The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education is an outrageous insult to the millions of people who send their children to public schools, to the millions of students who attend public schools, to the millions of educators who work in public schools, and to the millions of people–like me–who graduated from public school.
As expected, the vote was 50-50, and Vice President Pence was called in to cast the tie-breaking vote.
She was never a student, a parent, an educator or school board member of public schools. It is her life’s work to tear down public education. She does not respect the line of separation between church and state. She supports for-profit charter schools.
She is ignorant of federal law, federal programs, and federal policy. When asked at her Senate hearing about the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, she did not know it was a federal law. She had given no thought to lessening the burden of debt that college students bear, which now exceeds $1 trillion. At a time when the federal role in aiding students with the high cost of college needs to be redesigned, she knows nothing about it.
As the ethics counselors for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama pointed out, DeVos has financial conflicts of interest which she refuses to divest. She told the Senate committee that she had no role in her mother’s foundation, which has funneled millions of dollars to anti-LGBT organizations, but her name appears on 17 years of the foundation’s audited tax returns. She told the committee that online charter corporations produce stellar results, but researchers demonstrated with facts that she was wrong.
Choice policies in Michigan have caused the test scores in that state to decline. Detroit, overrun with charters and choice, is a chaotic mess.
It is a sad day for American public education when a person who has repeatedly expressed contempt for public schools is confirmed as Secretary of Education.
But there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. Her obvious lack of qualification for the job has created a maelstrom of protest against her. Senators report that they have never received so much feedback about a cabinet nominee, overwhelmingly negative. Telephone lines were jammed, in some offices, shut down.
The DeVos nomination awakened parents and educators to the dangers of privatization. She personifies the privatization movement. She is the leader of the Billionaire Girls Club, spreading her millions across the land to reward and enrich allies in Congress, on state and local school boards, and in any setting where she could tout school choice as a magical remedy for poor performance. Charters and vouchers, whether for profit or nonprofit, is her sole idea. She has singlehandedly stripped bare the “reform” movement, showing it to be not a civil rights movement but a privatization movement funded by billionaires and religious zealots.
About half the Republican Senators have received substantial campaign contributions from the DeVos family. How else to explain their determination to confirm her regardless of mass protests against her. Hers is the first Senate confirmation vote in history that required the intervention of the Vice President to supply a tie-breaking vote. She enters office with no reservoir of public trust.
Strange as it may seem, the confirmation of DeVos is a victory for those who spoke out against her. We joined with many organizations–People for the American Way, the ACLU, and many more–to say NO. The response was overwhelming. The Network for Public Education generated well over half a million emails.
For those of us fighting back against privatization, Betsy DeVos was a great tool for organizing and mobilizing and informing the public. Had there been one courageous Republican, had DeVos been defeated, Trump would have found another privatizer. And the fight would have started over.
She created the informed public we need to build a strong movement against privatization.
Consider this article that appeared in the Washington Post. The author describes herself as someone who was never interested in politics. Having learned about DeVos, the writer became a political activist.
This is the spirit we need to continue the fight for the future of public schools in America.
As a lifelong Republican I can say that I’m ashamed of my party today.
If it took this long I would have to ask why .
Tillerson, Perry, Carson, Flynn, Bannon (jeezus!) weren’t already enough?
And from The Hill just now….they will be killing Native Americans for oil profits with the Dakota Pipeline. Many Trumpsters own stock in this drilling company. All of this is illegal…we are in a full fledged fascist nation now.
Dakota Pipeline moves ahead….
“The Army Corps of Engineers will grant the final approval needed to complete the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline as soon as Wednesday, it told lawmakers Tuesday.
The news from the Army Corps, in letters to Congress and to a federal judge in Washington, D.C., came two weeks after President Trump issued a memo asking the agency to approve the pipeline as soon as possible.
The Army Corps also told the court that it will no longer complete an intensive environmental impact statement on the pipeline, an action the Obama administration decided to take in December that would have delayed the project for potentially a year or more.
The decision is a major victory for pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners and the oil industry and a defeat for environmentalists and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Energy Transfer told the federal judge Monday that that it could take as little as 60 days to finish the pipeline once it gets the Army Corps easement, Reuters reported.
The easement allows Energy Transfer to build the line under federally owned Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The pipeline, when complete, will run in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Its construction is substantially complete, with the Lake Oahu portion behind the last major hurdle.
The approval had been held up for months amid objections from the Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation abuts the lake. The tribe said the pipeline threatens its water supply.
The new Army Corps decision is likely to invite new litigation from the tribe.
Tribal lawyers have insisted Trump administration officials cannot overturn the December decision, and a lawyer for the tribe called such a decision “unlawful” during a Monday court hearing, according to Reuters.
Standing Rock’s concerns blossomed into a monthslong protest with thousands of people from around the world at the construction site urging the federal government to cancel the project.
It quickly became a flashpoint for environmentalists and indigenous-rights advocates, who accused the federal government of ignoring the Standing Rock Sioux’s objections.
But the oil industry and Republicans rallied behind Energy Transfer and said that former President Obama’s delays of the project threatened the rule of law.
Jan Hasselman, an attorney with Earthjustice who represents the Standing Rock tribe, said the Trump administration’s action is illegal and threatened court action over it.
“The Obama administration correctly found that the tribe’s treaty rights must be respected, and that the easement should not be granted without further review and consideration of alternative crossing locations. Trump’s reversal of that decision continues a historic pattern of broken promises to Indian tribes and a violation of treaty rights,” he said in a statement.
“Trump and his administration will be held accountable in court.”
Devin Henry contributed to this story.
as a republican i will give her a try.
I agree with you. And I was reading that cyanide has potential health benefits, so why don’t you try drinking a full gallON of it over two days.
Norwegian: I was thinking the same thing. Does something horrible happen to your brain when you identify your inner Republican? And BTW, it didn’t used to be so bad–must be something that happened since, say, Vietnam? I don’t know, . . . but something.
“And BTW, it didn’t used to be so bad–must be something that happened since, say, Vietnam? I don’t know, . . . but something.”
Reagan?
Mate I don’t know, but there’s definitely a “drink the poison” feeling to it.
Something happened after Reagan. Tea Party? We now have a Republican Party in which extremists target moderates. Remember how Eric Cantor was knocked out by a Tea Party guy? Boehner was driven out by his Tea Party faction. In state after state–NC is an example–far-right Republicans target moderate Republicans. Lust for ideological purity and total power.
Diane And then there’s the vast wealth that is govern by this principle: The more we have, the more we want, and the more we want to protect what we have.” And it doesn’t seem to matter that such wealth was born-of and exists, in large part, because we have a good system that, when it serves everyone well, it also thrives and continues to produce wealth.
But the thing that scares me is that, having been around similar religious zealotry, I know they have a curios way of separating means from ends. For instance, if their end is (their version of) “God’s Kingdom,” they will do ANYTHING to make it happen, regardless of who gets hurt.
I think it started with Reagan, not after. Reagan on vouchers
In general, Reagan was the charismatic guy who was able to start implementing Friedman’s ideas.
“Friedman was an advisor to Republican U.S. President Ronald Reagan[14] and Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[15] His political philosophy extolled the virtues of a free market economic system with minimal intervention.”
Reagan loved the idea of vouchers but it went nowhere. His Secretary of Education Ted Bell was state superintendent in Utah, and he was against vouchers. Bell appointed the commission that produced “A Nation at Risk,” and it did not mention vouchers or school choice.
So then who and how did start reviving the concept?
The far right never gave up on vouchers. Chubb and Moe’s book about “Politics, Markets, and Schools” brought the idea back to life.
I discuss this in “Death and Life.” Vouchers were dead until then. Even now, vouchers are so unpopular that every voucher program has a euphemism: education savings account, tuition tax credit, opportunity scholarship. When Jeb Bush wanted to delete the ban in the Florida constitution that prohibits state funding of religious schools, he didn’t call his referendum proposal “The amendment to allow school vouchers for religious school tuition.” He called it the “Religious Liberty Act.” Even so, 58% voted against it.
no
Addendum to my note to Norwegian: Maybe “Republican” is code for “Jim Jones follower”?
The revelations…
“as a republican i will give her a try.”
Yeah, let’s give DeVostation a try. Who’s with me?
Mate: Mitch McConnell is with you. He drank the Republican poison already, but now he’s begun to channel Donald: He asked on the floor, after cutting off Elizabeth Warren (who was reading a letter from Coretta Scott King about Jeff Sessions) why the Democrats keep talking about the Sessions nomination when they know that they are going to lose the vote anyway?
McConnell’s brain is taken over. He has actually forgotten what the purpose of the discussions is: advise and consent?
I think he’s tired of doing his job and needs to retire.
Mate,
Clever word! Devostation.
Inspired by your “unpresidented”. 🙂
Yes i will be.
Has anyone tried to access senate.gov? This is what I’ve been getting since 10:30 am EST:
Access Denied
You don’t have permission to access “http://serve-403-www.senate.gov/” on this server.
Reference #18.16449140.1486489092.325d1c4
I got through at 2:00 PM.
