title: The Color Purple

text: Nettie confesses to Samuel and Corrine she is the children's biological aunt. The gravely ill Corrine refuses to believe her until Nettie reminds her of her previous encounter with Celie in the store. Later, Corrine dies, finally having accepted Nettie's story. Meanwhile, Celie visits Alphonso, who confirms Nettie's story. Celie begins to lose some of her faith in God, which she confides to Shug, who explains to Celie her own unique religious philosophy. Shug helps Celie realize that God is not someone who has power over her like the rest of the men in Celie's life. Rather, God is an “it” and not a “who."


title: The Color Purple

text: Having had enough of her husband's abuse, Celie decides to leave Mister along with Shug and Squeak, who is considering a singing career of her own. Celie puts a curse on Mister before leaving him for good, settling in Tennessee and supporting herself as a seamstress.


title: The Color Purple

text: Alphonso dies, Celie inherits his land, and moves back into her childhood home. Around this time, Shug falls in love with Germaine, a member of her band, and this news crushes Celie. Shug travels with Germaine, all the while writing postcards to Celie. Celie pledges to love Shug even if Shug does not love her back.


title: The Color Purple

text: Celie learns that Mister, suffering from a considerable decline in fortunes after Celie left him, has changed dramatically, and Celie begins to call him by his first name, Albert. Albert proposes that they marry "in the spirit as well as in the flesh," but Celie declines.


title: The Color Purple

text: Meanwhile, Nettie and Samuel marry and prepare to return to America. Before they leave, Adam marries Tashi, an African girl. Following an African tradition, Tashi undergoes the painful rituals of female circumcision and facial scarring. In solidarity, Adam undergoes the same facial scarring ritual.


title: The Color Purple

text: As Celie realizes that she is content in her life without Shug, Shug returns, having ended her relationship with Germaine. Nettie, Samuel, Olivia, Adam, and Tashi all arrive at Celie's house. Nettie and Celie reunite after 30 years and introduce one another to their respective families.


title: The Color Purple

text: "The Color Purple" won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983, making Walker the first black woman to win the prize. Walker also won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1983. Mel Watkins of the "New York Times Book Review" wrote that it is a "striking and consummately well-written novel", praising its powerful emotional impact and epistolary structure. It was also named a PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick.


title: The Color Purple

text: Though the novel has garnered critical acclaim, it has also been the subject of controversy. The American Library Association placed it on the list of top hundred banned and challenged books in the United States from 1990 to 1999 (17), 2000 to 2009 (17), and 2010 to 2019 (50), as well as the top ten list for 2007 (6) and 2009 (9). Commonly cited justifications for banning the book include sexual explicitness, explicit language, violence, and homosexuality.


title: The Color Purple

text: The book received greater scrutiny amidst controversy surrounding the release of the film adaptation in 1985. The controversy centered around the depiction of black men, which some critics saw as feeding stereotypical narratives of black male violence, while others found the representation compelling and relatable.


title: The Color Purple

text: On November 5, 2019, the "BBC News" listed "The Color Purple" on its list of the 100 most influential novels.


title: The Color Purple

text: The novel was adapted into a film of the same name in 1985. It was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie, Danny Glover as Albert, and Oprah Winfrey as Sofia. Though nominated for eleven Academy Awards, it won none. This perceived snubbing ignited controversy because many critics considered it the best picture that year, including Roger Ebert.


title: The Color Purple

text: On December 1, 2005, a musical adaptation of the novel and film with lyrics and music by Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell and Allee Willis, and book by Marsha Norman opened at The Broadway Theatre in New York City. The show was produced by Scott Sanders, Quincy Jones, Harvey Weinstein, and Oprah Winfrey, who was also an investor.


title: The Color Purple

text: In 2008, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a radio adaptation of the novel in ten 15-minute episodes as a "Woman's Hour" serial with Nadine Marshall as Celie, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Nina Sosanya and Eamonn Walker. The script was by Patricia Cumper and in 2009 the production received the Sony Radio Academy Awards Silver Drama Award.


title: The Color Purple

text: As part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), the author declined publication of the book in Israel in 2012. This decision was criticized by Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who argued that Walker "resorted to bigotry and censorship against Hebrew-speaking readers of her writings". Walker, an ardent pro-Palestinian activist, said in a letter to Yediot Books that Israel practices apartheid and must change its policies before her works can be published there.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Nandamuri Harikrishna (2 September 1956 – 29 August 2018) was an Indian actor, producer, and politician. He served as the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house the Indian Parliament representing the state of Andhra Pradesh from 2008 to 2013. His film works were predominantly in Telugu cinema. Harikrishna was the fourth son of actor and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao. His sons N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram are also actors.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Harikrishna was born on 2 September 1956 in Nimmakuru village of Krishna district in present-day Andhra Pradesh to N. T. Rama Rao and Basava Ramatarakam. He has eleven siblings; seven brothers and four sisters.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Harikrishna made his acting debut in 1964 as a child artist in "Sri Krishnavataram", in which he played Krishna. It was directed by Kamalakara Kameshwara Rao. He then starred in "Thalla? Pellama?" (1970), followed by "Tatamma Kala" (1974), "Ram Raheem" (1974), and "Daana Veera Shura Karna" (1977). After a long sabbatical, and political stint he starred as a Character actor in works such as "Sri Ramulayya" (1998), followed by a full-length role alongside Nagarjuna in "Seetharama Raju" (1999), "Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo" (2002), and "Seetayya" (2003). In 2002, he received Nandi Award for Best Character Actor for his work in "Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo" (2002).


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Harikrishna served as the member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly during 1996–1999. He became a Cabinet Minister for Road Transport in 1996. In 2008, he was a candidate of the Telugu Desam Party and was elected to Rajya Sabha.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Harikrishna married Lakshmi Kumari on 22 February 1973 and they have two sons, Janaki Ram and Kalyan Ram, and a daughter, Suhasini. He has a third son, N. T. Rama Rao Jr., with Shalini, a Kannadiga from Kundapur. Janaki Ram died in a road mishap, on 6 December 2014.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Harikrishna died in a car crash in Nalgonda district, Narketpalli on 29 August 2018 at the age of 61. He was driving without a seat belt on his way to the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh to attend a ceremony of his friend. His Toyota Fortuner crashed into a road median on Nalgonda district Highway near Narkatpally when he bent over to pick up a water bottle. His son Janaki Ram died on the same highway in 2014.


