Having watched the non-debate about the GOP Tax bill in the Senate, having seen it rushed through without time for anyone to read what was in it, knowing that the bill is very harmful to education at every level, Peter Greene is depressed. Very depressed.
Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and accept a two-tier system of schools: one for the fortunate and affluent, another for the kids who are going nowhere.
“So maybe we do need a two-tiered system of schools in this country. One tier for the wealthy, some nice private schools (complete with vouchers that give yet another kickback of tax dollars to the rich) that prepare them to be future leaders and well-off masters of the universe. And then another tier for those who had the misfortune to be poor and must be prepared to live on the bottom rungs of the ladder, because there is no hope in hell that they will ever get out. Oh, sure, a handful now and then will be found worthy, just to keep the fiction alive that we still have the prospect of upward mobility in this country (and always making sure to include a person or two of color so that it’s clear, you know, that we aren’t that racist). But mostly they will need the skills and training to survive in America’s basement, because if they’re born there, they will probably stay there, always living one health problem or bad accident away from financial ruin, never able to afford any education after high school, and condemned to a high school that is either an underfunded public school or a selective and possibly fraudulent charter school, established specifically to help them be more comfortable in their proper place (perhaps delivered through some half-assed software program that maintains their permanent personnel file for the convenience of their corporate overlords). Certainly this is what some people already envision; it’s what Betsy DeVos means when she suggests that students should be “allowed” to go to school in a place that’s the “best fit,” like a snotty rich girl in an 80s comedy looking down her nose at lower class children and saying, “Dear, wouldn’t you be happier somewhere with your own kind?””
Yeah, things look grim. And with these heartless soulless troglodytes in charges, things are grim.
But we can’t give up hope. We can’t stop fighting. We can’t abandon our ideals. We can’t let them win.
Think of all the times in history when evil was triumphant. Think of the tyrannies that had their day, but were eventually overturned. Resistance is hard but it will not be futile.
There are just a few weeks left in 2017. Then it is 2018, and we are on track for a new round of elections. Let’s begin to plan and start to fight. Let us not let evil Triumph. And above all, never lose hope because to lose hope is to lose everything. We neeed the will to fight for what we believe is right. We must start now.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am too, honestly. You just wonder where it ends. No greed or excess seems to be too much. There don’t seem to be any internal limits or discipline.
We’ll really have a country with 99% in service to an unaccountable and corrupt 1%?
What will that look like in 10 years? 20? It’ll mostly be felt by elderly working class and children at least initially but that’s just the short term. Eventually it trickles up to everyone who works for a wage or depends on wager earners to make their OWN living.
I just don’t see anything stopping it. The idea of “shame” or some kind of personal ethics has gone out the window and they don’t seem frightened of voter backlash, so what next? What’s the plan? Beats me.
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I remain baffled by middle class Trump voters. How do they think this works, an “economy”? They recognize that their own ability to earn an income is dependent on there being some economic activity among the 90% at the bottom, right?
How could they think they’re immune? Falling for a con is one thing- happens to all of us at one time or another- this is like some mass hypnosis. I’ve never seen anything like it.
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These regressive policies will shrink the economy and cause the deficit to balloon. Perhaps this is part of the plan to blow up any remaining social safety nets and destroy the democratic public asset of public education including universities.
I do agree with Greene that the remedy is to show up at the polls and knock these robber barons of their pedestals. We cannot afford to be complacent when the stakes are so high.
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Correction: off
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I’m not sure ‘showing up at the polls’ will do the trick.
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Showing up at the polls is our only defense against kleptocracy and plutocracy.
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Retired teacher,
I meant to post my comment below as a reply to you.
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Many seem to be staking success not on showing up at the polls but on trapping Trump into impeachment. IF he did NOT collude with Russia to win the election, and the Mueller investigation finds zero evidence of wrong doing on Trump’s part, then we are stuck with him because he was legally elected in the electoral college. THAT raises the dismal prospect that progressivism, liberalism, whatever you want to call it, was legitimately defeated. And then THAT raises the even more dismal prospect that progressivism, liberalism, etc. is a view of American society not relevant to reality anymore. And THAT finally might lead progressives, liberals, to look in their ideological mirrors and at least raise for a minute or two whether the governing philosophy that they embrace might actually have a flaw or two in it and needs to be rethought from the ground up. Wouldn’t that be a blast of poison gas, to think that Trump might actually be ethically and pragmatically right?