Very alarmng not to be able to access our representatives whose salary we pay and who supposedly work for us. Many phone lines have also been ignored or turned off so constituents cannot even leave messages.
Fascism, pure and simple. Government collusion with corporate leaders to rule out the voices of We the People.
Suggest joining our Diane’s activist organization NPE, and also join a local RESIST group on meetup.
The Tea Party has been doing this kind of meetup organizing for over 15 years, and they were able to access their members and tell them how to vote, so that we now have the Trumpist autocrats in the WH and dominating Congress. We can ONLY fight back by coming together as a unified voting block and keep organizing and shouting out at the media. (Read Chris Hayes today. I will get that link up.)
Karin Klein, please get in touch. Appreciate much that the LA Times has reported lately…op eds and editorials…have info for you.
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
Also egregious- some U.S. representatives and senators have government websites that deny access to people who want to send e-mail to them, but reside outside of their district zip codes.
The politicians take money from people outside their districts. Their salaries and office expenses are paid by federal taxes. And, they enact policy and laws that affect everyone.
If this is related then the senate is mad and the coincidence is Donald Trump has chosen the great ed. sec and the senate is stealing
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
This vote confirms one thing for me. To be put in a position of this power with a single vote is bad. Cabinet positions and Supreme Court confirmations should have to have at least a 2/3 majority to be confirmed.
Another front in the war on our democratic republic. The tearing down of the Public Schools is an assault on a United States institution.
“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Steve Bannon
Brannon is the Grim Reaper of democracy
A sad day for the children who attend our public schools. In Devos’ land of opportunity, you can be anything you want to be even if you’re highly unqualified.
So long as you marry a billionaire.
NPR said that senators have received 1.5 million calls every day this last week. Maybe the sleeping giant isn’t asleep anymore.
Only if we continue to be vocal. Letters to the editor, conversations with our friends and neighbors, attendance at town halls with members of Congress, and repeat over and over again.
Republicans are already pushing the narrative that opposition to DeVos and Donald the First is bought, astroturf advocacy.
This is another example of the damage the Citizens United decision has caused.
Join a local RESIST group on meetup…organize.
Exactly, Ellen!
Wish you were nearby, Film guy. We are on the same wave length about the economics of politics. Appreciate your supportive, and other, comments and would love to sit a bit and formulate a plan for insurrection. Feel free to write me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
“She enters office with no reservoir of public trust.”
The Network for Public Education did heroic work. Time to keep the heat on these Republicans who value incompetence, especially if there is money attached.
The Public School has embezzled to damn much money away from us as republicans
My concern is that this nomination had some of the most strident opposition, with overwhelming feedback to most of the Republican Senators, yet they allowed this nominee to be confirmed. What does it take in this current political environment? If the answer is 2-4 years, can our schools, and in a broader sense, our society wait?
If this vote doesn’t show the people that their voice is not listened to in DC anymore, nothing ever will. Can you imagine this happening in 1992? The Senators are not beholden to their constituents at all
There should be an effort to vote out every senator that failed to listen to their people. If the State of Nebraska is telling to vote “NO” and you don’t, then that senator should be voted out ASAP. This applies to many other states.
$$$$$$ talks to creeps.
I think it’s a “win” for the Koch Brothers and the other 1 percent Rich in the miasma that is the Libertarian/Republican Oligarchic Party. A person gets elected in a state with Big and Dark Money, then comes to Congress and, instead of being beholden to the people of their state, they are beholden to the party; and the party itself happens also to be bought and paid for.
It’s an oligarchic puppet parade, from the state to Congress and back again. What do “Masters of the Universe do”? They master the universe.
Lylegray,
We can’t wait. We must resist at every opportunity.
Don’t let her visit your school. Into the streets.
Wouldn’t it be great to take Jeff Sessions’s seat?
There are still laws on the books that make conflicts of interest a crime, so I guess the next step is to “modernize” all these laws so they don’t apply if you have enough money?
Ray–exactly, at least while we still have laws, that is.
Resist the privatizers! It’s vital for the USA, it’s vital for Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and – last, but not least – for all countries on the American continent. It’s not only a question of education, it’s about democracy, justice and the fight against plutocracy.
I think your take is spot-on, and I believe that the results will extend beyond massive response to this nomination. An enormous base has become engaged and politically activated, and their interests will undoubtedly extend beyond this department.
Can anyone imagine what will happen when this administration goes after Medicare? Or Social Security (the greatest privatization “prize”)?
Local school corporations should ban her entry into public schools! Petitions need to be prepared and people need to present a Ban to local school boards across the country! Protect our children !
I’m skeptical that she’ll ever set foot in a public school. Too difficult to control the optics.
The DeVos’ photo op, showing her pensive review of carpet samples on her desk (posted by Mercedes Schneider), demonstrated ineffective control.
Let the lawsuits against her begin!
I for one will fight on every front can. I have been teaching for 18 years, this is not over. Diane what can we do in NC to help in the fight?
Get every voter to the polls in 2018.
Throw the bums out.
Elect people who support our democracy
Understand whether we like it or not the “business of America is business” or at least so they think. If we are going to stop him actions will have to be taken that upset the apple cart. Fortunately the business of America happens to be located in mostly urban centers
disproportionately in blue states.
How can I best keep tabs on her initiatives and actions
Irene,
Join the Network for Public Education to stay informed
I agree with you that if DeVos was defeated another unqualified individual would have been selected by Pres. Trump. What really annoys me is the lack of integrity the Republican party has to support someone completely unqualified for the position. These politicians are enough to turn your stomach. They have no shame, and have really been short-changed in the intelligence department.
Average cost of a US Senate campaign in 2013:
$10.3 Million
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/11/politics/congress-election-costs/
At present, I think our judges are our heroes–so far? But if it goes to the Supreme Court?
If it goes to the Supreme Court as currently constituted, it is likely a 4-4 tie, and the Appeals Court ruling stands.
If Gorsuch is confirmed before the issue reaches the Supreme Court, Trump wins (probably).
The president has broad discretion to set immigration policy. But not based on religion. Does anyone doubt his intention was a Muslim ban?
I have lived in nations with a Muslim majority (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait). If the Pres. intended to ban Muslims from immigrating to the USA, he would have to impose a ban on nations from Morocco to Indonesia (Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world).
This is NOT a ban on Muslims, but a hold on travel from nations which are clearly unable to properly vet individuals who could possibly do harm to our nation.
Charles: Where have you been? But to your note, haven’t we already been vetting them?
Charles, that is ridiculous. This is part of a strategy to create scapegoats and political straw men to divert the attention of citizens. They are creating a relatively small scandal to hide much bigger ones.
“Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan … This is NOT a ban on Muslims, but a hold on travel from nations which are clearly unable to properly vet individuals who could possibly do harm to our nation.”
Yeah Saudi Arabia’s competent vetting resulted in how many Saudis on 9/11?
Here is the national security advisor on the Muslim problem
Is he distinguishing countries by vetting competence or by religion?
Sickening! Continue to RESIST at every turn. And take on the trolls who want to deface Diane and her most important blog.
I for one am most THANKFUL for Diane.
Thanks, Diane!
Say NO to DumBoss (DeVos), Humpty Drumphty and his awful cabinet (kiss butts) at every turn.
Oh, ed reformers are on it! As usual, not one word on public schools:
“When President Donald Trump stopped by a Cleveland charter school in September, he promised to “establish the national goal of providing school choice to every American child living in poverty.” Although he initially pitched the idea of a $20 billion school choice program, the details on how that would work—and what other policy changes he might pursue—were a bit murky.
Trump’s nomination of school choice supporter Betsy DeVos for education secretary affirmed his commitment to expanding school choice, but the nomination also brought a bit more clarity to Trump’s agenda (or at least made it easier to speculate). DeVos has a widely cited history with vouchers, and the media immediately zeroed in on the possibility that the new administration would champion not just public charter schools, but private school choice as well.”
Oh, well. Who cares about the schools 90% of kids attend? Let’s all chase vouchers for the next 4 years. Charter-mania will give way to voucher-mania.
Maybe there’s a silver lining. If public schools are irrelevant to ed reform that means ed reform is irrelevant to public schools. They can conduct this “movement” solely within the echo chamber. Most people won’t miss it.
Chiara: And forget about Trump changing his mind because of understanding something new–he was elected on the same ignorance that is the basic problem of the electorate in the first place. If he understood something new about where our nation/culture is, with its loss of memory about their own constitution and its protections, he will push even more for privatization and the elimination of public schools.
Public schools cannot function without $ and actual school buildings (property) once these are gone to the privatizers, the infrastructure will be extremely difficult to rebuild. It is the classic mafia “bust out” tactic applied on a national scale. take over a business, drain its resources and leave everyone else holding the bag. A pretty common story in the charter sector. No thought is ever given to what comes after.
You’re ability to see hidden silver linings in the midst of all this insanity, and your knowledge and perspective, insight, energy, courage and enthusiasm to continue to inform, question, organize and resist is inspiring. Thank you.
