Democracy Now! A Discussion of Betsy DeVos

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1. retiredbutmissthekids says:

   December 1, 2016 at 7:55 pm

   Yay! Diane, I am so looking forward to seeing you on DemocracyNow! tomorrow (it’s on here at 12 AM CT). Thank G-d for Amy Goodman–can you name her an “Education Hero?” (She educates us on every important facet of what affects ALL of us–&, in particular, what will affect our children & grandchildren.)
   IMO, she deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
   She truly is a national treasure.
   &–BTW–DemocracyNow! is celebrating an anniversary (20 years-?) Monday, at Riverside Church in NYC. Hope you will be there, Diane.

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   • ciedie aech says:

     December 2, 2016 at 1:18 pm

     YES; please let Amy Goodman know that she is always with those at the very top of the Telling Truth hero list.

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2. Catherine Blanche King says:

   December 1, 2016 at 8:59 pm

   Impressive, Obe Wan Kenobe. We need more of the same, for as long as it takes.

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3. Lloyd Lofthouse says:

   December 1, 2016 at 9:02 pm

   Excellent video. Trump should call his YouTube TV channel “Dictatorship Now”.

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   • Joel Herman says:

     December 1, 2016 at 9:38 pm

     His you You Tube Channel, has been and will be Cable News .

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     • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

       December 1, 2016 at 11:13 pm

       His YouTube channel will be a biased, lying, misleading news channel where he manipulates people and fools them.

     • Joel Herman says:

       December 2, 2016 at 9:24 am

       Lloyd Lofthouse

       It is more than Fox.

       I am not doing a false equivalence thing. I am certainly not doing the Trump I hate the media routine . But media bias or perhaps media group think has been incredible .It explains how they missed the “weapons of mass destruction”., the financial collapse and the election of Trump. Investigative journalism seems to have died, to be replaced by bickering pundits repeating talking points. As newsroom staffs have been cut back in both the print and on air media.

       The perfect example is education . The media narrative on failing schools is deafening. Ask most parents, their children are falling behind China. Ask most parents, they will tell you that there are all these jobs that their children just have to be prepared for.

       Somehow when ever education issues are put on the ballot those narratives fall apart. Overwhelmingly they vote to preserve the system that they were told is failing. Rejecting the group think, when they look at the schools THEIR children are attending.

       The other day I had an energy audit provided by the utility company through a State program. My son and I got to talking to the home inspector, being that this relatively low paying job will probably be going on the chopping block with climate denier Trump . He had a PhD. in Biology. There goes the STEM shortage myth..

       You did not have to be clairvoyant to see that Trump was tapping into something greater than the obvious racism. The economic anxiety is real. That PhD. and his parents know that the system is not working the way they expected it to. They may choose the wrong political solutions. But perhaps that is due to the choices they were given and the economic narratives they hear. We will never know what would have happened, if they had actually been given a different choice. But a big reason they were not given that choice had to do with the media who anointed a candidate in both parties. The only reason their anointed candidate lost in one party, had more to do with the fractured nature of the race in that party. Their anointed candidate did win in the General.. But as the fractured republican field played to the minority candidate Trump.
       The electoral college delivered a minority President Trump.

     • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

       December 2, 2016 at 12:20 pm

       What’s known as the golden age of journalism took place at the end of the 19th century during the era of a progressive GOP president Teddy Roosevelt and into the early 20th century.

       That golden age lasted for a few decades with help from the Fairness Doctrine, and it died a quick death under President Reagan when he got rid of the Fairness Doctrine, dropped his pants, squatted, and shot out an egg shaped turd that gave birth to the Alt-Right, lying, racist, misleading, hate-media machine where Rush Limbaugh has ruled as its king talking head for decades earning about a half billion dollars fooling deplorable Americans.

4. Laura H. Chapman says:

   December 1, 2016 at 9:23 pm

   Watching this after Trump’s apearance in Cincinnati, and reading Alfie Kohn’s dissection of Trump’s need for approval.
   Clarity, command of facts, civility, and well-placed criticism…really refreshing.

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5. Pat says:

   December 1, 2016 at 9:45 pm

   Wish the segment had been longer and would like to see more coverage on education.

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   • retiredbutmissthekids says:

     December 2, 2016 at 2:48 am

     Agreed! But–great job of explaining quite a lot to the viewers in the time you appeared, Diane. Glad Amy mentioned & re-mentioned your books & showed them–perhaps even more people will be reading them now, giving them for gifts & paying them forward–i.e., spreading the word. It was also very encouraging to see & to hear Dr. Cornel West, who stated that he’s 63, & ready for the fight! (Plus, he’ll be teaching, again.)

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6. Greg says:

   December 1, 2016 at 10:44 pm

   Diane, you are my hero. Thank you for all you do, I wish teaching all day didn’t leave me so exhausted and that I could do more to help you.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     December 1, 2016 at 11:07 pm

     Thanks, Greg. You can help me by joining the Network for Public Education as we fight the nightmare that confronts us.

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   • Duane Swacker says:

     December 2, 2016 at 11:09 am

     “I wish teaching all day didn’t leave me so exhausted. . .”

     Any teacher worth his/her salt knows just how true that is for K-12 teachers!

     Thanks for teaching Greg!

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7. gitapik says:

   December 2, 2016 at 8:39 am

   Great interview, Diane. I thought that you got a lot of information across in the limited amount of time that was allotted. The interviewer did a good job, too, allowing all the speakers to answer the questions and elaborate with few interjections.