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Harlan,
You are not a millennial. You have been around a while. I first voted in 1960. I have watched and participated in many elections. I have never seen an election—not one—where so many members of the candidates inner circle were in close contact with Russians. Russians who were close to the head of state. This is not normal.
Is that why Republican states are called “red” states?
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I am going to ask for an end—a complete halt—to whining and complaining about Hillary.
It is stupid, mean spirited, and pointless.
We are today faced with a completely corrupt, venal, stupid, retrograde administration in DC, intent on destroying the federal government, the environment, healthcare, public education, the State Department, the foreign service, science, our national parks, our personal safety, all the while showering money on the 1%.
Pay attention to what is happening and stop whining about 2016.
Here’s a warning.
I will delete comments that attack Hillary.
She is not a candidate for office. Enough.
Did you hear me?
I will delete attacks on Hillary.
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Good!
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Oh you are back with a bret of humor from your bubble:
“Wouldn’t that be a blast of poison gas, to think that Trump might actually be ethically and pragmatically right?” LOL.
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I listened to some of the big ed reform conference last week. These people are nuts. They started the conference with a lecture from Jeb Bush about how education is somehow “above” politics followed almost immediately by a rabid partisan speech from DeVos where she promoted the tax bill that harms public education.
They were all clapping along to both speeches. They have convinced themselves that POLICY is “politics” and funding is meaningless. It’s like a religion.
How do such smart people convince themselves that paying for something is somehow optional and it’s all a matter of belief? If they clap hard enough schools will balance budgets? They’re right when they say ed reform is a “movement” but it isn’t a science. It’s a religion. It has nothing to offer non-believers.
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There is a MENTAL HEALTH Crisis in the WH and in Congress.
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And the Democrat party as well.
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I am actually glad they passed it for two main reasons:
First, they have exposed themselves as having zero credibility on the deficit and only being beholden to their rich overlords, and second because it was not passed with a 60 vote majority, it is easily overturned when a new Congress is elected in 2018. I anticipate a Blue Wave in 2018.
This is all temporary. If the planet can physically survive a Trump presidency, we too shall survive and maybe not take what we have for granted.
The more I see what Mueller is doing, the more convinced I am that the USA will bend but not break
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“If the planet can physically survive a Trump presidency,” I’m not so sure it will be that easy. “If” that happens, there will be whole lotta messes to clean up, many of which may be irreparable. But I admire your optimism!
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Well Liz
If Trump and Pence are both impeached in congress of 2019 . That leaves you with Ryan . So you are waiting till January 2021 before your easy reversal can be achieved . . Then you are counting on significant reversal from the Democrats .
Okay now what is your plan B.
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It’s never time to throw in the towel … to the last breath and heartbeat.
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AMEN, Lloyd. I am trying to keep my head and heart straight and IT IS HARD.
This administration even makes Nixon look good.
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Yea, I’d even vote for Nixon if he came back from the dead and ran for Congress or against Trump for the presidency.
Nixon wasn’t perfect but he wasn’t totally evil like Trump.
Nixon tried to enact universal health care. Nixon launched the EPA. Nixon went to China and was responsible for opening China to the world. If Nixon had not gone to China, what would China be like today – another North Korea?
What else did Nixon do that helps balance out the scales of justice against him not being totally evil and without a heart like Trump?
Trump has no heart. Inside of his chest lives a venomous viper.
Trump reminds me of the scorpion that wanted to cross a river and convinced a fox to carry it across with a promise that the scorpion would not sting fox, but before the scorpion jumped ashore while the fox was still in the river, the scorpion stunk it and then watched from shore as the fox was sinking and dying as the river carried it away.
With its last breath, the fox asked why.
The scorpion replied, “Because it is my nature.”
I read last month that G. W. Bush voted for Hillary and his father didn’t vote for Hillary or Trump. So, if G. W. Bush ran against Trump and for Congress, and the Democrats didn’t run someone better against him, I’d vote for G. W. Bush … and I never thought I’d ever think that way.