Wherever she goes, meet her with protest
Writing in The New Yorker, Andy Borowitz speculates on the impact of the DeVos Confirmation.
SATIRE FROM THE BOROWITZ REPORT
DEVOS CONFIRMATION MAKES IMMIGRANTS AMERICA’S ONLY SOURCE OF EDUCATED PEOPLE
By Andy Borowitz 12:32 P.M (2/7/17)
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The Senate’s confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary means that immigrants will be the nation’s only reliable source of educated people going forward, education experts said on Tuesday.
Under DeVos, according to Davis Logsdon, the dean of the University of Minnesota’s School of Education, the U.S. will have to “drastically increase its inflow of immigrants” if it wants people capable of performing even the simplest tasks.
“Most of our industries require people who can read, write, and do arithmetic, even in a rudimentary way,” he said. “The Senate just shot that to hell.”
With DeVos running the Department of Education, Logsdon said, millions of American students “will graduate from high school each year without mastering any useful skills—in other words, much like DeVos herself.”
The spectre of an economy plagued by workers “operating at a DeVos level of sub-proficiency” means that the United States will need to do everything in its power to attract educated immigrants to its shores, he said.
Logsdon did not offer a complete list of countries with people whom the U.S. should try to lure, but he said that a partial list would include Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya.
Andy Borowitz is a New York Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes the Borowitz Report for newyorker.com.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/devos-confirmation-makes-immigrants-americas-only-source-of-educated-people
Here’s Elizabeth Warren letting off some steam about how the Republicans have ignored the rules to ram DeVos through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvUQEJB7ewo
And the crazy azz byotch still got in.
Warren voted to confirm Carson for pity’s sake. She’s hardly one to complain now.
Carson is totally unqualified for HUD. But he can’t do as much damage as DeVos.
Carson should have gotten an ambassador job. Her too
At least Carson lived in a real house.
“Carson should have gotten an ambassador job. Her too”
So that they can screw other countries?
Yes, dienne77,
Sen. Warren is a sell-out so be sure to work hard against her if she is running against Trump because you just know she is just as bad, just like you did with Hillary Clinton. I’m sure some candidate like Jill Stein will be delighted to have your vote so Trump can get re-elected and we can all be “saved” from those nasty useless Democrats like Sen. Warren.
I can just imagine the nasty stuff that we will hear about the “sell-out” Sen. Warren so that all the silly ninnies who voted against Hillary can convince themselves they are doing the “right” thing by voting against Sen. Warren, too. After all, she’s just as bad as Trump anyway. Right?
A greeting card/post card campaign is in order. These can be sent directly to the Department of Education or to any “representative” who voted for DeVos.
We The People will not extend Warm Greetings to the corrupt & incompetent Betsy DeVos. We urge all elected officials and every Department of Education employee to NOT COOPERATE with Betsy’s agenda. There are so many effective ways to obstruct so let us get creative and courageous. Make her administrative tenure a logistical nightmare every step of the way.
Send teddy bears or pictures of bears in the cards!
I think the Teddy Bear/Grizzly Bear idea is PERFECT! Universal image of what is right is our world and WRONG in Betsy’s world.
Can anybody say conflict of interest and bribery in giving money to politicians money for the job?
For anyone who’s still deluded that any Republicans are “appalled” by Trump. Not one of them has been anything other than lockstep with him the whole way. (The two that voted against DeVos don’t count – they were allowed to for cover to pretend they are “moderate” next time they are up for re-election. But if they really wanted to stand up to Trump, they would have stalled the nomination in committee.)
I think it’s called: “political capital.”
I am in complete agreement Dienne.
1.) Agreed on the silver lining.
2.) Would like a list of politicians who have lost positions based on education policy. I don’t know of any to this point.
3.) Absolutely agreed that not a single GOP senator showed courage on this vote.
Two, from Maine and Alaska.
Not courage, cynical expediency.
Hard for me to credit them, JB2. They voted her out of committee where either of them could have stopped her with a lone vote. They were for her before they were against her…when it actually mattered.
It was a pretty sad day when Duncan was confirmed too.
She’s a horror show on every level. Given. She is a religio-maniac. Given.
She’s also the least competent of a VERY deep bench of potentials, all reform/privatization minded.
There were no potential options on the table for anyone pro-public education and anti-reform. In fact, there were no options for an anti-reformer even if HRC were elected.
Awful, but DeVos may be the LEAST dangerous precisely because of her wild lack of preparation and incompetence. Imagine someone with her reform beliefs and religio-horror-show-ideas, that was also super experienced and qualified and competent.
Agreed on all points, NYSTEACHER. In hindsight, I’d say that Duncan’s confirmation — a bipartisan celebration — was even sadder.
In handsight, I’d say that all the people who said “Awful, but Trump may be the LEAST dangerous precisely because of his wild lack of preparation and incompetence” were wrong.
I’m not totally understanding you, NYC public school parent, but if you’re implying that DeVos (as undeniably problematic as she is) is worse than Duncan than I’ll respectfully agree to disagree with you…with the caveat that I may be ultimately be proven wrong. Can you name a single positive thing that Duncan did? I can’t. And everything he accomplished was with near unanimous support from the Congress and the President. Though the DeVos vetting was a sham (rigged?), there was a legitimate fight. I don’t think the public is going to accept her the administration’s policies without vocal opposition. Eyes are opening.
I am saying that I heard many people who voted for Jill Stein claiming that Trump was so unprepared and incompetent that he couldn’t do much harm. And they could not have been more wrong. So when I hear you saying that DeVos can’t do much harm, I think “yes, that’s what the Hillary-haters said about Donald Trump”.
Then you misunderstand me, NYC public school parent. I believe DeVos can and probably will be enormously damaging (not sure where or how you read otherwise). But to think she will be worse than past Secretaries of Education (or anyone who would have replaced her) is incorrect. Still waiting for any example of something positive from Arne Duncan (or King or Paige or Spellings).
Perhaps they don’t really care who warms the seat at the Department of Education. According to this a bill consisting of one sentence “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.” has been introduced by a Republican legislator. These are guys who obviously are deep thinkers about the long term consequences of their actions, who will continue along until the voters treat them the same way they treat their voters.
https://massie.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-massie-introduces-bill-to-abolish-federal-department-of-education
Great link Ray!
Yeah, that’s a really weird sequence of events. An epic fight over the confirmation of a person to lead a department that they’re considering shutting down.
NYSTEACHER,
That’s what I heard people saying about Donald Trump. Especially when they were claiming that Hillary was just as bad.
“Awful, but DeVos may be the LEAST dangerous precisely because of her wild lack of preparation and incompetence…”
“Trump may be the LEAST dangerous precisely because of his wild lack of preparation and incompetence…”
Wrong. And false equivalencies with Duncan, as bad as he was, are what got us Trump and enables his terrible cabinet.
“Imagine someone with her reform beliefs and religio-horror-show-ideas, that was also super experienced and qualified and competent.”
Does that person exist and would they likely be nominated in DeVos’s place? If not, why should we be evaluating DeVos by comparison to an imaginary person?
Reblogged this on Mark's Text Terminal.
I have spent my entire life working in education as a teacher, author, and blogger for the Huffington Post. I thought my job was to continually remind people of what quality education looks like. But my pen is not that strong. Not even Diane’s powerful pen could stop the coming Armageddon. I have just joined the Network for Public Education and will join the chorus of the outspoken.
What worries me now is Trump’s cozying up to the generals and the cheers he’s getting from the Armed Forces. I know more than a few of us older folk are getting heart palpitations from the news.
Maybe, this is the wake-up call America needs to protect its now threatened democracy.
Addition to existing worries- The sister of the founder of Conservative Leaders for Education is president of Gates-funded NCTQ. CL4E’s founder is a state senator in Ohio, where she chairs the Senate Education Committee. CL4E posted, at its site, recommended candidates for U.S. Secretary of Ed. The list included among others, (1) a Fellow of the Gates-funded Pahara Institute (2) a former education consultant to the Gates Foundation (the guy was also a former president of Pat Robertson’s university and, (3) Betsy DeVos.
The 2 senators who spoke up were just to appease the public masses (to deflect/distract). This was going to go through all along with or without them. Now the public knows who they will vote for (or not) in 2 years and 4 years. I know there will be lots of grizzly bears in public schools now, because mommas and poppas turn into bears when you mess with their children. Hell hath no fury like parents when they are on a mission involving their children! At least with DeVos, everyone knows what they are getting.
Sue her for conflict of interest!
What happened to, “We the people”?
Most of them stayed home, another large portion of them willfully bought into likes to express their resentment, and the rest of us are left to make the best of a miserable situation.
lies not likes
We the people have been asleep at the wheel, shopping at malls, watching a lot of banal TV, and eating bad fast food, having just enough for themselves and their families and never really thinking about others and collectivism.
Individualism has “Trumped” collectivism.