title: Nandamuri Harikrishna

text: Nandamuri Janakiram was a Telugu movie producer under the NTR arts banner who also met a tragic death in a road crash while travelling alone from Vijayawada to Hyderabad. Reports say that, his car collided with a tractor near Akumpamala village in Munagala mandal of Nalagonda district. He was rushed to a private hospital in Kodad, where he died.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the "Kaadhal Mannan" (King of Romance) for his romantic roles in films. Ganesan was one of the "three biggest names of Tamil cinema", the other two being M. G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan. While Sivaji Ganesan excelled in dramatic films and M. G. Ramachandran was popular as an action hero, Gemini Ganesan was known for his romantic films. A recipient of the Padma Shri in 1971, he had also won several other awards including the Kalaimamani, the MGR Gold Medal, and the Screen Lifetime Achievement Award. He was one of the few college graduates to enter the film industry then.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Gemini Ganesan made his debut with "Miss Malini" in 1947 but was noticed only after playing the villain in "Thai Ullam" in 1953. After playing the lead role in "Manam Pola Mangalyam" (1954), he finally acquired star status. However, unlike Sivaji Ganesan or Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan was not a stage performer and was never involved in politics. In his long film career spanning over five decades, Ganesan acted in more than 200 films. His performances on the screen were enhanced by successful playback singers such as A. M. Rajah and P. B. Sreenivas. Despite his celebrated film career, Ganesan's personal life, particularly his marriages to multiple women over the years, including famous Indian actress Savitri, has often been a subject of criticism. He had eight children, including actress Rekha.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Gemini Ganesan was born in a Tamil Brahmin family as Ramasamy Ganesan in 1920 to Ramasamy Iyer and Gangammal. Ganesan's grandfather, Narayanaswami, was the principal of the Maharajah's College, Pudukkottai. Later in life, after losing his first wife, Narayanaswami lived with a Devadasi girl Chandramma who served as musician and dancer in a Temple. Notable among Narayanaswami's children with Chandramma were Muthulakshmi and Ramaswamy, father of Gemini Ganesan. Ramaswamy married Bhagirthi Amma as a concubine (or Bhagirathi Amma), a woman of his mother's Devadasi community(singer and dancer in Temple). Ganesan was the son of Ramaswamy and Bhagirathi Amma.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: When Ganesan was in the sixth grade, his grandfather died, and not long after that, his father too died. Meanwhile, Muthulakshmi (now known as Muthulakshmi Reddi) had studied well and become a doctor; she was affluent and educated and had thoroughly abandoned the style of life followed by her mother and maternal ancestors, so much so that she became the leader of a social reform movement aimed at eradicating the "Devadasi" system. She was instrumental in ensuring the passage through parliament of the Devadasi Abolition Act. After the death of his father, Ganesan, along with his mother Bhagirathi, moved to his aunt Muthulakshmi's home in Madras (now known as Chennai). Muthulakshmi provided shelter to her mother Chandramma and also to Bhagirathi and Ganesan, but she was very dismissive and insulting towards her destitute relatives, and she felt ashamed of them because of their background as courtesans. She heaped many insults on the two widowed women and ensured that they did not show their faces to any guests who visited the house. Unhappy with the situation, Chandramma and Bhagirathi returned to Pudukkottai. However, they left Ganesan with his aunt, so he would grow into an educated and respectable man.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Since Muthulakshmi was an ardent follower of Ramakrishna, she decided to enroll Ganesan into Ramakrishna Mission Home. While there, he was taught yoga and languages and was made to read the Bhagavad Gita. However, he could not bear being separated from his mother, who was in Pudukkottai, so he returned to his native place and studied at a high school there. Later on, he joined Maharajah's College, located in the same place. However, he completed his graduation from Madras Christian College, Chennai.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Ganesan's dream was to become a doctor. In April 1940, he went to Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli) to see T. R. Alamelu. Alamelu's father proposed to his daughter in marriage and promised him a medical seat after graduation. Ganesan immediately agreed and married Alamelu in June 1940. Alamelu lost her father and elder sister within one month of her marriage. Ganesan's dreams of becoming a doctor were shattered. There was no choice left for him but to find a job immediately, as he was the only person to support his family. He got an interview from the Indian Air Force. Much against Alamelu's wishes, Ganesan went to Delhi. There, he met his uncle Narayanaswami who advised him to become a teacher. Finally, Ganesan worked as a lecturer in the Chemistry department of Madras Christian College. Later in 1947, he obtained work as a production executive in Gemini Studios, from where the title "Gemini" became prefixed to his name. He debuted in film from the casting department of the Studio itself.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: From the casting department, Ganesan made his film debut in 1947 with the satire "Miss Malini", in a minor role. The film, which was based on a story by R. K. Narayan, and cast him alongside his future wife Pushpavalli, was a box office failure as it was considered "ahead of its time", but was well-received by intellectuals. No print of that film is known to survive, making it a lost film. This was followed by "Chakradhari", in which he played another minor role as the Hindu god Krishna. The film was a box office success, but his performance went unnoticed. It was not until 1953 when he played a negative role in "Thai Ullam", did people take notice of him as an actor. The next year, he appeared in a supporting role in the Gemini Studios film "Moondru Pillaigal", which was unsuccessful. He was then cast as a hero for the first time with "Manam Pola Mangalyam". The film, which featured him in a dual role, paired him with his future wife Savitri, and became a "milestone in his life". From then on, he carved out a niche for himself in Tamil cinema with films that favored romance over action.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: In a career spanning nearly 50 years, Ganesan played a variety of roles, from Abhimanyu in "Mayabazar" (1957), to resistance fighter Madasamy in "Kappalottiya Thamizhan" (1961), and "Pennin Perumai" (1960), he played a "non-assertive imbecile morphing into a well-molded human being". Ganesan also starred in "Kalathur Kannamma" (1959), which was also the debut for Kamal Haasan, who would later become one of the leading actors in Tamil cinema. The film won the Certificate of Merit for the Third Best Feature Film in 1961. Ganesan also starred in "Veerapandiya Kattabomman" (1959), alongside Sivaji Ganesan. The film was selected for the Afro-Asian Film Festival in 1960. It was also nominated for the National Film Award in 1960, along with Gemini Ganesan's "Kalyana Parisu", but both lost to "Bhaaga Pirivinai". The Ruritanian romance film "Vanjikottai Valiban" (1958) was a high-budget film and became a large commercial success due to much hype. The historical fiction film "Parthiban Kanavu" (1960) won the President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film, but failed commercially.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Ganesan's 1961 film "Then Nilavu", was the first Tamil film to be shot extensively in Jammu and Kashmir, and became a major box-office success. He co-starred with rival actor M. G. Ramachandran in "Mugarasi" (1966), which was their only film together. "Konjum Salangai" (1962), which featured Ganesan alongside Savithri was released in various countries outside India, having subtitles in over 22 languages, and it was also the first Tamil film to be released in Poland, in a dubbed version. Ganesan produced "Naan Avan Illai" (1974), in which he played a womaniser. Directed by K. Balachander, this film won critical praise for Ganesan's performance, but according to Ganesan, the film did not succeed commercially. His other known works include "Missiamma", "School Master", "Kanavane Kankanda Deivam", "Meenda Sorgam", "Shanti Nilayam", "Vaazhkai Padagu", "Karpagam", "Ramu", "Thamarai Nenjam" and "Punnagai". Ganesan had paired with several leading actresses like Anjali Devi, Pushpavalli, Padmini, Vyjayanthimala, Savitri, Devika, Vijayakumari, Saroja Devi, Rajasree, Kanchana, Jayanthi, K. R. Vijaya, Bharathi and Jayalalithaa.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Gemini Ganesan acted in a few Hindi films, most of which were remakes of his Tamil films. His first Hindi film was "Missiamma"'s remake "Miss Mary" (1957), which became one of the biggest Indian hits of that year. He played the lead role in "Devta", the Hindi version of his own Tamil film "Kanavaney Kankanda Deivam". He also acted in the Ruritanian epic film "Raj Tilak" (1958), based on his own "Vanjikottai Valiban". It was a box office failure, having collapsed within a week of its release. He later appeared in a guest role in "Nazrana" (1961), the Hindi remake of his own "Kalyana Parisu". Though the film was an average grosser, it was the 12th highest-grossing film of the year.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Later in his career, Ganesan switched to character roles, most notably the Telugu film "Rudraveena" (1988), its Tamil remake "Unnal Mudiyum Thambi" (1988), and "Avvai Shanmughi" (1996), in which he played the role of an old man longing for an old maid. Near the end of his acting career, he chose to act mainly in television serials, most notably "Krishnadasi". Ganesan also appeared in "Mettukudi" (1996), "Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga" (1997), "Thodarum" (1998), and his last major role came the same year with "Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar", followed by special appearances in "Gemini" (2002) and "Adi Thadi" (2004).


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Unlike Sivaji Ganesan and M. G. Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan was not originally a theatre actor, thus making his acting "refreshingly credible". Though he interacted cordially with fans, he avoided promoting fan clubs. Ganesan abstained from politics to the point of refusing a Rajya Sabha MP offer by Rajiv Gandhi. The only time he even barely approached politics was in 1963 when he organized a function for Subramania Bharati at Ettayapuram. Apart from acting, Ganesan was also a businessman and invested heavily in real estate and property development. He was skilled in various sports such as tennis, golf, and badminton, and captained his college's cricket team. Ganesan also directed the film "Idhaya Malar" (1976).


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Gemini Ganesan has widely been praised for his versatility in acting, having performed a "wide range of roles". He was "at his best" with Savitri, with whom he had acted in several successful films. In February 2006, Dayanidhi Maran had released a commemorative postage stamp of the actor, whom he described as a "multi-dimensional personality, who evinced keen interest in Carnatic music, reading, yoga and poetry." He is also credited for having introduced leading Tamil actor Kamal Haasan to "Kalathur Kannamma", where the latter was a child artist. Ganesan also took part in a World Tamil Conference in Kuala Lumpur, notably because he "loved Tamil language". According to politician M. Karunanidhi, the actor had developed a "reformer's mind" because he was raised by his aunt Muthulakshmi Reddy, who fought for the abolition of the "devadasi" system. Director K. Balachander called Ganesan a "director's delight" and stated that "The advantage of having him as a hero was that he was convinced about the capabilities of a director, he would leave it to the director and would not interfere". Lyricist Vairamuthu said: "'Gemini' Ganesan was not envious of anyone and promoted many actors by recommending them to producers and directors".