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Pretty soon Putin will appear “not so bad,” if we keep lowering the bar of acceptability to vote for the candidate that will do the least amount of damage. At this point the whole Bernie-Hillary debate is irrelevant. Either one would look like Mother Teresa compared to the den of vipers we have in office. We have to look forward to 2018.
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Lloyd Lofthouse
Lets see Trump or Nixon that is a close call .
Extended the war by colluding with the South Vietnam Govt to sabotage the peace talks . How many Americans died between 68 and the end of the war . How many Vietnamese and Cambodians including in the genocide .
Broke into his political opponents head quarters to steal their EMAILS ( LOL ). Had an enemies list .
Overthrew the elected leader of Chile
causing the Deaths of 3,200 people and 80,000 in torture camps.
Facilitated the organization of the heart of the Beast . the Business Round table . For the express purpose of Breaking Unions .
If you mean by wanted Universal healthcare . He deregulated the Blues causing the crises we have today in the now FOR PROFIT HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY . The Blues were not for profits .
Kaiser had a great Idea . We could sell healthcare to a younger and healthier populous at lower costs if we were deregulated . Um how did that work.
Killed the Great Society by cutting when they needed expansion.
Now don’t get me wrong I would like to see the whole Trump Team impeached tried and turned into Pinatas . But lets not white wash Nixon because the Cuyahoga River caught on fire.
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I didn’t list Nixon’s crimes because that list was too long, but Nixon did have a short list of good stuff to mention.
But Trump has nothing positive to list. Nothing!
And arguably, if we listed every fraud, con, lie, bankruptcy, and crime Trump has gotten away with for the last fifty plus years, his list would run hundreds if not thousands of pages long. I wonder how many women that he groped without permission would lengthen that list. Eight have come forward. There are probably 80 or a 100 that haven’t.
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Nixon launched the EPA and affirmative action.
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Lloyd Lofthouse
Do not say Trump has done nothing
AstraZeneca stock has gone through the roof . (you might understand that at you next meal )
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My next meal?
LOL
I’m a whole-foods (not the market even though I shop there), mostly organic foods vegan.
For Thanksgiving, I paid a vegan chef $30 for raw food, vegan pumpkin pie with an almond, cashew crust for the family’s desert.
My medical provider is the VA, and they offered free flu shots. I refused to take that shot. I haven’t had the flu or a common cold since 1982 when I transitioned to a vegan lifestyle for health reasons.
I do not take any prescribed medication because I don’t have any lifestyle diseases. I seldom if ever get headaches or indigestion.
At my last annual physical this year, the nurse was shocked that I hadn’t gained or lost an ounce since the previous physical in 2016.
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Please stop noting that Nixon did anything but evil.
That makes you a tool of the neoliberals.
After all, compared to “evil” Hillary Clitnton who has the blood on her hands of millions and millions, Nixon isn’t so bad. And neither is Trump. All three should be considered equally bad. And if that helps keep Trump in office, well then we need to make sure that the far right keeps power until someone who is better than Jesus himself takes office.
I know because a progressive told me so. The same progressives who will be telling you that Elizabeth Warren or Tim Kaine are also evil and tools of the neoliberal agenda and no better than Trump.
We are in for a long ride.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but you just said Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands but Nixon doesn’t?
During the Vietnam War, Nixon illegally authorized the bombing of Laos and Cambodia killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people (and they are still dying because of the hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs dropped on Cambodia that is still there waiting to kill or cripple another civilian).
Under Nixon, the U.S. dropped more bombs than we dropped in World War II. The U.S. dropped more bombs on Laos then there were people.
In fact, prove Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands? Prove that she started a war or escalated a war and ordered U.S. troops do bomb innocent people illegally without permission from the U.S. Congress. Prove it was her senate vote and only her senate vote that was the reason the U.S. started a war with Iraq.
I’m angry at anyone that alleges Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands based on her vote for the Iraq war after 9/11 when G. W. Bush was president.
Hillary was a senator at the time.
77 of 100 senators voted for the Iraq War resolution.
297 members of the House of Representatives voted for that war with 133 voting no.
At the time the country had been lied to by the G. W. Bush administration that Iraq had WMDs.
In addition, 72-PERCENT of Americans supported the war against Iraq.