I agree with the positive spin. The only upside I see is that DeVos is the least qualified candidate imaginable. And we will be after her at every turn and will make sure every clueless or destructive action or order is broadcast far and wide. Remember Cathie Black? She was unprepared for the job–though a paragon of preparedness compared to DeVos–and was constantly being called out for it. She couldn’t take the heat and her actions took place in a glare of media. Eventually she was fired.
I just heard that the kids at Beacon High School, in NYC, have walked out in protest!
The New Yorker cartoon of the day:
http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon-020717-betsy-devos
Excellent (whoops, wrong character)!
Not surprised she was confirmed. DeVos money runs deep on the right side of the aisle, she said it herself that she expects a payoff (thank you, Jane Meyer). Jesus Harold and Hapless Henry Christ, as a teacher, I will resist, resist and resist further and go the distance, man. I don’t care anymore, meaning, during the Obama years, I’ve been threatened with layoff due to underfunding and whatnot. Now I’m beyond apoplectic to, ironically, the point of pure stoicism of Let’s Get This Over With. I’m sick and [expletive] tired of living in fear of what may or may not happen.
I agree, there’s a silver lining. DeVos has laid bare (or grizzly bear?) the alarming state of politics and shown us why we have to fight for public education.
This needed to happen. Otherwise the system would have suffered less obvious and more devious destruction by the so-called reformers.
Maybe this hijacking of democracy will offend enough parents that they will fight for their schools and children.
Jeb hopes senators who opposed #DeVos will put aside “tired arguments of the unions and come together to prioritize the needs of students.”
Let’s see how long ed reform can discuss “public education” without once mentioning public schools.
They may set a record. Is the phrase actually banned?
The 74 says “vouchers could be the big winners”
Winners and losers, baby, and they’re WINNERS! DeVos says “the Best and Brightest” stay away from public schools- obviously- they’re winners!
https://www.the74million.org/article/vouchers-could-be-the-big-winner-in-trumps-school-choice-plan-but-is-that-a-victory-for-students?utm_content=buffera55e4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Ok, I just joined the NPE and some local (NC) education groups… what’s next? What are some concrete actions that we can take to resist?
I’ve been daydreaming about a campaign to encourage families to resist by turning down vouchers and charters and going back to the public schools. A lot of my peers are applying to every charter and private school in our area rather than register for our local public school system. Many people want to believe in the public schools but don’t want to take a chance with their own kids if their school system has “low scores.”
Kelly, the most important thing you can do is to know who your elected representatives (including school board, city and county councilpersons, mayor, state representative and state senator, governor, US representative and US senators) and understand what each does to represent you. Each will have a differing jurisdiction. It is essential that you, as a citizen, know which people you need to reach for the right issues. It will eliminate a lot of future frustration.
Find out if any of them are like-minded with you. If any are, start building relationships with them–make visits to their offices, find out if you have other areas of agreement. They can often act as surrogates to help you make your voice heard the “higher” you get on the food chain. It’s also vital to know what they can and can’t do. For example, with the DeVos nomination, I was surprised how many of my friends didn’t know that only US Senators voted on nominations. They were wasting their time contacting their US representatives.
If they aren’t on your side, then find public ways of highlighting your disagreements on issues you care about (letters to your local newspapers, social media, community organizations and meetings). You should also be vocal in support of people who agree with you on like minded issues. Your friends will be even friendlier if they know you are promoting similar causes. And always send thank you messages when they do the right thing.
Thank you for your thoughtful and helpful response GregB. I sure wish that civics had been emphasized more in my primary and secondary education experiences… but I’m trying to learn as quickly as I can now that I am a little more awake and alert to the responsibilities of participatory democracy!
“Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts”
-Mary Harris Jones AKA “Mother Jones”
The Senator from South Carolina is assuring people in Twitter that she won’t “destroy” public schools,
This is literally the best ed reform can offer: a promise not to “destroy” schools.
Hey, thanks! Good work! Maybe tomorrow you can work all day and not destroy something else.
Here is the article from Chris Hedges…en toto. Long but worth the read. ellen
“Make America ungovernable
Now is the time to shut down the systems of power. Now is the time to resist.”
By Chris Hedges
February 7, 2017
| Op-Ed
4
https://i0.wp.com/www.nationofchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CheckMate_590.jpg?fit=590,497Illustration credit: Mr. Fish/Truthdig
“Now is the time to shut down the systems of power. Now is the time to resist.
Donald Trump’s regime is rapidly reconfiguring the United States into an authoritarian state. All forms of dissent will soon be criminalized. Civil liberties will no longer exist. Corporate exploitation, through the abolition of regulations and laws, will be unimpeded. Global warming will accelerate. A repugnant nationalism, amplified by government propaganda, will promote bigotry and racism. Hate crimes will explode. New wars will be launched or expanded.
And, as this happens, those Americans who remain passive will be complicit.
“We don’t have much time,” Kali Akuno, the co-director of Cooperation Jackson and an organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, told me when I reached him by phone in Jackson, Miss. “We are talking two to three months before this whole [reactionary] initiative is firmly consolidated. And that’s with massive resistance.”
Flurries of executive orders and memorandums are being issued to demolish the anemic remnants of our bankrupt democracy. Those being placed in power – such as Betsy DeVos, who if confirmed as secretary of education will defund our system of public education and expand schools run by the Christian right, and Scott Pruitt, who if confirmed as head of the Environmental Protection Agency will dismantle it – are agents of destruction. In the eyes of the Christian fascists, generals, billionaires and conspiracy theorists around Trump, the laws, the courts and legislative bodies exist only to silence opponents and swell corporate profits. It is impossible to know how long this transformation will take – it may be longer than the two or three months Akuno fears – but unless we mobilize quickly to stop the Trump regime the end result is certain.
“The forces around Trump have a plan to roll this [attack on democracy] out,” said Akuno, who was the coordinator of special projects and external funding for the late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba in Jackson. “They have a strategy. They have a timeline. They know whom they need to divide and whom they need to recruit. They are consolidating their base. Those who try and chalk this up to Trump’s pathology miss the intentionality, the strategic aims and the objectives. We will do ourselves a great disservice if we underestimate this regime and where it is going.”
Stephen Bannon, the president’s chief counselor, was behind the ban on Muslims entering the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries – a ban you can expect to see extended if the Trump administration is successful in removing a stay issued by a district court. He was behind the order to the Department of Homeland Security to draw up lists of Muslim organizations and individuals in the United States that, in the language of the executive action, have been “radicalized” and have “provided material support to terrorism-related organizations in countries that pose a threat to the United States.” Such lists will be used to criminalize Muslim leaders and the institutions and organizations they built. Then, once the Muslims are dealt with domestically, there will be new Homeland Security lists that will allow the government to target the press, activists, labor leaders, dissident intellectuals and the left. It is the beginning of a fascist version of Leon Trotsky’s “permanent revolution.”
“Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too,” Bannon told writer Ronald Radosh in 2013. “I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”
The Trump regime’s demented project of social engineering, which will come wrapped in a Christianized fascism, can be implemented only if it quickly seizes control of the bureaucratic mechanisms, an action that Max Weber pointed out is the prerequisite for exercising power in industrial and technocratic societies. Once what the historian Guglielmo Ferrero calls the “silken threads” of habit, tradition and legality are gone, the “iron chains” of dictatorship will impose social cohesion.
“This problem is not going to be solved in the 2018 elections,” warned Akuno, the author of the organizing handbook “Let Your Motto Be Resistance” and the former executive director of the New Orleans-based People’s Hurricane Relief Fund. “That hope is an illusion. The democratic apparatus will be completely gutted by then. We have to look beyond Trump. We have to look at the consolidation on the state level of these reactionary forces. They are near the threshold of being able to call for a constitutional convention because of the number of governorships and state legislatures where they hold both chambers. They can totally reorder the Constitution, if they even continue to abide by it, which they may not. We are facing a serious crisis. I don’t think people grasp the depth of this because they are focused on the president and not the broader strategy of these reactionary forces.”
“We have to encourage a broad noncompliance strategy of ungovernablity,” Akuno said. “Not complying. Not consenting. We have to struggle on every front. We have to expect that the courts will not protect us. We are going to get less and less protection from the police. The slightest act of civil disobedience will mean jail. We have to mentally prepare for that. We have to build serious organizations, drawing upon the examples of forces that fought authoritarian regimes in Latin America and Europe. Either we submit to not having any protection as workers, women, queers, blacks, Latinos or indigenous or we fight back. These forces [arrayed against us] are not willing to compromise. I hope it does not come to violence, but we know the proclivities of the society and the forces that run it.”
If nonviolent protest is met with violence, we must never respond with violence. The use of violence, including property destruction, and taunting the police are gifts to the security and surveillance state. It allows the state to demonize and isolate a mass movement. It drives away the bulk of the population. Violence against the state is used by the authorities to justify greater forms of control and repression. The corporate state understands and welcomes the language of force. This is a game the government will always win and we will always lose. If we are perceived as a flag-burning, rock-throwing, angry mob that embraces violence, we will be easily crushed.