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Despite being one of the most successful actors of Tamil cinema during his time, Gemini Ganesan was criticized for being "fossilized in one type of portrayal", as most of his films were typical "boy meets girl" romantic films. His hostile relationship with daughter Rekha was also criticised. He did not acknowledge Rekha's paternity during her childhood. It was in the early 1970s, when Rekha was looking for a career in Bollywood, that she revealed her origins. Later, at the peak of her career, Rekha told an interviewer that her father's neglect still rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at reconciliation. She did not even attend her father's funeral in 2005.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: Gemini Ganesan, at 19, married Alamelu, with whom he lived and whom he fondly called "Boubji". He later married Savitri while still married to his first wife. He had other affairs as well. Alamelu and Ganesan have four daughters; three of them – Revathi, Kamala and Jayalakshmi – are medical doctors, the fourth – Narayani – is a journalist with The Times of India. Ganesan has two daughters with Pushpavalli – Bollywood actress Rekha, and Radha. The latter acted in a few Tamil films but then opted for marriage and migration to the United States. Savitri and Ganesan have two children: a daughter, Vijaya Chamundeswari, and Ganesan's only son, Satheesh Kumar. The actor noted in his autobiography "Vaazhkai Padagu": "Somehow, I seemed to attract women who were in distress." He also felt annoyed by the title "Kaadhal Mannan" as it "was used to brush him in black in his personal life". He was survived by seven daughters and a son. Chamundeswari has a son Abhinay Vaddi, who acted in "Ramanujan" (2014), and is therefore Ganesan's grandson. His fourth wife was Juliana Andrew, whom he married in July 1998.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: A documentary film on the legend in the name of "Kadhal Mannan" was produced by Dr. Kamala Selvaraj and directed by Ashok Kumar, DFT (Programme Head-Vendhar TV) in 2011. It was screened by many film stalwarts and fans of the legend and received rave reviews from critics for bringing out a candid representation of the actor's life in detail. Following the response, a DVD version of the film was released in the same year.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: In the mid-2010s, three films were made about the actor. Odam Ilavarasu's romantic comedy "Gemini Ganeshanum Suruli Raajanum" (2017) began in 2015 and featured the lead character as someone who falls in love with several women at the same time. Muthukumar's "Kaadhal Mannan" (2018) was initially titled "Gemini Ganesan" before the makers decided to change the title. Furthermore, an official biopic of actress Savitri was made by director Nag Ashwin in Telugu as "Mahanati". Dulquer Salmaan was cast as Ganesan, and Ashwin revealed that his portrayal of Gemini Ganesan would go beyond the physical resemblance, to better depict the character's emotional side.


title: Gemini Ganesan

text: After a prolonged illness due to kidney failure and multiple organ failure, Gemini Ganesan died surrounded by Bobji and their daughters at his residence on 22 March 2005, 13:30 IST. He was cremated with full state honors. Prominent personalities including Tamil Nadu's chief ministers M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha paid their last respects to the veteran actor. Ganesan's funeral was not attended by his estranged daughter Rekha, who was then in Himachal Pradesh shooting a film.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Elisabeth Dee DeVos ( ; ' Prince; born January 8, 1958) is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021. DeVos is known for her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools. She was Republican national committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, with reelection to the post in 2003. She has advocated for the Detroit charter school system and she is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. She has served as chair of the board of the Alliance for School Choice and the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos is married to former Amway CEO Dick DeVos. Her brother, Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater USA. Their father is billionaire industrialist Edgar Prince, founder of the Prince Corporation. In 2016, the family was listed by "Forbes" as the 88th-richest in America, with an estimated net worth of $5.4 billion.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On November 23, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education in his administration. On January 31, following strong opposition to the nomination from Democrats, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved her nomination on a party-line vote, sending her nomination to the Senate floor. On February 7, 2017, she was confirmed by the Senate by a 51–50 margin, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie in favor of her nomination. This was the first time in U.S. history that a Cabinet nominee's confirmation was decided by the vice president's tiebreaking vote.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On January 7, 2021, DeVos tendered her resignation as education secretary as a result of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, saying to President Trump in her resignation letter, "There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation." Her resignation took effect on January 8, 2021, twelve days before her term would have ended with the inauguration of Joe Biden as president.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was born Elisabeth Prince on January 8, 1958. She grew up in Holland, Michigan, the eldest of four children born to Elsa (Zwiep) Prince (later, Broekhuizen) and Edgar Prince, a billionaire industrialist. Edgar was the founder of Prince Corporation, an automobile parts supplier based in Holland, Michigan. She is of Dutch ancestry.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was educated at the Holland Christian High School, a private school located in her home town of Holland, Michigan. She graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics in 1979. During college, DeVos was involved with campus politics, volunteered for Gerald Ford's presidential campaign, and attended the 1976 Republican National Convention to participate in a program for young Republicans.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos grew up as a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. She has been a member and elder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids. Former Fuller Seminary president Richard Mouw, with whom DeVos served on a committee, said she is influenced by Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian Abraham Kuyper, a founding figure in Christian Democracy political ideology.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Since 1982, DeVos has participated in the Michigan Republican Party. She served as a local precinct delegate for the Michigan Republican Party, having been elected for 16 consecutive two-year terms since 1986. She was a Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan between 1992 and 1997, and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000. In 2004, the "Lansing State Journal" described DeVos as "a political pit bull for most of [Gov. Jennifer] Granholm's 16 months in office," and said that if DeVos was not Granholm's "worst nightmare," she was "certainly her most persistent". Bill Ballenger, editor of the newsletter "Inside Michigan Politics" and a former Republican state senator, called DeVos "a good behind-the-scenes organizer and a good fund raiser" as well as "a true believer in core Republican issues that leave nobody in doubt on where she stands". DeVos resigned the position in 2000. She said in 2000, "It is clear I have never been a rubber stamp ... I have been a fighter for the grassroots, and following is admittedly not my strong suit." In 2003, DeVos ran again for party chairman and was elected to the post without opposition.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos personally raised more than $150,000 for the 2004 Bush re-election campaign, and hosted a Republican fundraiser at her home in October 2008 that was headlined by President George W. Bush. During the Bush Administration she spent two years as the finance chairperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and worked closely with the Administration on "various projects". The DeVos family has been active in Republican politics for decades, particularly as donors to candidates and the party, giving more than $17 million to political candidates and committees since 1989.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In a 1997 op-ed for "Roll Call", DeVos wrote that she expects results from her political contributions. "My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party. I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence," she wrote. "Now I simply concede the point. They are right." She also stated in the op-ed, "We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American virtues … We expect a return on our investment; we expect a good and honest government. Furthermore, we expect the Republican Party to use the money to promote these policies and, yes, to win elections."


title: Betsy DeVos

text: During the Republican Party presidential primaries for the 2016 election, DeVos initially donated to Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina before eventually supporting Marco Rubio. In March 2016, DeVos described Donald Trump as an "interloper" and said that he "does not represent the Republican Party".


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos is chairwoman of the Windquest Group, a privately held operating group that invests in technology, manufacturing, and clean energy. DeVos and her husband founded it in 1989. With a commitment of $100 million, Betsy DeVos's family was one of the largest investors—and losers—in blood-testing company Theranos.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos and her husband were producers for a Broadway run of the stage play "", in 2012, based on the life of the famous evangelist and featuring a book and lyrics written by Kathie Lee Gifford. The show ran for three weeks, closing in December 2012 after receiving negative reviews.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Betsy and her husband Dick are chief investors in and board members of Neurocore, a group of brain performance centers offering biofeedback therapy for disorders such as depression, attention deficit disorder, autism, and anxiety. The therapy consists of showing movies to patients and interrupting them when they become distracted, in an effort to retrain their brains. According to "The New York Times", a review of Neurocore's claims and interviews with medical experts suggest that the company's conclusions are unproven and its methods questionable. Democratic senators raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest and questioned whether she and her family members would "benefit financially from actions" she could take as the U.S. Secretary of Education. DeVos announced that she would step down from the company's board but would retain her investment in the company, valued at $5 million to $25 million. In November 2019, Truth In Advertising filed complaints against Neurocore with the Food and Drug Administration for unapproved medical devices and the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive marketing.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On November 23, 2016, Trump's transition team announced DeVos as the nominee to be the next secretary of education. Upon her nomination, DeVos said "I am honored to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The "status quo" in ed is not acceptable." DeVos's nomination was generally criticized by teachers unions and praised by supporters of school choice.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: "Detroit Free Press" editor Stephen Henderson expressed concerns over DeVos's nomination, writing that "DeVos isn't an educator, or an education leader". Rebecca Mead of "The New Yorker" questioned the efficacy of Michigan's charter school system, which DeVos has supported. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, called DeVos "the most ideological, anti-public education nominee" since the position became a cabinet position. The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Michigan Democratic Party opposed DeVos's nomination.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Former presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney respectively called DeVos an "outstanding pick" and a "smart choice". Republican senator Ben Sasse said DeVos "has made a career out of standing up to powerful and connected special interests on behalf of poor kids who are too often forgotten by Washington". In an opinion editorial, the "Chicago Tribune" wrote that "DeVos has helped lead the national battle to expand education opportunities for children".


