was ever a guy you would never want to run your public schools, it was Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata. But after a brief stint at Eli Broad's training camp for school superintendents, Michelle Rhee brought him in as her second in command in D.C.

Then Tata became fast friends with Sarah Palin, and wrote a glowing review of her book, "Going Rogue," on the Big Hollywood site operated by the late wing-nut journo-goofball Andrew Breitbart. Tata wrote that Palin "is far more qualified to be president of the United States than the current occupant of the White House" and that the she is "precisely the kind of leader America needs."

I guess that wasn't enough of a clue for the embattled Wake County, N.C. School Board who hired Tata  as their schools chief to take command of the board's re-segregation initiative. The program, pushed mainly by Republican school board members, backed by national tea party conservatives, was aimed at reversing years of gains by the North Carolina civil rights movement. Pledging to "say no to the social engineers!" the board rolled back one of the nation's most celebrated integration efforts.

Tata was up to the task. When asked if it's the school districts job to promote diversity Tata said, "I think it's the school systems responsibility to insure student achievement happens in every single school."

"I'm talking about diversity sir," ABC11 I-Team reporter Jon Camp said. "I'm talking about achievement," Tata replied. 

Yesterday it was announced that Gen. Tata has been given the boot after six to eight months of "strained relations" between T-bagger Tata and the Democratis on the school board.

According to NewsObserver.com, "Tata and his staff made rough going out of situations such as the rollout last week of a test version of an address-based assignment plan."  That's another way of saying re-segregation of Wake County schools.

Good riddance Tata.