We can succeed only if we win the hearts and minds of the wider public and ultimately many of those within the structures of power, including the police. When violence is used against nonviolent protesters demanding basic forms of justice it exposes the weakness of the state. It delegitimizes those in power. It prompts a passive population to respond with active support for the protesters. It creates internal divisions within the structures of power that, as I witnessed during the revolutions in Eastern Europe, paralyze and defeat those in authority. Martin Luther King Jr. held marches in Birmingham, Ala., rather than Albany, Ga., because he knew Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner “Bull” Connor would overreact and discredit the city’s racist structures.
The Trump regime is populated with blind fanatics. They believe in one truth, which is whatever they proclaim at the moment (any such declaration may contradict what they said a few hours before). They are possessed with one idea – conflict. They venerate a demented hypermasculinity that includes a sacralization of violence, misogyny, a disdain for empathy, and the self-appointed right to engage in bouts of frenzied rage. These characteristics, they believe, are a sign of masculinity. The highest aesthetic is militarism, violence and war. Without conflict, without enemies real or imagined, their ideological structures and racism collapse into a heap of contradictions and absurdities. They will attempt to thwart nonviolent, nationwide resistance with force. And they will attempt to stoke counterviolence, including through the use of agents provocateurs, as a response. If we speak back to them in the language of violence, we will fail. We will be transformed into the monsters we seek to defeat.
Bannon and his followers on the “alt-right,” self-declared intellectuals, ferret out facts and formulas that buttress their peculiar worldview and discard truths that contradict their messianic delusions. They mouth a few clichés and quote a few philosophers to justify bigotry, chauvinism and governmental repression. It is propaganda masquerading as ideology. These pseudo-intellectuals are singularly incurious. They are linguistically, culturally and historically illiterate about the Muslim world, and about most other foreign cultures, yet blithely write off one-fifth of the world’s population – Muslims – as irredeemable.
The inability of white supremacists like Trump and Bannon to recognize the humanity of others springs from their spiritual impoverishment. They mistake bigotry for honesty and ignorance for innocence. They cannot separate fantasy from reality. Such people are, as author James Baldwin said, “moral monsters.”
Evil, for them, is embodied in the dehumanized other. Once the human personification of evil is eradicated, evil itself is supposed to disappear. Except, of course, that as soon as one group of human beings is annihilated, another human embodiment of evil rises to take its place. The Nazis began with Jews. Our fanatics are beginning with Muslims. History has shown where they will go from here.
“The nationalist is by definition an ignoramus,” the Yugoslav writer Danilo Kis said. “Nationalism is the line of least resistance, the easy way. The nationalist is untroubled, he knows or thinks he knows what his values are, his, that’s to say national, that’s to say the values of the nation he belongs to, ethical and political; he is not interested in others, they are no concern of his, hell – it’s other people (other nations, another tribe). They don’t even need investigating. The nationalist sees other people in his own images – as nationalists.”
Like all utopian dreamers they believe their authoritarianism is being implemented for our benefit. They are like Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, who oversaw the burning of Giordano Bruno at the stake and who argued that eradicating heretics does them a favor because it saves them from their own damnation. It is impossible to have a rational dialogue with people who view reality through the binary lens of black and white – us and them. They do not recognize the right of dissent. Dissent is at best obstruction and probably treason. Fanatics, in power, always become inquisitors.
The acts of resistance – including the massive street protests the day after the inauguration and later the demonstrations that grew out of the ban on Muslims, the Department of Energy’s refusal to give the Trump administration a list of employees that worked on climate change, acting Attorney General Sally Yates’ refusal to enforce the travel ban and hundreds of State Department staff members’ signing of a memo opposing the immigration restrictions – terrify those around Trump. These reactionaries do not trust the old elites and their bureaucrats and courtiers, including the press, which Bannon has called “the opposition party.”
Akuno, who supports the appeal for nationwide general strikes, cautioned that such a call might be premature “because unions don’t know if a general strike is called how many members would comply, given how many voted for Trump.” He also noted that because the Trump regime is carrying out assaults on so many fronts, resistance will tax the resources of the left.
“This shotgun assault effectively divides the left,” he said. “Do I defend Chicago if, as Trump says, he puts tanks in the streets or do I go to Standing Rock if I am black? These are the kinds of choices we will be forced to make.”
“We are going to have to bring this society to a standstill,” he said. “We are going to have to disrupt the flow of commerce. We are going to have to disrupt the nodal points of distribution. We will not only have to figure out how to get on the highways, but disrupt Amazon.com and UPS. We have to get workers there, even though they are not unionized, to see these acts as in their long-term interests. And we have to build strong, fortified bases locally and link them together.”
Trump loyalists are counting on enough support from the police, the military, private contractors and the organs of internal security such as Homeland Security and the FBI, along with newly empowered white vigilante groups, to physically crush those who defy them. They will attempt to use fear and even terror to paralyze the population into acquiescence.
“It is not accidental that the Trump regime immediately went after the water protectors at Standing Rock,” Akuno said. “Standing Rock forced the wider society to look at itself, its history and its origins. It raised serious questions. Do we want human civilization to survive? Are we willing to destroy ourselves for short-term profit? Standing Rock exposed the U.S. colonial project and challenged capitalist logic. It showed us that we have to make a choice between oil and water. It asked us which will take priority for human beings.”
We have the power to make the country ungovernable. But we do not have much time. The regime will make it harder and harder to organize, get into the streets and carry out the nationwide strikes, including within the federal bureaucracy. Resistance alone, however, is not enough. It must be accompanied by an alternative vision of a socialist and anti-capitalist society. It must reject the Democratic Party’s attempt to ride anti-Trump sentiment back into power. The enemy is, in the end, not Trump or Bannon, but the corporate state. If we do not dismantle corporate power we will never stop fascism’s seduction of the white working class and unemployed.
“The evil which you fear becomes a certainty by what you do,” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote in his play “Egmont.”
Now is the time not to cooperate. Now is the time to shut down the systems of power. Now is the time to resist. It is our last chance. The fanatics are moving with lightning speed. So should we.”
Chris Hedges, whose column is published weekly on Truthdig, has written 11 books, including the New York Times best seller “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt” (2012), which he co-authored with the cartoonist Joe Sacco. Some of his other books include “Death of the Liberal Class” (2010), “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” (2009), “I Don’t Believe in Atheists” (2008) and the best selling “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” (2008). His book “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning” (2003) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
I can’t help but wanting to throw Chomsky’s lesser evil argument in Hedges face . I agree with his sentiment however we would have been in a far better place fighting Clinton. We certainly would not be fearing the end of democracy.
Agree…but it is what it is…Noam has made some worthwhile noise these last weeks. Given that Hedges has his own personality quirks, he hits important points here.
I think it’s amazing the GOP Senators feel they don’t have to address public school parents AT ALL.
I mean for goodness sakes- they’re obviously taking us for granted. We don’t even merit a mention in all this.
If you’re voting for these people you’re nuts. They have no interest in what you think.
Time to frame the discussion in even plainer terms to raise awareness among even the low-information voters. Start using the term “church schools” whenever people talk about vouchers. Even though vouchers cover private schools as well, the low-information voter can more easily recognize the difference between church and state.
When charter and voucher advocates claim that parents should be able to send their children to the schools they want (using vouchers, etc.) we need to tell them we all pay taxes for public education. “Keep YOUR private hands off OUR public school dollars.”
I’m sure there are even better statements we can come up with.
Resist.
YES,,,thanks…will now use “church schools” continually. RESIST.
DeVos’ “Jesus schools”-see SNL.
“Start using the term “church schools” whenever people talk about vouchers.”
Good idea. What percentage of vouchers are used for church schools?
A fast -growing segment, in the industry, are Muslim schools.
Contrasting “industry schools” from public schools, clarifies, as well.
“A fast -growing segment, in the industry, are Muslim schools.”
Fox news reports that in the first month of the current Unpresidency, 92% of school vouchers were used in Muslim schools. DeVos is devostated.
It is all coming down so fast…here is another protest to make re Price in charge of Social Security….terrifying prospect.
“No one voted to destroy Medicare. Yet, the first battle in the war over Medicare has arrived.
The Senate is preparing to vote this week on Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services―Rep. Tom Price. We must fight back!
Email your Senators now and tell them to oppose Tom Price’s confirmation as Secretary of Health and Human Services. A vote for Tom Price is a vote to destroy Medicare!
Price has spent his entire congressional career working to destroy Medicare. He claims, baselessly, that “nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare.”
Putting this anti-government zealot in charge of Medicare is a threat to the healthcare of millions of seniors and people with disabilities.
Email your Senators today and tell them that a vote for Tom Price is a vote to destroy Medicare.
There are two ways to destroy Medicare―through legislation, as Rep. Price and Speaker Paul Ryan have attempted repeatedly, and by denying it the administrative support it needs to function. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep. Price would be responsible for ensuring that Medicare continues to function―or carrying out his ideological crusade through mismanagement and neglect. We’ve seen Republicans run this playbook by denying the Social Security Administration adequate funds to keep all of its offices open. Rep. Price will do the same to Medicare.