title: Betsy DeVos

text: The confirmation hearing for DeVos was initially scheduled for January 10, 2017, but was delayed for one week after the Office of Government Ethics requested more time to review her financial disclosures. On January 17, 2017, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held the hearing, which lasted three-and-one-half hours and "quickly became a heated and partisan debate". Democratic senators directed several questions toward her regarding her wealth, including questions about her family's political donations to the Republican Party and whether or not she had personal experience with financial aid or student loans. Several media outlets reported that DeVos appeared to have plagiarized quotes from an Obama administration official in written answers submitted to the Senate committee. DeVos drew widespread media attention during the confirmation hearings for suggesting that guns might have a place in some schools due to a threat from grizzly bears. DeVos's comment was later lampooned by television personalities Kate McKinnon on "Saturday Night Live", Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and James Corden.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Prior to DeVos's confirmation, numerous U.S. senators from both parties reported tens of thousands of their constituents having contacted their offices in opposition to the confirmation of DeVos. More than 300 state lawmakers from across the U.S., overwhelmingly Democrats, voiced their opposition to DeVos's appointment in a letter to the U.S. Senate sent the day before a scheduled vote on her nomination. DeVos's nomination was supported by 18 Republican governors, including John Kasich and Rick Snyder, along with the nine Republican members of Congress from Michigan.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On January 31, DeVos's nomination was approved by the committee on a 12–11 party-line vote and was due to be voted on by the Senate. Later on February 1, 2017, two Republican U.S. senators, Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, came out against the confirmation (despite supporting DeVos in committee when both of them voted to move her nomination to the floor), bringing the predicted confirmation vote on DeVos to 50–50 if all Democrats and independents voted as expected, meaning Vice President Mike Pence would have to break the tie. During an unusually early 6:30 a.m. vote on February 3, 2017, cloture was invoked on DeVos's nomination in the Senate, requiring a final vote on the confirmation to happen after 30 hours of debate.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Ahead of the scheduled final vote at noon on February 7, 2017, the Democrats in the Senate continuously spoke on the floor against the confirmation of DeVos the entire night before leading up to the vote, in protest of their strong disapproval of the nominee. As expected, there was a 50–50 tie on the final vote, with all Democrats and independents, along with two Republicans (Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski), voting in opposition to DeVos, while the other fifty Republican senators voted in support of the confirmation, including Senator Jeff Sessions, who himself had been nominated by the Trump administration for the post of United States attorney general. Republicans scheduled Sessions's confirmation vote after DeVos's so that he would be able to cast his vote in support of DeVos. Had his confirmation vote been earlier than hers, he would have been forced to resign from the Senate, therefore losing a vital vote for the Republicans on the confirmation.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Since there was a tie, Vice President Mike Pence had to step in to decide the vote as the president of the Senate. He cast his tie-breaking vote in favor of DeVos to officially confirm her as education secretary. This was the first tie decided by a vice president on any vote in the Senate since the George W. Bush administration.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos said that on the basis of her first few days in the job, she had concerns that some Education Department employees were sympathetic to the Obama administration. "I . . . would not be surprised if there are also those that would try to subvert the mission of this organization and this department," she stated. Asked what she could do about that, she said, "Whatever can be done will be done, and it will be done swiftly and surely."


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In April 2017, DeVos praised the president's nomination of Carlos G. Muñiz as the department's general counsel.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In April 2017, DeVos named Candice Jackson Deputy Assistant Secretary in the department's Office for Civil Rights, where she will be acting assistant secretary while that higher, Senate-confirmed appointment is vacant. DeVos named Jason Botel Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. Botel, a registered Democrat who supported President Obama and the Black Lives Matter movement, founded the KIPP Ujima Village Academy in Baltimore, after working for Teach For America.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In mid-May 2018, "The New York Times" reported that under DeVos, the size of the team investigating abuses and fraud by for-profit colleges was reduced from about twelve members under the Obama administration to three, with their task also being scaled back to "processing student loan forgiveness applications and looking at smaller compliance cases". DeVos also appointed Julian Schmoke as the team's new supervisor; Schmoke was a former dean of DeVry Education Group, which was one of the institutions the team had been investigating. The investigation into DeVry was not the only one stopped, others include those of Bridgepoint Education and Career Education Corporation. The Education Department has hired more ex-employees and people affiliated with those institutions, such as Robert S. Eitel, senior counselor to DeVos, Diane Auer Jones, an advisor to the department, and Carlos G. Muñiz, the department's general counsel.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In October 2018, it was announced that DeVos's chief of staff, Josh Venable, would be replaced by Nate Bailey, who at that time was DeVos's chief of communications. Two years later, Venable joined an anti-Trump group, the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform (REPAIR), which is led by former White House officials.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In February 2017, DeVos released a statement calling historically black colleges "real pioneers when it comes to school choice", causing controversy as some pointed out the schools originated after segregation laws prevented African-Americans from attending others. DeVos later acknowledged racism as an important factor in the history of historically black colleges.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On March 24, 2017, during a visit to the Osceola County campus of Valencia College, DeVos said she was considering the extension of federal financial aid for students that were year-round and interested in placing more focus on community colleges.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos delivered her first extended policy address on March 29, 2017, at the Brookings Institution which included the topic of school choice which has been her main advocacy issue for more than 30 years. She stated an interest in implementing choice policies directed toward children as individuals and criticizing the Obama administration's additional funding of $7 billion for the U.S.'s worst-performing schools as "throwing money at the problem" in an attempt to find a solution. On May 22, 2017, DeVos announced the Trump administration was offering "the most ambitious expansion" of school choice within American history. DeVos cited Indiana (which has the U.S.'s largest school voucher program) as a potential model for a nationwide policy, but did not give specific proposals.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In a May 2017 House of Representatives committee hearing, Rep. Katherine Clark, said an Indiana private school which takes publicly funded vouchers maintains it is entitled to deny admission to LGBTQ students or those coming from families with "homosexual or bisexual activity." Clark asked if she would inform Indiana that it could not discriminate in that way if it accepted federal funding, and asked her how she would respond in the event a voucher school rejected black students but a state "said it was okay." DeVos answered: "Well again, the Office of Civil Rights and our Title IX protections are broadly applicable across the board, but when it comes to parents making choices on behalf of their students..." Clark stopped her saying, "This isn't about parents making choices, this is about the use of federal dollars. Is there any situation? Would you say to Indiana, that school cannot discriminate against LGBT students if you want to receive federal dollars? Or would you say the state has the flexibility?" DeVos responded: "I believe states should continue to have flexibility in putting together programs ..."


title: Betsy DeVos

text: CBS reporter Lesley Stahl questioned DeVos, in a March 2018 "60 Minutes" interview, about the documented failure of the DeVos programs to demonstrate a positive result, in Michigan, her home state: "Your argument that if you take funds away that the schools will get better is not working in Michigan ... where you had a huge impact and influence over the direction of the school system." Stahl added, "The public schools here are doing worse than they did." DeVos was unable to provide any actual examples of improvement, but stated there were "pockets" where schools had done better than public schools.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On June 6, 2017, DeVos said states' rights would determine private schools being allocated funds by the federal government during an appearance before members of a House appropriations committee.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On April 11, 2017, DeVos undid several Obama administration policy memos issued by John King Jr. and Ted Mitchell which were designed to protect student loan borrowers.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On July 6, 2017, Democratic attorneys-general in 18 states and Washington, D.C., led by Massachusetts attorney-general Maura Healey, filed a federal lawsuit against DeVos for suspending the implementation of rules that were meant to protect students attending for-profit colleges. The rules, developed during the Obama administration, were meant to take effect on July 1, 2017.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On September 12, 2018, DeVos lost the lawsuit brought by 19 states and the District of Columbia, which accused the Department of Education of improperly delaying implementation of regulations protecting student loan borrowers from predatory practices.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: During the coronavirus pandemic, DeVos directed millions of dollars of coronavirus relief funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act intended for public schools and colleges, to private and religious schools.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos pushed for schools to re-open while coronavirus cases were still surging in large parts of the country. She said that the Trump administration was considering pulling funding from public schools unless they provided full-time in person learning during the pandemic. On July 12, 2020, she said "there's nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous to them", an assertion that public health experts disputed. She also refused to say whether schools should follow guidelines laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on reopening schools.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On June 2, 2017, DeVos announced her support of President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement the prior day.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On July 13, 2017, Candice Jackson, who is a sexual assault survivor, organized a meeting with DeVos, college sexual assault victims, accused assailants, and higher education officials, and said she would look at policies on sexual assault accusations on campuses from the Obama administration to see if accused students were treated within their rights. Asked by CBS "60 Minutes" reporter Lesley Stahl about her repeal of Obama administration guidelines for colleges dealing with reports of sexual assaults, she said her concern was for men falsely accused of such assaults. "Survivors, victims of a lack of due process, and campus administrators have all told me that the current approach does a disservice to everyone involved," said DeVos. However, some survivors of sexual assault and harassment and organizations which advocate on their behalf oppose the changes and say they would make schools more dangerous.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In October 2017, DeVos revoked 72 guidance documents of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services which outlined the rights of disabled students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In a January 2018 speech, Devos said that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) found that "60 percent of its teachers reported having moderate to no influence over the content and skills taught in their own classrooms." In response, AFT noted that in the same survey of around 5,000 educators, 86% felt that Devos had disrespected them.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In March 2018, DeVos announced a School Safety Commission, to provide meaningful and actionable recommendations. Members were four Cabinet members, including herself. The organization held a meeting on March 28 and a gathering of school shooting survivors and families on April 17.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In late May 2018, Devos said that she believed it was "a school decision" on whether to report a student's family to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if the student or their family are undocumented immigrants. However, under "Plyler v. Doe", the American Supreme Court ruled under the American constitution, schools are obligated to provide schooling irrespective of immigration status. The American Civil Liberties Union has said that because of this, it would be unconstitutional for schools to report students or their families to ICE.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In 2019, DeVos unsuccessfully attempted to cut federal funding for the Special Olympics from her department's budget, which she had also attempted to cut in her previous two annual budgets.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos has been a controversial figure throughout her tenure. In her first official appearance as Secretary on February 10, 2017, dozens of protesters showed up to prevent her appearance. The protesters physically blocked her from entering through the back entrance of Jefferson Academy, a D.C. public middle school in Southwest, Washington, D.C. DeVos was eventually able to enter the school through a side entrance.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Subsequent to the incident, the U.S. Marshals Service, rather than Education Department employees, began providing security for her. Education Department officials declined requests for information about the deployment of marshals or the current tasks of the Secretary's displaced security team normally assigned to her. Many of those security personnel are former Secret Service agents who have worked at the department for many years. Regarding the withdrawal of the department's team, former Education Secretary Arne Duncan said, "That's a waste of taxpayer money."