Yet, it seems that the only person that is repeatedly crucified for her vote is Hillary Clinton.
“A specter is haunting Hillary Clinton’s campaign: the specter of Iraq, specifically her Senate vote in 2002 giving President George W. Bush the authority to make war on Iraq. This vote was the main reason she lost the Democratic nomination, six years later, to Sen. Barack Obama. And now, eight years after that, Sen. Bernie Sanders hopes it will be one reason she loses the same contest to him.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2016/02/hillary_clinton_told_the_truth_about_her_iraq_war_vote.html
Even if Hillary had voted against that war, the resolution would have still passed, and she wasn’t the only Democratic senator to vote yes. She was one of TWENTY-NINE.
If you or anyone else still thinks Hillary has blood on her hands because of her Iraq War vote, you and all the others were easily fooled by the nonstop PSYOPs war to smear Hillary Clinton with lies, conspiracy theories, and exaggerations.
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Thank you, Lloyd.
HRC does NOT have blood on her hands.
Lies.
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Hillary , killery shillery. Tired of it. She was no innocent, but she was not what the internet news factory has made her out to be.
So exhausted by the labeling, stereotyping and name-calling, and the cluelessness of SOME people when they argue.
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Ah yes St Hillary .
Now no one (not me) is comparing Hillary on any scale comparable to Nixon. But can we acknowledge that American foreign policy serves the National interest and the national interest is defined as the interest of the ruling elites . In this case American corporations . Those interests are not congruent with Democracy in the rest of the world nor at home. . Plenty have died in Latin America some because of actions taken by St Hillary .
https://www.alternet.org/world/ex-president-honduras-ousted-coup-supported-president-obama-and-hillary-clinton-speaks-out
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I’ve read that it is estimated that since World War II, more than 30 million people have died around the world due to the ations of the leaders of the United States.
We are talking about 72 years.
Hillary Clinton was one of 100 senators from January 3, 2001, to January 21, 2009.
Hillary was Secretary of State soon after the full Senate voted 94-2 to confirm her appointment from 2009 to 2013. Clinton’s final day as secretary was February 1, 2013. So she was in that position for about four years.
Then Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State on President Obama’s cabinet. Anything she did while in that position, she did at the order and/or approval of President Obama – if Hillary’s hands are dirty so is Obama and the Senate and the Congress for not stopping them since both Houses of Congress do have that power.
To be clear, Hillary was not the President of the United States and Obama was her boss. If she did anything that Obama did not approve of, he could have asked for her resignation.
Do you know the history of the Monroe Doctrine? That was when the United States decided it was the defacto leader of all the Americas. The full document of the Monroe Doctrine, written chiefly by future-President and then secretary-of-state John Quincy Adams , is long and couched in diplomatic language, but its essence is expressed in two key passages. The first is the introductory statement, which asserts that the New World is no longer subject to colonization by the European countries.
I suggest you read “U.S. Presidents and Latin American Interventions, Pursuing Regime Change in the Cold War” to learn the full history of the leaders of the U.S. meddling in Latin American affairs before you accuse Hillary Clinton of getting “blood on her hands” in those countries as if she was the only one that allegedly ordered hits in Latin America.
For instance, “Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic. Richard Nixon sponsored a coup attempt in Chile. Ronald Reagan waged covert warfare in Nicaragua. Nearly a dozen times during the Cold War, American presidents turned their attention from standoffs with the Soviet Union to intervene in Latin American affairs. In each instance, it was declared that the security of the United States was at stake—but, as Michael Grow demonstrates, these actions had more to do with flexing presidential muscle than responding to imminent danger.
“From Eisenhower’s toppling of Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 to Bush’s overthrow of Noriega in Panama in 1989, Grow casts a close eye on eight major cases of U.S. intervention in the Western Hemisphere, offering fresh interpretations of why they occurred and what they signified. The case studies also include the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Reagan’s invasion of Grenada in 1983, and JFK’s little-known 1963 intervention against the government of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana.”
https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1586-5.html
How can anyone with an open mind and the ability to fact check smear Hillary Clinton as if she were the only bad apple in the box … the only one worthy of repeated crucifixions, and what is she guilty of? Doing what her boss, the President of the United States, told her what he wanted her to accomplish built on the foundation of the Monroe Doctrine that was written in 1823.