As a representative, Price said that he planned on implementing Medicare privatization “six to eight months” into the Trump administration. Now, as Secretary of HHS, he would be in an even stronger position to do that.
As a representative, Price introduced legislation that would have allowed hospitals and doctors to “adjust” their prices―robbing patients of their life savings. As Secretary, Price would have the power to revoke regulations that protect Medicare beneficiaries, and issue others that do real harm.
Write to your Senators today to oppose Tom Price as Secretary of HHS.
Medicare has stood the test of time. It shows government at its best. It is because of Medicare’s proven success―its low administrative costs, its efficient coverage of those with the greatest medical needs and costs, and its enormous popularity―that anti-government zealots want to destroy the program. Tom Price has said, “we will not rest until we make certain that government-run health care [e.g., Medicare] is ended.”
Together, we must defend our earned benefits from Republicans’ attempts to destroy them.”
Thank you,
Michael Phelan
Social Security Works
Ellen,
Thank you for posting this important message.
The twin issues of the dismantling of Medicare and Social Security need to be brought to the fore of the resistance.
Other than emails from Social Security Works not much mention. This is the underpinning of our society along with public education.
We will be a society on it’s knees without these safety nets.
Yes, Rouge…it is all working out exactly how the extreme Right has always wanted, and though they may laugh at the Clown in Charge, and see that he is a mental case, they are getting everything they want. With limited health care, the poor and the old will die fast, without good public ed, the workforce will be interchangeable and uncomplaining cogs in industry, without Social Security and Medicare, everyone over 65 will be either in the ‘poor houses’ or on the streets or in the graveyard.
Hooray for these monsters who have taken over our whole society. I hope they all rot in hell.
Send letters to either Trump of Pence with this email address:
To contact the White House, please visit:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Feel free to do so, but don’t expect anyone to take them seriously. They ignore dissent.
You have to be kidding, Carol. How did all our protest help us? If the Dem prez Obama did not bother to reply to our letters, what makes you think fascist Drumpf and his lackeys will?
We must get far more creative in fighting back. Read the Chris Hedges article
The Repubs all got what they wanted, and We the People now only exist to quietly pay our taxes and let them rape us. Today, among all the damage, they okayed the Standing Rock pipeline, shut down PBS funding, avoided enforcing Violence Against Woman, and so much more…and they showed their real fascist-like support for DeVos.
Get real girl…we are up against something NEW to us in what was our nation…we are up against real FASCISM…and not a single Repub, and a number of Dems don’t give a damn. Collins and Murkowski were motivated by their Dem voters and didn’t want to lose the next election, and they understood that a tie would be broken by Pence. YES, it a rigged system.
If we don’t really organize and protest loudly in the streets, and use their devious but successful strategies against them, all is lost. Pence and Bannon and Drumpf…our heads of state, don’t give a s…t about anything we would write to them.
But do let’s write to all the Repubs and threaten them with defeat in the next election…and let’s consider a real tea party…dumping our tax money into hidden silos and NOT funding THEIR billionaire oligarchic government. If we little people stop the faucet of our hard earned taxation, and force the billionaires to pay some taxes and not feed off us with their zombie appetites, maybe, just maybe, we can turn this around…but it will not happen in MY lifetime. I am too old to do anything but fight them any way I can while I am still above ground.
Writing them in the WH, their house, not mine, is a waste of time and effort.
I don’t expect that I”ll get a reply from Pence. It was a way to ‘blow off steam’. Pence was my Governor and I couldn’t stand the damage he did to Indiana.
I’ve called and written a number of times to Senator Todd Young and I don’t even get a reply back from him. DeVos gave $46,800 to Young’s campaign so of course, he voted for DeVos to be Secretary of Education.
I do think that if hundreds of thousands of people send it emails, it just might reinforce the idea that we are fed up with their brand of politics. (I have made anti-Trump signs and been to a protest. I will be going to a Fund Planned Parenthood protest this coming Saturday. I’ve already made that sign.)
1.8 million people in Britain signed a petition to keep Trump from visiting their country. I’m hoping Parliament agrees with those petition signers. Time will tell whether or not that petition meant anything.
Love and respect your activism, Carol. Living in the Pence state has to be an extra burden.
With all the complaining I have done here over the past 4 years about California, right now I must add that I am so glad I live in this Big Blue State. And that my new Senator Kamala Harris is showing the nation that she is a fierce tiger for progressive action. Our Dem State Legislature has some duds, but overall it is far more fair and activist than many others in our country. Hope that will help protect our public schools since Drumpf has already targeted us for deep Federal funding cutbacks. He is furious that we are protecting immigrants.
addendum…and I am proud that Kevin de Leon stood up to Drumf and the Bigots…thanks Kevin…hearing your statement reminded me of the old days when you ran One Stop on Milpas, and spoke to my SBCC class.
The time for a March for Public Education is NOW!! We have the nation’s attention with ghost DeVos debacle. There was a fantastic Woman’s March. There will be a March for Science. There absolutely should be a March for Public Education! I am a public school teacher in Indiana and I know firsthand how awful this is for public education. Mike Pence did everything in his power to destroy public education in Indiana and he is now taking aim at destroying public education on a national level. I think it is time for ALL public educators to be heard. Teachers all over the country are fighting battles in their own states. In Indiana, North Carolina, Illinois, Florida, and many more. The last thing many politicians want teachers to do is join together as one. Well, I have a vision of doing just that. But I am one teacher in Indiana. I have a hard time being heard here. But there is one person that has the ability to bring together all teachers from all over the country and I think Diane Ravitch is just the person to organize and mobilize this march. The only way to get this country to understand the dire state of public education is to make some noise collectively. The longer we wait to band together in support of public education the then more damage gets done by the campaign donors and crooked politicians. We can fight this together now and make a difference or we can continue to fight a disjointed battle and watch public education die state by state.
” I am a public school teacher in Indiana and I know firsthand how awful this is for public education.”
I’m a retired music teacher who lives in Indiana. One of the other frequent writers to this blog lives a few miles from me. He is a retired teacher.
Great to hear your idea. Pence was a disaster for education. I really don’t know how anyone can stand the daily stress.
Sad! But this ship is sinking fast.
The whole White House team is nuts. Not these crazed ideologue nuts, but plain straight crazy. And Trump does appear to have some sort of dementia. Crime rates are clear. You can’t keep repeating totally false basic statistics while being briefed on it and not have a serious basic thinking problem. You can’t repeatedly confuse annual rates with annual rate increases while briefed and focused on this stuff without having problems with your mental wiring.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/true-crime/wp/2017/02/07/trump-makes-false-statement-about-u-s-murder-rate-to-sheriffs-group/?client=safari
Yes, you CAN keep repeating lies and the voters who are too dumb and too lazy and too greedy will believe you. Hitler and other dictators proved this works well. When endless ignoramouses and bigots are encouraged to vote, and concurrently others who would lean against them are stricken from the voting rolls, it is a recipe for takeover…and it has come to pass.
You might think about Gorsuch and how he feels about Citizens United…Money talks…endless money wins elections. Dems MUST stonewall on everything…learn, dumb Dems, from the more successful Repubs how to MAYBE win back America in 50 years. Certainly we see there is NO reaching across the aisle. The sense of a FREE MARKET where only wealth for the wealthiest prevails, shows that the process is too broken to repair.
So should it be anarchy, or revolution, or just hiding in a hole while Waiting for Godot?
Funny but not funny: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/02/06/1630298/-Cartoon-Looking-backward
OMG…Ray, I have tears in my eyes, but not from laughter…will they be prescient? Can see End of Days….
To me, it would have been a remarkable event (signalling the end of the Republican Party) had DeVos NOT been confirmed. Days ago, Republican ‘leadership’ knew how the vote would go down. They allowed the most vulnerable to opt out (despite having let Betsy through the committee) after counting noses and holding the reins on the rest.
It’s a shame more people don’t know how government actually works.
I am a huge supporter and defender of great public schools…and teachers…but under Obama we got Bill Gates, Pearson, King and the devastating Common Core, which used our children as guinea pigs for an untested untraditional learning program that caused major stress on students parents staff and administrators…of the effects that will be lifelong for some young effected learners…my son included! A child that went from a motivated, excited and confident learner to miserable, stressed traumatized and a reluctant learner! A child who loved math and an A student to struggling to pass!?! I hope great public schools remain fully funded and student success stories and those public schools that are lacking get brought up to standards and above! We all want the same thing for ALL children…no political affiliation involved…but success and great education for each and every student no matter what their learning capability! It just erks me to see so many public school defenders send their own children to private schools…religious or otherwise! I see it every day! Great for someone else’s kid…but expensive private school educations for their own!!!??? I don’t get that? Praying DeVoss is guided by educational professionals and maneuvers through her new position with great care and commitment to the success of every child and supports the teachers and professionals that have also dedicated their lives to the success of those same children as well! It’s a tall order…and no room for errors anymore! “If you’re not a part of the solution…you become part of the problem!” Our children’s minds are not for sale!