title: Betsy DeVos

text: During her first visit to a public university on April 6, 2017, DeVos was confronted by around 30 protestors. She was touring an area designed to resemble a hospital ward at Florida International University. The following day, the U.S. Marshals Service said after a threat evaluation was conducted in February that DeVos would be given additional security, projecting a cost of $7.8 million between February and September 2017.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On May 10, 2017, DeVos gave a commencement speech at Bethune–Cookman University, a historically black college, and during her speech a majority of the students booed DeVos, with about half of them standing up and turning their backs to her. She also received an honorary doctorate from the university.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: According to DeVos's 2018 financial disclosure form certified by the Office of Government Ethics on December 3, 2018, she had not divested from twenty-four assets required under her signed ethics agreement nearly 22 months after being confirmed in February 2017.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In May 2019, the Education Department inspector general released a report concluding that DeVos had used personal email accounts to conduct government business and that she did not properly preserve these emails.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In September 2020, it was reported that the Office of the Special Counsel had investigated DeVos over potential violations of the Hatch Act after she appeared on Fox News during the 2020 election campaign, where she attacked Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden. After her television appearance, the Department of Education promoted her Fox News interview.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: On January 7, 2021, DeVos resigned from her position as Secretary of Education after the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots. She said in her letter to President Trump that the riots had overshadowed the accomplishments of his administration. She was the second cabinet member to resign following the insurrection, the first being Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao. Hours after her resignation, Senator Elizabeth Warren later called her the worst Secretary of Education on Twitter, saying she never done anything to help students, and saying she'd rather quit than invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was listed for many years on IRS form Form 990s as the foundation's vice president (hitherto called the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation). However, she testified under oath in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing, in response to Senator Maggie Hassan's questions, that she had nothing to do with the contributions made by her mother's foundation to conservative advocacy groups including Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: The Dick & Betsy DeVos Family Foundation was launched in 1989. The foundation's giving, according to its website, is motivated by faith, and "is centered in cultivating leadership, accelerating transformation and leveraging support in five areas", namely education, community, arts, justice, and leadership. In 2015, the DeVos Foundation made $11.6 million in charitable contributions, bringing the couple's lifetime charitable giving to $139 million. "Forbes" ranked the DeVos family No. 24 on its 2015 list of America's top givers.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: The DeVos Foundation has donated to hospitals, health research, arts organizations, Christian schools, evangelical missions, and conservative, free-market think tanks. Of the $100 million the foundation donated between 1999 until 2014, half of it went to Christian organizations. Organizations funded by the foundation include: Michigan's Foundation for Traditional Values; Center for Individual Rights; Acton Institute; Institute for Justice; Center for Individual Rights; Michigan's Pregnancy Resource Center; Right to Life Michigan Educational Fund; and Baptists for Life.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: With respect to educational-focused donations, the foundation from 1999 to 2014 supported private Christian schools (at least $8.6 million), charter schools ($5.2 million), and public schools ($59,750). Specific donations included $2.39 million to the Grand Rapids Christian High School Association, $652,000 to the Ada Christian School, and $458,000 to Holland Christian Schools.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In 2016, the Foundation reported $14.3 million in donations to over 100 organizations including the X Prize Foundation, Mars Hill Bible Church, American Enterprise Institute.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: When DeVos was appointed US Education Secretary, it was revealed that she was an elder at Mars Hill Bible Church. During her tenure, she reportedly donated $431,000 to the church between 2002 and 2004 and $453,349 to Flannel, producer of the NOOMA video series.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos has served as chairperson, board member, and treasurer of the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was appointed by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2004, and served until 2010. While she was on the board, she and her husband funded a center to teach arts managers and boards of directors how to fundraise and manage their cultural institutions. The couple donated $22.5 million in 2010 to continue the endeavor, which was given in the name of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: After the announcement of the DeVoses' gift to the Kennedy Center, DeVos explained that she had been persuaded by Kennedy Center official Michael Kaiser's observation that millions of dollars are invested "in the arts, and training artists", but not in "training the leaders who hire the artists and run the organizations". The DeVoses' gift was intended to remedy this oversight. "We want to help develop human capital and leverage that capital to the greatest extent possible", she said, describing Kaiser's "practice and approach" as "practical, realistic and creative". The DeVoses' gift, part of which would be spent on arts groups in Michigan that had been hit hard by the recession, was the largest private donation in the Kennedy Center's history.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In 2009, Betsy DeVos's son Rick DeVos founded ArtPrize, an international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. approximately 16 percent of ArtPrize's $3.5 million annual budget was provided by various foundations run by the DeVos family, with the rest provided by other foundations and local and national businesses.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: The DeVoses provide an annual scholarship to students at Northwood University. DeVos is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), an education think tank founded by Jeb Bush, the chairman since 2015 of which has been former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and which has received donations from Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Eli Broad.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos in 2001 listed education activism and reform efforts as a means to "advance God's Kingdom". In an interview that year, she also said that "changing the way we approach ... the system of education in the country ... really may have greater Kingdom gain in the long run".


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos believes education in the United States should encourage the proliferation of charter schools and open up private schools to more students via financial assistance programs, often called vouchers. She has stated that education is "a closed system, a closed industry, a closed market. It's a monopoly, a dead end." DeVos believes that opening up the education market will offer parents increased choice, a view that critics call a drive to privatize the American public education system.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos is known as "a fierce proponent of school vouchers" that would allow students to attend private schools with public funding. According to "The New York Times", it "is hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from traditional public schools than Betsy DeVos".


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice. Until November 2016, she headed the All Children Matter PAC which she and her husband founded in 2003 to promote school vouchers, tax credits to businesses that give private school scholarships, and candidates who support these causes. DeVos and her husband gave millions of dollars to the organization. In 2008, All Children Matter was fined $5.2 million in Ohio for illegally laundering money into political campaign funds. DeVos was not named in the case. The fine remained unpaid , prompting calls by Democratic Party lawmakers for DeVos to settle the debt.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Her other activities on behalf of public-school reform have included membership on the boards of directors of the Advocates for School Choice, the American Education Reform Council, and the Education Freedom Fund. She has chaired the boards of Choices for Children, and Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP).


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was chair of the American Federation for Children (AFC). Affiliated with the Alliance for School Choice, the AFC describes itself as "a leading national advocacy organization promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers and scholarship tax credit programs".


title: Betsy DeVos

text: During the 1990s, she served on the boards of Children First America and the American Education Reform Council, which sought to expand school choice through vouchers and tax credits. She and her husband worked for the successful passage of Michigan's first charter-school bill in 1993, and for the unsuccessful effort in 2000 to amend Michigan's constitution to allow tax-credit scholarships or vouchers. In response to that defeat, DeVos started a PAC, the Great Lakes Education Project, which championed charter schools. DeVos's husband and John Walton then founded All Children Matter, a political organization, which she chaired.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos has been an advocate for the Detroit charter school system. Douglas N. Harris, professor of economics at Tulane University, wrote in a 2016 "The New York Times" op-ed that DeVos was partly responsible for "what even charter advocates acknowledge is the biggest school reform disaster in the country". In the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Detroit had the lowest reading and mathematics scores "by far" over any city participating in the evaluation. According to Harris, she designed a system with no oversight in which schools that do poorly can continue to enroll students.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Ramesh Ponnuru of "National Review" argued that Harris overstates the failure of charter schools in Detroit. According to Ponnuru, the study referenced by Harris, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, did "not sound nearly as helpful to Harris's case as he suggests". Ponnuru pointed out that the study says "some 47 percent of charter schools in Detroit significantly outperform[ed] traditional public schools in reading and 49 percent of charters significantly outperforming traditionals on math. Only one percent of charters were significantly outperformed by traditional public schools in reading and only 7 percent on math." Also defending DeVos's record in Michigan, Jay P. Greene, professor of education policy at the University of Arkansas, argued that Harris's "The New York Times" article misled readers on the evidence and "falsely claimed that Detroit has failed to close failing charter schools", noting that Detroit has closed more charters than Louisiana, a state Harris cites as a model for charter school legislation.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In a written response to a question about charter school performance posed during DeVos's confirmation hearing by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), asking "why do you think their performance is so poor?", DeVos defended the charter school system using graduation rates that were significantly higher than those used for state and federal accountability purposes. DeVos provided examples of several charter schools that she said had 4-year graduation exceeding 90%. These examples were contested by Columbia University professor Aaron Pallas and "Education Week" reporter Ben Herold on the basis that the actual graduation rates were roughly only half as large as DeVos had stated.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In February 2017, artist Glenn McCoy created a political cartoon called "Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos", based on Norman Rockwell's "The Problem We All Live With". In the same month, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon parodied the Education Department's typos on Twitter, featuring Jo Firestone as DeVos.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos has been played by Kate McKinnon on "Saturday Night Live" multiple times, including satirizing DeVos's "60 Minutes" interview in March 2018. That same month, Randy Rainbow created a satirical "interview" with DeVos based on the "60 Minutes" interview, with "Out" stating, "It goes about as well as you'd expect it to."