The Monroe Doctrine was articulated in President James Monroe’s seventh annual message to Congress on *December 2, 1823*. The European powers, according to Monroe, were obligated to respect the Western Hemisphere as the United States’ sphere of interest.
If Hillary was doing anything, she was following in the footsteps of those who came before her going back 186 years. Since she has never been found guilty of anything (except by the hate-filled, conspiracy theory generating Alt-Right media machine), then the only thing she is guilty of is being a woman doing a job that men had done for most of those 186 years before she took the oath of office to become the Secretary of State.
Anyone that continues to repeat the alleged crimes (all unproven) of Hillary Clinton is only continuing and supporting the conspiracy theories generated by the the Alt-Right alternative news media machine.
Is Hillary Clinton a saint?
The answer to that question can be found in this question: Has anyone that has held a high office in the U.S. Government a saint?
On Mon, Dec 4, 2017 at 4:34 PM, Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> Joel Herman (@jwherman11) commented: “Ah yes St Hillary . Now no one (not > me) is comparing Hillary on any scale comparable to Nixon. But can we > acknowledge that American foreign policy serves the National interest and > the national interest is defined as the interest of the ruling elites . ” >
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YUP. Last time I looked, Hillary was no the president… and she was blamed for Bengazi. Who is to blame of the chaos in Libya, and the mass starvation that we helped to engender becasue we took out the despot, and walked away… doing nothing to help set up pathways for the people to survive. Obama did that! The uS did that.
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Lloyd, agreed.
As Churchill said, “never, never, never give up.”
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“All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing”
Edmund Burke
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Evil prevails even when good men attempt to do something but get ignored and crushed by tyrants.
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Evil will always try to find a way. But I feel that there are far too many taxpayers who believe that “someone else” will fight the fight so they sit back and when all is said and done…they can’t figure out how “this” happened to us. Maybe I am naive but I think there are good people in government…just not enough of them.
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I agree with: “I think there are good people in government…just not enough of them.”
They also often are not the ones in charge. Everytime a new president is elected, he (and maybe one day, she) appoints the heads of all branches of the federal government.
For instance, Trump has been appointing leaders that will dismantle and or destroy every federal agency except maybe the Pentagon, but even the military might be at risk because the privatizers have also signaled they want to replace the U.S. military with mercenaries.
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Evil prevails when not being perfect is no different than intentionally doing harm.
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Fight to the end but OMG how depressing. And the minions who follow along thinking this is glorious. A very sad day.
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DUMP and his people should be in a mental institution.
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That’s right. Remember the Bush tax cuts? Remember what resulted in 2008? Remember the painful cuts to public services that followed?
History repeats itself. Don’t be surprised if another horrific, expensive, unwarranted, “preemptive” war is coming soon too.
We will drown in debt, powerless to stand up for civil rights and even human rights. Public education will be turned over to Google Docs.
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And to follow up on my remarks above. I do remember the Bush tax cuts. More than that, I remember how Obama caved in a New York second once he took office and basically killed any prospect of achieving the agenda he ran on in 2008. With the Wall Street ties of Schumer, Booker, Pelosi, et al, I’m not so confident that a wave election in 2018 will bring anything but incremental change that will once again disappoint everyone and set the stage for the next reactionary regime.
As for preemptive war, I still am amazed by how many people still do not understand what that means. When I mentioned to an acquaintance recently that it meant, “We would take the first shot in a war,” he was incredulous: “We wouldn’t do that.”
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We would never “Shock and Awe” Baghdad to preemptively look for WMDs. And we would never have a Democrat bail out Wall Street and leave homeowners out in the cold. Never! We would never give tax money to multinational testing corporations and wealthy venture capitalists instead of to public schools. Never! This here’s America. We’re Great. Again. Here we go. Again.
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GregB
Now ya did it . NYCPSP is coming after you.
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Joel,
Wrong. I am a dienne77 convert now.
I know not to trust anything written in Mother Jones, the NY Times, and the Washington Post as they are just as likely to be lying to promote their neoliberal agenda as Fox News is.
I know that everything I don’t like that any politician I do like does is always because he was forced to do that by evil people who control him — even if he is the most powerful person in the world. There is no other reason.