Now that DeVos is confirmed, I feel comfortable expressing some amount of relief. Three reasons, three silver linings: 1. DeVos is not competent enough to accomplish her goals; she will flail and fail. 2. Millions of people across the country are now united in opposition to privatization because of her enlighteningly disastrous HELP Committee hearing. 3. The Bee Eater is not Secretary of Education Michelle Rhee.
Trump is not competent to accomplish his goals.
Why worry?
OK, true. Two out of three, though.
“DeVos is not competent enough to accomplish her goals; she will flail and fail.”
I find this reasoning very strange. Would anyone characterize DeVos’s impact thus far as mere “flailing and failing”? The idea that DeVos is incompetent to the point of impotence — I don’t get it. At most it’s a witty thing to say once, but it’s not a convincing argument.
FLERP!
If you keep agreeing with me you may find yourself writing long-winded posts about how corrupt Eva Moskowitz’ many over the top ringing endorsements of Betsy DeVos are.
You may find yourself questioning the utter silence of the 10,000 parents whose kids go to Success Academy as their leader plays politics in one of the most shocking ways possible.
Nah – that would probably make my head explode and most likely you’d take issue with me being so outraged.
“DeVos is not competent enough to accomplish her goals; she will flail and fail.”
You mean succeed and succeed. As you know, the goal, repeated by Trump many times, is to dismantle DOE.
Devos’ incompetency ensures success.
I surrender! I, not having inherited wealth or orange hair, can admit when I’m wrong. DeVos will strip public education of everything. There is no silver lining here. We’re all done for. I was wrong wrong wrong. Call off the (respected) lawyer.
Never give up. Would you have given that advice to black leaders in the 1930s and 1940s? Or to Jews in Europe at the same time?
Thank you, Diane. I’m not giving up the fight. (I just thoroughly convinced three 8th graders to start reading the newspaper and writing letters, to be active participants in democracy.) I just meant I was wrong about DeVos being harmlessly incompetent. I surrender that point.
Now that I think about it, it’s not that she is too incompetent to convince states to use vouchers (she is); it’s that she’s too incompetent to uphold laws that protect children and teachers. She is.
Some reformists are not crazy about the conformation. I guess vouchers would hurt their charter schools.
View at Medium.com
A bill has been introduced to abolish the Dept of Education. Please see
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2017/02/07/congressman-introduces-bill-toabolish-education-department-n2282795
Let’s all work to get this bill passed.
It will:
get rid of Ms.DeVos
and
return control of public schools to states and communities.
and
stop the move to privatization.
TROLL ALERT: Charles: The picture in your link is of John Boehmer, the FORMER RETIRED house speaker? Your link is a rag.
Don’t know if this applies but: Give that woman a cigar! Townhall.com is well known as a right wing rag. Boehner is swearing in Massie, the sponsor of this Trojan Horse bill. Massie represents the troglodyte right who want us all to fend for ourselves in a Dickensian way. Don’t be fooled by Charles. This bill is the opposite of what 99.9% of those of us who are drawn to this blog stand for.
I dunno what you guys are talking about. What is a “rag” in this context?
The proposed Massie bill is valid, isn’t it?
In its rationale, it refers to, who else, Reagan
President Ronald Reagan said, “As a third step, we propose to dismantle two Cabinet Departments, Energy and Education. Both Secretaries are wholly in accord with this….”
https://massie.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-massie-introduces-bill-to-abolish-federal-department-of-education
Mate: A rag is slang for newspaper. In the sense that I (and if I may deign to speak for Catherine) use it, it is a disreputable, slanted source of information.
The limited federal role of education, as established by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, was administered through the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). The Carter administration separated out the Education function to its own department, mostly to respond to education unions that supported them. Reagan did run to eliminate it, but changed his mind after he was elected. He instead tried to use it to implement an agenda of privatization, vouchers, and school choice–which failed.
People like Massie, who revere an iconic vision of Reagan which is based on mythology and not actual history, oppose any federal role in a variety of issues, but they end up trying to use them to promote ideological agendas instead. Many (hundreds of) bills are introduced pro forma to appease political constituencies, not with any serious hope that they will pass. They make good talking points but it would scare the sponsors to death if anyone took them seriously. This is about ideological reorganization not elimination.
GregB You may so deign. I hesitated to refer to the “rag” as a “fake news” outlet. Usually, there is a kernel of truth in the writing, but it’s so distorted, exaggerated, and accompanied by garbage, it commonly loses its meaning.
Thanks, guys.
Sorry, Catherine, just realized I didn’t put a smiley face after deign. It was meant to be ironic. I’ve got to learn how to proofread and figure out emoticons!
GregB ;o)
This is what the Republicans want. Clearly. Loudly. We hear you, and you don’t hear the people who pay your salaries, and voted you in. Come 2018, we can/will vote you out.
I thought perhaps they were cowards, but no…this is what they want. Privitization, and the Federal Government is complicit – why else all the incentives to open charters? Why else all the kudos and “charter school day?” Its an eye opener.
If DEVOS is truly a religious person, then she must take her oath of office seriously–to uphold the constitution?
This entire thing was an insider game. Two Rpublican Senators break from their party to vote with Democrats because they have re-elections coming up in two years, and they weren’t needed now….Pence was the tie breaker…and two Republican Senators can run to their state and say they were on the side of the people.
Cory Booker and others spend the evening in a phony filibuster…phony because they were the wrecking ball for the past few years against public education.
This is the establishment seeking to ensure that the destruction of public education continues into the next mid-term election cycle.
Public education will now be battered for two years…by Trump with DeVos…by Pence with DeVos (if Trump is forced to step down or does so voluntarily)…and into the future as the Bookers’ and Schumer’s and Cuomo’s, and the “smile for the camera” senators from Maine and Alaska.
It’s time to hold all of these traitors rsponsible for their crimes against the American people.
Dear Dr. Ravitch, Is Montessori a viable pedogological methodology for 21st century public schools?
I am with you, Diane.
The hooray for republicans the white house has been revived and now we must take back the money the democ. have embezzled against us down to the petitioners and the bitty bum republicans that have assermaritan value higher than 100 less fortunate thieves
Greg, you will be losing your health care and your job as soon as your president gets around to it
No the economy/gov has no caps on what they can do to me because i am in with the gop
The news also made Jimmy Fallon
I watch morning joe each day on msnbc. It is a good show. But 1 hour, 1 minute into the show today, they began talking about education. I already knew how clueless Joe was, but there were five people on the panel, and it was the most disgraceful so-called discussion of education I have ever seen on a non propaganda network television show. It is indescribable, and must be viewed to be believed. (it lasts only 4 or 5 minutes). Harold Ford of the University of Michigan wound it up praising the heroism of Arne Duncan. He has someone on the faculty at U.M. capable whose style would not be to slice his head off and present it on a plate—-lucky for him. I hope you watch it, and present it. I will continue to watch Morning Joe…..I have learned to live with the reality of how stupid Joe is regarding public education , a subject they seldom discuss. Good production decision.
joe prichard I am a Morning Joe watcher also–until someone says something really cringe-worthy, which occurs WAYYYY too often, then I go back to something more interesting, like cleaning my nails. But have heart–it’s often good to see how bad things are, you know, in terms of all of the misunderstanding, stupidity, and buffoonery out there. It makes me understand why Trump got elected. Sometimes I think Joe’s guests can read my mind through the screen… . .
Morning Joe, grrr. They were crazy for Rhee. Would never invite me on.
By the way, I am in San Diego to speak to leaders of Cal State, whose 23 campuses enroll 470,000 students.
Diane: Glad to hear about your San Diego/Cal State communication–go for it. I’m a bit north of you–closer to LA (Rancho Santa Margarita). You and the organization are a shining star for us on this site.
Thanks, Catherine, I am always glad to see your thoughtful comments.
My conservative friends are thrilled with her confirmation. They want limited federal government, and more power given back to the states.
Expected- today’s conservatives are thrilled with cronyism and incompetence.
Watch them flip on Common Core. Conservative Leaders for Education was founded by the sister of the President of Gates-funded NCTQ. At its site, CL4E, recommended the following, for Trump U.S. Secretary of Ed. (1) a Fellow of the Gates-funded Aspen Pahara Institute (2) a former education consultant to the Gates Foundation (3) DeVos. and a few others.
Gates’ for-profit schools-in-a-box can use Amway’s vertical marketing strategy.
Tell your friends and family to start saving their money to send it to the tech sector. Too bad for your community and the nation.
Beth Do your conservative friends know that it’s apparently cheaper to buy state legislators than those who are in the federal government? Also, you get more control of them aka “local control.” Do they think that’s means “public school boards”? HAHAHAHA! (. . . excuse me). And then there are those pesky “regulations” and “accountability” that the federal government keeps foisting on rich people–it’s a real travesty.
The ads for Devos were paid for, in part, by Peter Thiel’s donations to Club for Growth. Tech billionaire, Peter Thiel, described as an oxymoron- capitalistic democracy and women voting. Sister Beth, who is going to protect, people like you, in your state, from the international oligarchs, like Bill Gates?