title: Betsy DeVos

text: DeVos was depicted by drag queen Scarlet Envy on the March 21, 2019 episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race" season 11 titled "." Scarlet Envy depicted DeVos as "silly" and "martini-swilling." In the series' fourteenth season, drag queen Jasmine Kennedie appeared as DeVos for the show's signature celebrity impersonation challenge, Snatch Game.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: The DeVos family is one of Michigan's wealthiest. Betsy DeVos's husband, Richard Marvin "Dick" DeVos Jr., is a multi-billionaire heir to the Amway fortune who ran Amway's parent company, Alticor, from 1993 to 2002. Dick DeVos is a major donor to conservative political campaigns and social causes, and was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan. Dick's father, Richard Marvin DeVos Sr., co-founded Amway and was the owner of the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team. Richard DeVos was listed by "Forbes" in 2016 as having a net worth of $5.1 billion, making him America's 88th wealthiest individual.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Rick and Betsy DeVos married in 1979, and have four grown children: Rick, Elissa, Andrea, and Ryan. Rick works for the Windquest Group as a consultant on urban development, and is the founder of Grand Rapids' ArtPrize festival.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: Betsy DeVos's brother, Erik Prince, a former U.S. Navy SEAL officer, is the founder of Blackwater USA, a private military services contractor.


title: Betsy DeVos

text: In August 2018, a vandal untied DeVos's $40 million yacht that had been moored at a marina on Lake Erie, causing it to sustain $10,000 in damages. The vessel is one of ten yachts owned by her family, which has a net worth of $5.3 billion. The craft is registered in the Cayman Islands, so is not subject to state property tax.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, India on 21 May 1991. At least 14 others, in addition to Rajiv Gandhi, were killed. It was carried out by Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), a member of the Sri Lankan Tamil separatist organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) along with Dr. Jagjit Singh Chohan of the National Council of Khalistan (NCK) and Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala of the Khalistan Liberation Force. At the time, India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Subsequent accusations of conspiracy have been addressed by two commissions of inquiry and have brought down at least one national government, the government of Inder Kumar Gujral.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Rajiv Gandhi was busy election-campaigning with G.K. Moopanar in southern states of India. On 21 May, after campaigning in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, his next stop was Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. About two hours after arriving in Madras (now Chennai), Gandhi was driven by motorcade in a white Ambassador car to Sriperumbudur, stopping along the way at a few other election campaigning venues. When Rajiv reached a campaign rally in Sriperumbudur, he left his car and began walking towards the dais where he was to deliver a speech. Along the way, he was garlanded by many well-wishers, Indian National Congress workers and school children. The assassin, Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), approached and greeted him. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated an RDX explosive-laden belt tucked below her dress at exactly 10:10 PM. Gandhi, his assassin and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. The assassination was caught on film by a local photographer, Haribabu, whose camera and film was found intact at the site despite him also dying in the blast.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Apart from the suicide bomber Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu), several people were killed in the blast on 21 May 1991:


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Around forty-three bystanders including police sub-inspector Anushiya Daisy were also injured in the explosion.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The Supreme Court held that the decision to eliminate Gandhi was precipitated by his interview to "Sunday" magazine (21–28 August 1990), where he stated that he would send the IPKF to disarm the LTTE if he returned to power. Gandhi also defended the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord in the same interview. The LTTE decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. Thereafter, the Justice J. S. Verma Commission was formed to look into the security lapses that contributed to the killing.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The final report, submitted in June 1992, concluded that the security arrangements for the former PM were adequate but that the local Congress party leaders disrupted and broke these arrangements.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The Narasimha Rao government initially rejected Verma's findings but later accepted it under pressure. However, no action was taken on the recommendations of the commission.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Despite no action, the findings raised vital questions that have previously been consistently raised by political analysts. Sources have indicated that Gandhi was repeatedly informed that there was a threat to his life and that he should not travel to Tamil Nadu. In fact, the then governor of Tamil Nadu Bhishma Narain Singh, broke official protocol and twice warned Gandhi about the threat to his life if he visited the state.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Subramanian Swamy said in his book, "Sri Lanka in Crisis: India's Options (2007)", that an LTTE delegation had met Rajiv Gandhi on 5 March 1991. Another delegation met him around 14 March 1991 in New Delhi.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The message conveyed to Rajiv Gandhi by both these delegations was that there was no threat to his life and that he can travel to Tamil Nadu without fearing for his life. I did a series of articles after his assassination that pointed out how, after these meetings, Rajiv became complacent about his security and broke security rules in more than 40 rallies.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Following his assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to New Delhi. From the Indira Gandhi International Airport, his body was sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for an autopsy, reconstruction and embalming.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: A state funeral was held for Rajiv Gandhi on 24 May 1991. His funeral was broadcast live nationally and internationally, and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries. He was cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. Today, the site where he was cremated is known as Veerbhumi.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Immediately after the assassination, the Chandrasekhar government handed the investigation over to the CBI on 22 May 1991. The agency created a special investigation team under D. R. Karthikeyan to determine who was responsible for the assassination. The SIT probe confirmed the role of the LTTE in the assassination, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of India.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The interim report of Justice Milap Chand Jain, looking into the conspiracy angle to the assassination, indicted the DMK for colluding with the LTTE. The report concluded that the DMK had provided sanctuary to the LTTE, which made it easier for the rebels to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The Commission report stated that the year 1989 signified "the perpetuation of the general political trend of indulging the Tamil militants on Indian soil and tolerance of their wide-ranging criminal and anti-national activities". The report also alleged that LTTE leaders in Jaffna were in possession of sensitive coded messages exchanged between the Union government and the state government of DMK. "There is evidence to show that, during this period, some of the most vital wireless messages were passed between the LTTE operatives based in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi", the report stated. The Congress subsequently brought down the United Front (UF) government of I K Gujral after the report was leaked in November 1998. The party also demanded the removal of DMK from the UF government, arguing that it had played a key role in the death of Rajiv Gandhi.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan had helped with logistical and tactical support to the Tamil Tigers. His involvement was only declared in 2016 after about a 15-year speculation. This was evidence to the Jain Committee's report and suspicions that the LTTE had contacted Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala along with Jagjit Singh Chohan to plan the plot.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The assassination was carried out by Kalaivani Rajaratnam (popularly known by her assumed names Thenmozhi Rajaratnam and Dhanu). She was born on 1 January 1974 in Sri Lanka. Her birth name was Kalaivani Rajaratnam. It was after joining the LTTE that she came to be known by the assumed name Thenmozhi. She was from Kupukullai in Jaffna, and studied until middle school in Batticaloa. She was inspired by the Tamil militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) at a young age, and joined the Black Tigers (suicide bombers). The main reason why Dhanu became a Tiger is that her brother was a well-known cadre who had died and she was carrying on the family tradition. Thenmozhi was the daughter of a Sri Lankan Tamil man named A. Rajaratnam and his second wife. He allegedly was described as Velupillai Prabhakaran's mentor; and he played a vital role in moulding the LTTE chief's thinking during the movement's formative years between 1972 and 1975. Marital status of Thenmozhi at the time of her death, is not known to the general public. Thenmozhi was survived by her mother, brother Sivavarman and two sisters, one of whom moved to France.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The court convicted and sentenced the seven persons who facilitated the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to life imprisonment. They are currently undergoing life imprisonment in prisons in India. They are:


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: As per the Supreme Court of India judgment, by Judge K. T. Thomas, the killing was carried out due to personal animosity of the LTTE chief Prabhakaran towards Rajiv Gandhi arising from his sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka and the alleged IPKF atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils. Additionally, the Rajiv Gandhi administration had antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like PLOTE for reversing the military coup in Maldives back in 1988.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The judgment further cited the death of Thileepan in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in October 1987. While convicting the accused, four of them to death and others to various jail terms, the judgment stated that no evidence existed that any one of the conspirators ever desired the death of any Indian other than Rajiv Gandhi, though several others were killed. Judge Wadhwa further stated there was nothing on record to show that the intention to kill Rajiv Gandhi was to overawe the government. Hence it was held that it was not a terrorist act under TADA (Act). Judge Thomas further stated that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. The special investigation team of India's premier special investigation agency Central Bureau of Investigation was not able to pinpoint when the decision to kill Rajiv Gandhi was taken.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: The trial was conducted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act. On 28 January 1998, the designated TADA court in Chennai gave death sentences to all the 26 accused. This created a storm in India. Legal experts were divided. Human rights groups protested that the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial. The trial was held behind closed doors, "in camera", and the identity of witnesses was not disclosed. Ms A. Athirai, an accused, was 17 years old when she was arrested.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Under the TADA an accused can appeal only to the Supreme Court. Appeal to the High Court is not allowed as in normal law. Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. Under TADA the accused could be convicted on the basis of evidence that would have been insufficient for conviction by an ordinary court under normal Indian law. In the Rajiv Gandhi case, confessions by the accused formed a major part of the evidence in the judgment against them which they later claimed was taken under duress.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: On appeal to the Supreme Court, only four of the accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. S Nalini Sriharan is the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and is serving life imprisonment. Arrested on 14 June 1991, she was sentenced to death, along with the other 25 accused. However, the court confirmed that the death sentence was given to only four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999. Nalini, who is the wife of an LTTE operative known as V Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the case who had been sentenced to death, later gave birth to a girl, Harithra Murugan in prison. Upon the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter in 2000, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Nalini was treated as a class 'A' convict from 10 September 1999 till the privilege was withdrawn in May 2010 after a mobile phone was allegedly recovered from her cell during a surprise check. She "regrets" the killing of the former Prime Minister and claims that the real conspirators have not been booked yet. The President of India rejected the clemency pleas of Murugan and two others on death row, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu in August 2011. The execution of the three convicts was scheduled for 9 September 2011. However, the Madras High Court intervened and stayed their execution for eight weeks based on their petitions. Nalini was shifted back to Vellore prison from Puzhal prison amidst tight security on 7 September 2011. In 2010, Nalini had moved the Madras High Court seeking release as she had served more than 20 years in prison. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. However, the state government rejected her request. Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts condemned to death, claimed that they were not ordinary criminals but political prisoners.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination. One of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing. Sikh Militants were also suspected, later proven true. In 1998, it was published in a newspaper that an interim report by the Jain commission made reference to a letter citing unverified information that Queen Aishwarya Rajya Lakshmi Devi Shah of Nepal had asked a courtier general of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev of Nepal, "to arrange for the assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi…(for which) Rs 10 crore would be made available.” Also included in the report are said to be the drunken utterances of a policeman confirming the matter. The interim report of the Jain Commission created a storm when it accused M. Karunanidhi the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu of a role in the assassination, leading to Congress withdrawing its support for the I. K. Gujral government and fresh elections in 1998. Also other strong LTTE sympathizers Vaiko with MDMK and Thol. Thirumavalavan with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. Vaiko left the UPA alliance before the 2009 election, partly due to the Sri Lankan issue.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In a report published on 30 October 2012 in DNA, K. Ragothaman, former chief investigator of the CBI, talks about his new book "Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi: From the CBI Files" and tells the reporter that while the CBI had started a preliminary inquiry in which M. K. Narayanan, former West Bengal Governor and former Intelligence Bureau director, was named a suspect in hiding evidence, the case was buried by the CBI SIT Chief, D. R. Karthikeyan. In an interview in 2017, Justice K.T. Thomas had said that "there were serious flaws" in the CBI's investigation, particularly related to the seizure of Rs. 40 lakh in cash from the convicts, which led him to believe that the probe exposed "an unpardonable flaw" in the "Indian criminal justice system".


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In the 2001 Norway peace talks, Prabhakaran told the press that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a sorrowful event.


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In 2006, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV that the killing was a "great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret".


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: Months before the assassination, Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy, who served as the president of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee from 1989 to 1994, produced a letter, purportedly from the LTTE threatening to kill him and Rajiv Gandhi, who had called for a tight clamp down of the LTTE activities in Tamil Nadu. The letter signed LTTE written in Tamil said that they had received orders from the leadership to eliminate people opposing their "Eelam struggle". The letter further said the following:


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In a 2011 interview, Kumaran Pathmanathan, who was the Treasurer of LTTE and its chief arms procurer, apologized to India for Velupillai Prabhakaran's "mistake" of killing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He further said Rajiv's assassination was "well planned and done actually with Prabhakaran and (LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman). Everyone knows the truth".


title: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi

text: In 2016, solid evidence of the involvement of Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan and Gurjant Singh Budhsinghwala were given. In 1995, Sewa Dass Singh had seen Tamil separatists at Chohan's office a month before the assassination. Two other retrieved messages showed how he was in touch with Budhsinghwala about the assassination as well, and they were originally trying to find Haryanvis to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi instead of Tamils and Sikhs.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Jumper is a 2008 American science fiction action film loosely based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Steven Gould. Directed by Doug Liman, the film stars Hayden Christensen as a young man capable of teleporting, as he is chased by a secret society intent on killing him. Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Max Thieriot, AnnaSophia Robb, Diane Lane, Michael Rooker, and Samuel L. Jackson also star.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: The script went through a rewrite prior to filming, and the roles for the main characters were changed during production. "Jumper" was filmed in 20 cities and 14 countries from 2007 to 2008. The film was released on February 14, 2008. The film grossed $225 million worldwide and received generally negative reviews from critics, mostly because of the many changes to Gould's novel, rushed plot, and anticlimactic ending.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: David Rice lives lavishly on stolen money acquired from using his superability to "jump," particularly into and out of bank vaults. David discovered his power when he was a teenager after nearly drowning in a lake; he then later left home to escape the abuse inflicted by his alcoholic father. After eight years he becomes hunted by the Paladins, a secret society of religious fanatics who are sworn to trace and kill "Jumpers" for their alleged omnipresence which they find blasphemous. Roland Cox, current leader of the Paladins, learns of David's identity from Mark, who bullied David in high school, after a bar fight results in David jumping them into a bank vault. David and his high school crush Millie go to Rome, keeping his ability a secret. When they visit the Colosseum, David meets Griffin, another Jumper before the two are confronted by two Paladins whom Griffin casually kills. David is detained by Italian police and questioned about the deaths, but escapes with the help of David's mother, Mary, who left him when he was five. Millie, upset and afraid when David tries to skirt around the issue, demands to know the truth. David declines and fearing for her safety, puts her on a plane home.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: David runs into Griffin again, and follows him to his hideout in an Egyptian tomb, by jumping through the "jump scar" left behind after a jump. Griffin reveals that he has been trailing and killing Paladins for years and plans to kill Cox to avenge his parents. Griffin tells David that the Paladins will target his loved ones to draw him out. David teleports home and finds his father lying bleeding. He jumps his father to a hospital and returns to Griffin to ask for help. Realizing Cox is personally hunting David, Griffin agrees.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: They go to pick Millie up at the airport, but she is no longer there. Griffin returns to his hideout to get weapons. David breaks into Millie's apartment, angering her. Seeing Cox arriving, David decides to reveal the truth to her. He teleports her to Griffin's hideout. Using a machine that keeps David's jump scar open, the Paladins, including Cox, invade the hideout. David and Griffin subdue most of them. David sees his mother's photo on the wall and realizes she is also a Paladin. Cox is chased back through the jump scar, but he manages to snatch Millie with him. He sets up a trap in Millie's apartment, expecting David to come back for her.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Obsessed with killing Cox, Griffin plans to bomb the apartment, but David objects, wanting to save Millie. They fight and David traps Griffin with power lines in Chechnya. Ignoring Griffin's warning, David jumps to Millie's apartment and is quickly trapped by Cox's cables. The cables "link" him to the apartment, making him unable to jump away alone. Mustering his strength, David teleports the apartment and everyone inside to a river, drowning all the Paladins present, except Cox. Once free of the cables, David teleports Millie to safety and dumps Cox in a cave in Horseshoe Bend. He strands Cox there as a sign of mercy, telling him "I could have dropped you with the sharks."


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: David visits his long-lost mother Mary and discovers his younger half-sister Sophie. Mary tells David that when he was five, he made his very first jump. She is a Paladin and had to either kill David or leave - she chose the latter because she loves him. She subsequently gives him a head start to leave, and they both hug before he departs. After leaving her house, David meets up with Millie, and he jumps himself and her to a much warmer location.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: In November 2005, New Regency Productions hired director Doug Liman to helm the film adaptation of the science fiction novel "Jumper" by Steven Gould. Screenwriter Jim Uhls was hired to rewrite an adapted screenplay by David S. Goyer. However, Liman desired another rewrite and Simon Kinberg assisted in completing the script. Liman said about using the novel for developing the script: "This is 100% Steven Gould's story, it's just reinvented as a movie." In an interview, Gould revealed that he approved of the deviations from the novel. Before filming was to begin, the studio announced plans to develop a trilogy based on the novel's premise.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: While other films tend to use only one storyboard artist, "Jumper" required six, who each worked on an individual action sequence. The artists were given specific instruction on the rules of the teleportation used in the film, to ensure accuracy in the storyboarding. One of them, Rob McCallum, reflected on the instructions: "I was just thinking, 'How would a guy that can teleport fight?' So you were really pushing yourself to try to think of inventive, cool, spectacular ways that you could use this jumping talent that these characters have."