I know that those Mother Jones approved neoliberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton are personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people and have blood on their hands. Compared to that, what’s the harm in a little Republican tax cut?
How can I know whether this tax cut isn’t a wonderful thing? I don’t trust any of the people who tell me it isn’t, just like I don’t trust the people that tell me it is.
So I’m just going to have to focus my attacks on all Democrats and talk about how they are as bad as Republicans and continue to help defeat those nasty democrats running against right wing Republicans. And I’m doing it because I believe that there is no difference.
Just like there is no difference in whether I can trust Mother Jones or Fox News. Since both are co-opted by some agenda and are propaganda tools for either the neoliberal or conservative agenda, I need to attack them.
And I’ll spend the rest of my time telling the world that Al Franken physically groped a woman and I saw it for myself in the photographs.
Happy now, Joel? I’m on your side.
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You said” I know that those Mother Jones approved neoliberal Democrats like Hillary Clinton are personally responsible for the deaths of millions of people and have blood on their hands. Compared to that, what’s the harm in a little Republican tax cut?”
I see this argument often where I write at Oped News. Look what we have done…bad, bad, bad/ Look at the neoliberal look at killery, shillery .. and the folks voted for TRUMP.
I read something today that applies to ‘our imputity’ but of course this wonderful writer wrote in The NY Times, and thus has no value….still… read his smart words:
In Dark Times, ‘Dirty Hands’ Can Still Do Good – The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/04/opinion/purity-is-overrated.html?em_pos=small&emc=edit_ty_20171204&nl=opinion-today&nl_art=15&nlid=50637717&ref=headline&te=1
“These are not, of course, new questions. “Even what we see as our most high-minded and noble journeys can perpetuate the destructive forces that we hope to escape. In the words of the American Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “My giant goes with me wherever I go.” Western ethicists call the “problem of dirty hands”: the difficulty of tidying up the world’s atrocities with hands that can never be washed clean, and may get dirtier in the process. “You can’t fix the system from the outside …” is how this kind of complicity is normally sold to someone who is being drawn into what C. S. Lewis derided as “The Inner Ring,” the place of morally inappropriate compromise.”
“… what’s needed, instead of a pretense to purity that is impossible in the actually existing world, is something else.
“We need to shape better practices of responsibility and memory for our placement in relation to the past, our implication in the present and our potential creation of different futures.” Aiming for individual purity, Shotwell says, echoing the ancient sage, is counterproductive. When we do, he argues, we become solipsistic, narcissistic and self-focused.
….this means that you might have the chance to get over yourself and consider the power and vulnerability of something else.
Resignation is not regarded as a virtue in our society, but perhaps it should be. Perhaps knowing when to let go, when to relinquish control, when to free ourselves from the habits of thought that so often constrain us — maybe this is true prudence, what many ancient sages regarded as the virtue of virtues”.
There is no habit of thought that is as pervasive as the aspiration to purity and perfection, but we suspect, that it is almost always self-defeating. It comes as no surprise that the greatest champions of purity and perfection among us are revealed as the most flagrant hypocrites.
Until we confront our complicity, we can never improve ourselves or the moral and spiritual circumstances we inhabit and help to create. It is high time to make our home in the “impure land.” After all, it is where most of us already live.
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Susan,
Some of those posts at oped news may be right wing propaganda. It is now proven that many posts of people pretending to be Bernie Sanders supporters were Russia and right wing trolls taking Bernie’s valid criticism into “both sides are just as evil” in order to suppress the vote and get people to hate the people fighting the right wing agenda as much as those who are promoting it.
I don’t object to valid criticism of Democrats but there are posts that are no different than the propaganda put out by the right wing. When I see those kinds of posts on here, I waste a lot of time trying to engage with them to get them to stop.
I do that because I believe these people are real and can be reasoned with. I get attacked by snarky people for doing so and very likely I am wasting my time.
But I will continue to try because what is happening in this country is far too important to let that kind of harmful propaganda go unquestioned.
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I complain bitterly and I am not afraid of telling those who are deaf to truth, or wedded to their perspective, or busy listening to the voices in their head. They call me names, but I don’t let idiots post alternative facts.
I will pass on your comment to the publisher!