Peter Thiel says the US has declined since women got the right to vote.
Denying women, the financial independence, that teaching jobs afforded them, is part of what makes the attack against public education, attractive to the anti-woman tech billionaires.
“Denying women, the financial independence, that teaching jobs afforded them, is part of what makes the attack against public education, attractive to the anti-woman tech billionaires.”
Actually, this presents an idea that the insane push for accountability and testing in education is directed against women. After all, the vast majority of teachers are women.
We should try to find some locker room talk by the minority cabinet or the senate where they say something to the extent
“Women need to be controlled and supervised because they don’t know what they are doing.”
or
“As for the question on women’s equal rights, the Old Testament tells us how to approach the problem and what women’s primary responsibilities are. ”
I bet this can be easily done.
For example, 1 minute search gave me this quote
But Daly is to blame for not disciplining his wife according to Biblical standards.
from
http://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=3504
or I recall when Sean Connery said this to Barbara Walters
So lets find some politicians.
Beth, if your conservative friends are thrilled (as mine are), then catch them with their hypocrisy on vouchers. If they are intellectually consist (which, in my experience, amounts to 1-2% of them), they will oppose vouchers because it is the ultimate intrusion of government they claim to oppose.
From the late night TV folks as reported in the New York Times:
“Today the Senate confirmed education secretary and woman-ahead-of-you-at-Starbucks-with-a-really-complicated-order Betsy DeVos. Now, there are 100 senators. She got the votes of only half of them. So her first act is to make 50 act as a passing grade.” — COLBERT
“Actually it was a 50-50 tie vote that was broken by the vice president, which makes the vote for education secretary the only place where a 51 is a passing grade.” — FALLON
“Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who many think is unqualified, gave big contributions to half the Republican senators who voted for her. [BOOS] Half! Yeah. Or, as Betsy DeVos calls it, 75 percent of them.” — CONAN O’BRIEN
Two articles in InsideHigherEd this morning, the first an open letter from edtech groups; the other regards what will happen to some of Obama’s regulations and programming.
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/open-edtech-letter-secretary-devos?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=11c99dbed7-DNU20170208&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-11c99dbed7-198488425&mc_cid=11c99dbed7&mc_eid=f743ca9d07
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/08/devos-confirmation-squeaks-through-senate?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=11c99dbed7-DNU20170208&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-11c99dbed7-198488425&mc_cid=11c99dbed7&mc_eid=f743ca9d07
DeVos confirmation squeaks through Senate
http://www.insidehighered.com
After winning confirmation with the vice president’s tie-breaking vote, new education secretary is expected to shift away from Obama policies on for-profit higher education, regulation and dealing with sexual assault on campus.
Only the last paragraph of the edtech letter is worthy of mentioning, imo.
Mate: Yes–I agree and “commented” about it at the end. I doubt she’ll read it anyway. As with most of the appointees and Trump himself, Devos seems to have no idea of how that horrible old “government” actually works.
Mate: I thought those who wrote the letter were trying to educate DeVos about the difference between business and government, and how meetings that differ in that regard are so very different in their relationship to not only attitudes of those attending but also innovation itself. But alas . . . .
I e-mailed Lamar Alexander telling him to vote no on DeVos. I laid out a clear and coherent argument. Naturally, he didn’t respond to my contact…until today. I received the following e-mail from him and am disgusted.
“Dear Sophie,
Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting me know what’s on your mind regarding Betsy DeVos’ nomination to become the next Secretary of Education. On February 7, 2017, Mrs. DeVos was confirmed by the United States Senate, and I look forward to working with her over the next four years.
I believe Betsy DeVos is an excellent choice. Let me tell you why: As Secretary, she has committed to implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the new law fixing No Child Left Behind, just as Congress wrote it, reversing the trend to a national school board and restoring to states, governors, school boards, teachers, and parents greater responsibility for improving education in their local communities. Under the new law, the Education Secretary may not mandate or incentivize states to adopt any particular standards, including Common Core. At her hearing Mrs. DeVos made it clear that she will follow the law and not impose her own ideas on states or local school districts.
Betsy DeVos has spent the last 30 years helping low-income children in America have the same choices of schools that the children of wealthier families have. Her mother was a public school teacher, and she was a mentor in Grand Rapids, Mich., public schools. She is committed to public education. She’s said that. But there’s no better example of that than her work on the most important reform of public schools in the last 30 years, which is charter schools. Public charter schools are the fastest-growing reform of public education—to give teachers more freedom and parents more choices—and she’s been at the forefront of that public school activity.
However, Mrs. DeVos has testified before our committee that, as much as she supports the idea of giving parents choices of schools, she does not believe Washington, D.C. should tell Arizona or Tennessee or any other state that they must adopt a school choice or voucher program. Additionally, she recognizes that she has no authority to create a voucher program without Congress passing a new law.
So here we have a woman who will respect the laws Congress wrote, who will work with states to allow the flexibility to improve their public schools, who will work with Congress to strengthen and improve federal education laws through the legislative process, and who will spend some of her time helping low-income children have more choices of schools if states and local school districts choose to voluntarily create such programs. I believe that puts her in the mainstream and that is why I support her confirmation.
One year ago, the office of education secretary was vacant. I talked to President Obama about it and I said, I don’t think it’s appropriate for that office to be vacant. We need the institutional responsibility of having a confirmed United States Education Secretary responsive to the Senate. And I said, Mr. President, if you appoint someone – and I knew very well he intended to appoint nominate John King, with whom I greatly disagree on the scope of federal education policy—I said, I will make sure he has a prompt hearing in our committee and I will make sure he is confirmed on the floor of the senate. President Obama appointed John King, he had a prompt hearing, and he was confirmed within three weeks. I disagreed with him on virtually every action that he took as Secretary, but I believed that the president deserved to have the cabinet secretary he wanted. I believe the same courtesy should be shown to President Trump.
Few Americans have done as much as Betsy DeVos has to help low-income children have a choice of a better school. As a former Secretary of Education myself, I know what the job entails and what skills a nominee needs to be successful. Improving our schools has been one of my top priorities in public service, both as a U.S. Senator and during my earlier service as governor, president of the University of Tennessee, and U.S. Secretary of Education. Better schools mean better jobs, which is why I have worked to support states and school districts in improving education so that our students have the tools they need for success.
We are unleashing a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement—one that recognizes that the path to higher standards, better teaching and real accountability is classroom by classroom, community by community, and state by state—and not through Washington, D.C. I appreciate your taking the time to let me know where you stand. I’ll be sure to keep your comments in mind as this issue is discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Lamar”
The lie in this response from Senator Alexander is that charters and vouchers offer poor families the same choices as wealthy families. Will there be vouchers for $50,000 so poor kids have the same choices as wealthy kids? Will poor kids be welcomed at Lakeside School in Seattle or Sidwell Friends in DC? No. Are KIPP and other no-excuses charters the same choices that wealthy families make? No, no, no.
Another lie: that the Every Student Succeed Act fixes No Child Left Behind.
ESSA is another way of saying NCLB
Besides the usual BS about choices, this is the most shocking to me
I disagreed with him on virtually every action that he took as Secretary, but I believed that the president deserved to have the cabinet secretary he wanted. I believe the same courtesy should be shown to President Trump.>/em>
Is this about courtesy? Wtf.
I just received this from Senator Todd Young from Indiana. He received $46,800 in campaign contributions from DeVos.
I’m so glad that she “devoted her life to the field of education”. She must be a slow learner since she doesn’t know anything about education, especially concerning children with learning disabilities or minorities. She also doesn’t realize that there is a separation of church and state. She’s good at wanting guns in schools to keep bears out. How many years did it take her to learn that?
………………
Senator Todd Young
Dear Ms. Ring,
Sincerely,
Todd Young
United States Senator
Who would be interested and willing to march on Washington for public education?? I really think this is something that needs to happen now. Public education ALWAYS takes a backseat when it comes to political issues, but right now it is front and center. We need to march in the name of public education and keep these issues in the forefront!
We can mitigate this disaster by proving families+schools the tools they need to eliminate sex discrimination in K12 schools. Here’s a free resource anyone can share; reviewed in EdSource, etc. “Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School!” (viewable at http://ssais.org/video/) — parent/educator
From INSIDE HIGHER ED Feb. 13, 2017
Conservative News Site Will Reveal DeVos Ties/By Scott Jaschik
“The College Fix, a conservative website that regularly criticizes what it sees as liberal bias in higher education, has announced it will start to disclose its ties to Betsy DeVos, the new U.S. education secretary. As reported by Inside Higher Ed, the site has been running supportive articles about DeVos without noting that Rick DeVos, her son, sits on the Board of Directors for the Student Free Press Association, a nonprofit group that runs the site and that has received a large portion of its funding from an anonymous conservative donor fund that the DeVos family has donated to heavily in the past. . . . ”
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/02/13/conservative-news-site-will-reveal-devos-ties?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=ed4e36e072-DNU20170213&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-ed4e36e072-198488425&mc_cid=ed4e36e072&mc_eid=f743ca9d07