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: In April 2006, actors Tom Sturridge, Teresa Palmer, and Jamie Bell were cast for "Jumper" with Sturridge in the lead role. The following July, actor Samuel L. Jackson was cast as Roland Cox, with producer Simon Kinberg rewriting the original screenplay draft by Goyer. Principal photography was scheduled to take place in Tokyo, Rome, Toronto, and New York. Production was stopped in June 2006 after producer Tom Rothman told Liman "The lead is 18. Wouldn't the movie be better if he was 25? You have a huge movie here and adults won't go and see an 18-year-old. They'll consider it a children's movie. You could make a bigger movie than that." Liman agreed on casting older actors for furthering the romantic aspect of the film. In August, actor Hayden Christensen replaced Sturridge in the lead role as David just two weeks before the beginning of shooting, as the studio "became concerned about not having a more prominent actor in their trio of young stars." After Christensen was recast for the lead role, Liman replaced Palmer with Rachel Bilson.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: In September 2006, "Jumper" was filmed at various locations in Peterborough, Ontario and principal photography began in Toronto in October. In December 2006, Liman negotiated with the Rome Film Commission for rare access to film for three days in the Colosseum. The scene in the Colosseum was originally written for the Pantheon, where exterior shots were also filmed. The crew was required to keep equipment off the ground by using harnesses and had to rely on natural light for filming. Filming took place for 45 minutes in the morning and in the evening so as not to disturb the public touring the amphitheater throughout the day. In order to maximize the short period for filming, four steadicams were set up to ensure time was not wasted in reloading the camera. A visual effects supervisor explained how visual effects were needed for various aspects after filming: "There were three kinds of shots: there were shots where they were able to get most of what they needed in the Collosseum itself; and then there were shots on a set that needed extensions beyond the limits of the set; and then there were shots where we needed to create the Coliseum basically from scratch." After filming in Rome, scenes were filmed in Toronto during December 2006 to January 2007 and wrapped at the Canadian location on January 19.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: On January 26 in Toronto, 56-year-old David Ritchie, a set dresser, was fatally struck by frozen debris while dismantling an outdoor set in wintry conditions. Another worker was injured and was sent to a hospital with serious head and shoulder injuries. After Toronto, the cast and crew traveled to Tokyo to film scenes. One scene required over 30 shoots as the scene could only be filmed in between traffic light changes. As a result of director Liman insisting Christensen perform his own stunts, the actor injured his hand, split open his ear, and developed a hyperdilated pupil that required hospital care while filming various scenes. In February 2007, the next filming site was set up at Gallup Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Sixty students from the nearby Huron High School were cast as extras for the film. Since additional filming was required of the area, twenty other students were used for a day of filming in September. Altogether, filming took place in 20 cities in 14 countries.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: The New Zealand visual effects studio Weta Digital was initially selected to assist in creating a preview clip for the 2007 Comic-Con Convention. The studio's 100 employees later developed the visual effects for 300 of the 600 shots in the film. In total, there are more than 100 jumps in the film, and each jump was modified based on the distance and location the character(s) jumped. The jumps were developed using Nuke and Shake software; many, including those to Big Ben and the Sphinx were created with Maya. Weta's VFX supervisor Erik Winquist explained how the visual effects of the jumps were created: "The concept of what a jump looks like changed and evolved a little over the course of post production. There are shots in the film that use still array footage but not in the same way that we saw in "The Matrix". "The Matrix" was largely about stopping time whereas this was about using slow shutter speeds on those still array cameras to end up with a streaky motion-blurred image as the perspective was changing, which is a pretty interesting look." Other visual effects studios that assisted with the film include Hydraulx, Digital Domain, and Pixel Magic. Lightwave 3D was also used for some of the movie's scenes.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 171 reviews, with an average rating of 4.00/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Featuring uninvolving characters and loose narrative, "Jumper" is an erratic action pic with little coherence and lackluster special effects." Metacritic gives the film an average score of 35 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: "Austin Chronicle"s Marc Salov called the film "... pretty slick, entertaining stuff, well-crafted by Liman, edited into a tight, action-packed bundle of nerviness". "Empire" had a verdict of "[Doug] Liman's least charismatic action movie and the least developed, but it still packs some cracking action into its brief running time and lays foundations on which a great franchise could be built". Australian film reviewer David Stratton stated that "this film represents a new [watershed] in the history of the cinema because it's got no plot, it's got no characters, it's got no action scene that makes any kind of sense", and awarded it half a star out of five.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: The film was released on February 14, 2008 in the United States and Canada, in the hopes of pulling in business on Valentine's Day. The film was targeted at an audience of both males and females below the age of 25. "Jumper" grossed $27.3 million on 4,600 screens in 3,428 theaters from Friday to Sunday, ranking first for the weekend at the box office. In its first weekend, the film set the record for the largest February release in Korea and had the first place position in 11 of the 30 markets it was released in. For the first two weekends of its release, the film maintained its number one position in international markets, while slipping to the second position in the United States to the release of "Vantage Point". The film's worldwide gross is $221,231,186 with $80,172,128 from the box office in the United States and Canada and $142,059,058 from other territories. It was the 28th highest-grossing film worldwide for 2008.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: The score for the film was released on February 19, 2008, after the film's release in theaters. The tracks were all written by John Powell. The music was conducted by Brett Weymark and performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on June 10, 2008 and internationally on June 16. Special features include a commentary, deleted scenes, an animated graphic novel, featurettes, and a digital copy allowing consumers to watch the film on portable devices.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: A video game titled "" was made for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and Wii consoles. The storyline focuses on the character Griffin as he attempts to avenge the death of his parents. Nicholas Longano of the video game publisher Brash Entertainment stated, "From the very first script read, we knew this had to be made into a game. The teleportation elements make for some very compelling gameplay." The game was released on February 12, 2008, two days before the film's wide release. GameRankings gave the Xbox 360 version of the game a 28% positive rating, based on 12 reviews. The PlayStation 2 version received a 35% positive rating while the Wii version had a 23% positive rating. Daemon Hatfield of IGN reviewed the Xbox 360 version and gave it a negative review: "Low production values, monotonous gameplay, and lackluster visuals make this a story you can jump past."


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Steven Gould, the author of "Jumper" and "Reflex" also wrote "" as a tie-in for the film. The novel, released on August 21, 2007, focuses on the character Griffin which was created by screenwriter David S. Goyer specifically for the film. Because Griffin had not appeared in the two prior novels, Gould developed "Jumper: Griffin's Story" as a backstory of the character's early childhood before the film. When writing the novel, Gould had to work closely with a producer of the film to ensure that the story did not conflict with the film's premise.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Oni Press released a graphic novel, "Jumper: Jumpscars", that portrays several backstories related to the film. The novel was released on February 13, 2008, one day before the film's wide release. A publisher for Oni Press commented on the tie-in to the film, stating: "The world that was being built around these characters was so well-realized and the mythology so interesting that other stories about this conflict would be plentiful and add to what the filmmakers were building." The novel was written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir and illustrated by Brian Hurtt.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: In November 2016, the re-illustrated covers of the "Skulduggery Pleasant" novel series by Derek Landy, done by Tom Percival to commend the series' 10th anniversary, had its characters modelled off of real-life celebrity figures, with "the last teleporter" Fletcher Renn on the cover of "" visually based on promotional stills of Hayden Christensen as David Rice from "Jumper".


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Author Steven Gould's second novel in the Jumper series, "Reflex", was published in 2004 (by 2014, two more Gould novels in the series have been published).


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: Prior to the film's 2008 release, Hayden Christensen reflected on the possibility of one or more sequels: "This has definitely been set up in a way that will allow for more films, and Doug has been careful to make sure that he's created characters that will have room to grow." Lucas Foster during production of the film stated in an interview: "The ideas got so large, that they really couldn't fit into, you know, one or two movies, they needed to evolve over at least three movies. So we planned the story out over three movies and then we sliced it up in such a way as to leave room for the other two movies."


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: In response to the film's box office performance, director Doug Liman has spoken of his ideas for a sequel. Among them are that Jumpers can reach other planets and travel in time, as well as their capacity for espionage. He has also stated that Rachel Bilson's character would learn how to jump (hinted by David falling unconscious before the jump from the river to the library), just as in Gould's sequel, "Reflex". However, , no further updates were given for a sequel.


title: Jumper (2008 film)

text: A spin-off television series from the film, titled "Impulse", was released on YouTube Premium on June 6, 2018.