   Now, if we could only get it on FOX news in prime time. Joke…but what a difference that would make.

   I’m wondering how this will all play out if Virginia Foxx is able to at least minimize the role of the Federal Dept of Education (https://dianeravitch.net/2016/12/01/new-chair-of-the-house-education-and-workforce-committee-wants-to-get-the-feds-out-of-education/). If so, it might make DeVos into somewhat of a paper tiger. We can only wish. As is, this appointment is clearly a harbinger of some very tough times to come.

   Too much money in the hands of too few. How far we have fallen.

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   • gitapik says:

     December 2, 2016 at 9:04 am

     Hmm..just read Arthur Camins’ reply on that link. Unsettling.

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8. gailj2 says:

   December 2, 2016 at 9:44 am

   We all need to implore our US Senators to fight this appointment! Your interview on tis show is helpful to inform, but contacting Senators is the ACTION step we must take. My Senators are on board in CT.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     December 2, 2016 at 10:48 am

     There might be 3 or 4 Republican senators who might oppose DeVos if they hear from enough voters in their state.

     Unless DeVos contributed to their campaign.

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       December 2, 2016 at 11:12 am

       While NPE has organized an email campaign (have we reached the goal yet?) I urge all to contact via the old fashioned phone method your senators. Here is a guide. It took me about 2 minutes for each senator-very easy:

       http://civilrights.org/action_center/resources/calling-congress.html

9. Duane Swacker says:

   December 2, 2016 at 11:04 am

   “Were charter schools — you said the first one opened in Wisconsin in 1990 — were they ever a response to failing public schools?”

   I wish, Diane, that you would have first corrected the interviewers false statement of “failing public schools”. I understand that in the context of a live interview it is quite hard to pick up on everything but we need to do a better job of countering, calling out the falsehoods that are unknowingly (and knowingly) being perpetrated such as the supposedly “failing” public school meme.

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   • dianeravitch says:

     December 2, 2016 at 11:09 am

     Duane, you are right. The lies circulated by reformers are easy to counter but hard to catch up with. There are so many. Number 1 being that charters and vouchers will “save poor kids from failing schools.”

     She also said that the Education Department began in 1867 and I forgot to correct her. I told the research assistant that the Office of Education in the Department began in 1867 and the Department was established in 1980.

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     • Duane Swacker says:

       December 2, 2016 at 11:14 am

       So many lies and falsehoods and so little time to catch and correct them all, eh! Thanks for doing the interview.

10. gitapik says:

    December 2, 2016 at 11:26 am

    Somewhat off topic but related is this post which is circulating on Facebook. We’re getting some very good participation. The more people who get involved….:

    Daily Act of Resistance
    This one via Rebecca Solnit (via Mark Spencer, thank you!):
    She called the office of the Comptroller General of the Government Accountability Office and spoke with a very nice woman named Miss Mahoney. Rebecca said she was calling in support of Senator Warren’s request to audit the President Elect’s finances for conflicts of interest. Miss Mahoney noted her call and when asked what was the most effective way to be sure the call counted, and Miss Mahoney suggested emailing two administrators.
    Their names are:
    Katherine Siggerud -email: siggerudk@gao.gov
    And Timothy Minnelli -email: minellit@gao.gov
    There’s one bonus account used to track support congrel@gao.gov
    The text of the letter can be one sentence:
    “I’m writing in support of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s request for an audit of our incoming President Elect’s finances, to prohibit conflicts of interest that would prevent him from carrying out the responsibilities of the office without corrupt influence.”
    Three emails, each with one short sentence. An email a day keeps the Drumpf at bay
    Please copy-paste this post to share away. Even if you’ve seen this on your feed a few times already, share and share. Some people will ignore this the first few times, but when it feels like everyone else is writing, they’ll do it, too. Maybe even me, maybe even YOU.

    Reply
11. Joan Primm says:

    December 2, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    In the video clip, B. Devon speaking at the American Federation for Children summit –without hesitation said: “All told, we’ve helped more than a million kids in PRIVATE SCHOOL PROGRAMS, and we are just getting started…” There is no question that public tax money is going into private hands.

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    • gitapik says:

      December 2, 2016 at 5:24 pm

      The power of big money. Separation of church and state is written into our constitution but is being conveniently overlooked in these endeavors. Then there’s the lack of oversight, despite the fact that they’re receiving our tax payer dollars to operate.

      It’s really pretty disgusting that they’re able to get away with it.

      Reply
      • dianeravitch says:

        December 2, 2016 at 6:45 pm

        Separation of church and state is not explicit in the Constitution though I think it is implicit in the First Amendment. However most state constitutions have explicit statements forbidding the use of public funds for religious schools. Indiana and Nevada have such prohibitions but Tepublicans ignore them.

      • Lloyd Lofthouse says:

        December 2, 2016 at 8:56 pm

        The U.S. Constitutions does not specifically say anything about separation of church and state, but there is no way, because of the language in the 1st Amendment, that the United States can become a theocracy. Then only one religious sect would hold power like in Iran leading to suppression and discrimination of all other religions. Theocracies also have a history of suppressing freedom of expression and also restrict the rights of individuals to speak freely.

        The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.

      • gitapik says:

        December 2, 2016 at 9:51 pm

        Thanks for the correction. Duly noted. And unhappily so. Gives DeVos more wiggle room.