Thanks
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Yes Andrew Cuomo is a Saint and deserves our support . Rahm Emanuel another Saint …. ….
I will vote for the Democrat every time over a Republican . But let us stop pretending that they are not failing us on many issues including this tax bill . We will see when they take Washington back how far they go to reverse this tax bill . My guess not very far .
Its working out well.
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As I said before I have written on this subject, for the past 10+ years.
Passing a bill without reading it seems to be the way partisan Congress works now. Obamacare (I think) was passed without reading it (or not given enough time to read it) and so was the USA PATRIOT Act. We cannot have an honest debate about anything in Congress.
We’ve always had a two-tiered education system in this country. We’ve always had private schools and some college prep schools for the rich and then public schools for the rest of us.
The thing is education will never be fair. It is next to impossible to achieve. Any perceived difference will be considered an advantage to those that have it and a handicap to those that do not have it, hence, unfair.
To come close to equality in education we’d have to have exactly the same buildings, built at the same time (same age) with exactly the same teachers and textbooks. They’d have to be built in the same relative location as the students it serves (which means that cities would have to all have the same layouts). All courses would have to be taught at the exact same time of the same day. All of this is impossible.
Since rebuilding all school buildings exactly the same and at the same time would be impossible then all schools would have to become virtual. Take for example Algebra class. It would need to be taught online, with 6 different servers (one for each of the 6 US time zones) and they’d have to synchronized and have to keep track of all homework, tests and test results, grades, etc. It would have to do everything that a real school would to do. Every home (or school) would have to have exactly the same technology—hardware and software and connection speeds to the Internet, etc. Again, this is impossible. Now, factor in all classes and this becomes more impossible, if that is possible.
They’d all have to eat exactly the same things at same times, etc. These are not the only things that are not equal.
Then again there will be students that will not learn as well online as in a real classroom so we still have an unfairness.
But even if we could get this all to work that is only half the equation. The kids (students) will all be different therefore unequal.
So equality in education and life for that matter will never be achieved.
One tenant of good Ethical Theory is Universalizability. That is, it must apply to everyone the same. If we are to have vouchers then they must be for everyone. The thing is we do not need vouchers at all. Again, the Federal Government interference into education at all Is unconstitutional. Then again, they are into so many things that are unconstitutional. The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution states that whatever is NOT explicitly stated for the Federal Government to do is left up to the States or individuals. Since education is not mentioned anywhere in the US Constitution then it is up the States or individuals.
One of Ronald Reagan’s campaign promises was to eliminate the US Department of Education. Obviously he never did. Sec of Ed Bell, under Reagan took it upon himself to publish the A Nation at Risk report.
I have read about many of the inequities in education which why I said above that things would have to be exactly the same. Somebody somewhere will complain about something as not being the same and therefore not equal.
Actually they are right but it will never be the same or equal.
We are all unique and therefore diverse. We have diversity built in. This is another subject.
There is an old prayer that goes something like – Give me the strength to change the things I can and the strength to accept the things I cannot make. But there is a third part that few ever say (and probably do not even think about)– That is, and the wisdom to know the difference. Many people think that they can change everything, unwisely.
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Well, Peter Greene needs to prepare to be even more depressed: The process of dismissing Mueller and terminating his investigation has now begun with the House of Representatives drafting a Contempt of Congress resolution against Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and against FBI Director Christopher Way. The Contempt of Congress charge is based on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’s charge that the Department of Justice and the FBI have failed to comply with requests to provide the Committee with information regarding the Russia investigation.
The House is not a court. It is a partisan political body. It decides what’s sufficient evidence or not, and you can bet that, based on Republican politics, it will find that the DOJ and FBI are in contempt of Congress and that will be the basis for firing Mueller “For Cause” and ending his investigation. There will be no recourse to the courts. End of matter.
So, let all those pipe dreams of impeachment blow away in the wind. Ain’t gonna happen.
Moreover, Trump’s voter base in the states that gave him the electoral victory has not wavered since the election. The termination of Mueller For Cause and the end of the investigation will be proof to his voter base that Trump has been unjustly attacked. His base will be strengthened and likely even grow. Republicans will gain even more seats in the House and Senate in 2018, and Trump will be re-elected as President in 2020.
The only effective action that can be taken to win back a majority in Congress from the Republicans in 2018 and to beat Trump in 2020 is a type of inaction: STOP SPENDING. Trump and his Republican cadre in Congress are riding on a wave of alleged economic improvement; but if everyone who opposes Trump and his cronies just stops buying things that they don’t need, this already precarious economy will tank — and, if anything, the typical Trump voter votes his/her pocketbook/job, which would be hammered. So, spend as little as you can for Christmas, then stop spending for things that you just want but don’t need: The economic impact of that will hit just before the 2018 elections and will turn a great many Trump supporters. Anyone who can’t forego buying the latest smart TV or coolest car before the 2018 elections deserves to have Trump as President with a solid Republican congressional majority behind him. Suck it up and stop spending for “wants”.
And think of how great it would be if folks throughout the EU stopped buying U.S. products, adding to the economic slump that would be blamed on Trump and the Republicans.
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I recently had the same thought to resist by not spending except for basic necessities. However, as consumers we have less clout than we used to have. The world also has several robust emerging markets, particularly China, so American companies are less dependent on us than in decades before. It might hurt corporations a bit, but not as much as it will hurt the “mom and pop” shops.
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It is not going anywhere . It would precipitate a constitutional crisis that would literately rip the Nation apart . As Mueller released everything rapidly in open court ,or to the press . .Never have 65% of the electorate been so scared of 35% of the electorate .
NYC would shut down with demonstrations the size of the Arab spring . As would other metropolitan cities it would not just be students but angry upper middle class Tax payers who just got an increase .
At which point you would have to ask which side would the officer corps in the US military be on . The Soviet empire fell . The Nationalist in Spain were unsuccessful after Franco died. And the first troops at Tienanmen sq did not fire on the demonstrators they had to regroup and send in a second wave who had been told the demonstrators had killed troops. Finally had the Muslim Brotherhood not been elected in Egypt might have looked like Turkey pre Erdoğan. . .
More than likely Trump becomes excess baggage and the Republicans would work with the Democrats to dispose of him . And put the honorable Paul Ryan in his place . And I did not forget the ChristoFascist who may be part of the same investigation.
Then we could continue with the business of America . Business.
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The Military Times polled the military and found that 70-percent of the officers do not like Trump and about half of the troops don’t like him either.
I think the oath the officers take might have something to do with that. Trump has a lot of support in the Marines but that is only a fraction of the total armed forces, and I have read that is only because Mattis is the Secretary of Defense and is still very popular in the Marine Corps.
“I, _____, having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)”
Loyalty to the president is not mentioned in that oath.
Almost all of the officers in the U.S. military have college degrees and many from West Point or the Naval Academy.
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“So maybe we do need a two-tiered system of schools in this country. One tier for the wealthy, some nice private schools (complete with vouchers that give yet another kickback of tax dollars to the rich) that prepare them to be future leaders and well-off masters of the universe. And then another tier for those who had the misfortune to be poor and must be prepared to live on the bottom rungs of the ladder, because there is no hope in hell that they will ever get out.”
The Empire will always need proles to be economically forced to volunteer into its imperial military to kill and maim for Corporate AmeriKKKa and the Deep State. A two-tiered system of education perfectly fits the two-tiered political/economic system of the U.S. which has increased the ranks of the precariot class since the late 1970’s.
And as long as these soldiers, returning physically and/or psychologically maimed from yet another illegal U.S. war of exploitation and extraction of natural resources for geopolitical dominance, are given the minimal VA assistance (because we “can’t afford” more than that), few will complain nor, heaven forbid, actually dare to oppose all the endless U.S. wars currently being waged on the people of in Afghanistan (16 years), Iraq (14 years), Chad, Libya, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, NONE OF WHOM THREATEN THE U.S.
But, hey, $700 billion+ a year, more than 54% of the Federal discretionary budget, must be spent on something, right? So why not endless, unnecessary, illegal wars of aggression (while our infrastructure, including schools, continues to crumble; and we “can’t afford” Medicare for All nor living-wage jobs for all).
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Exactly, Ed!
“The Empire will always need proles to be economically forced to volunteer into its imperial military to kill and maim for Corporate AmeriKKKa and the Deep State.”
My niece’s oldest son just signed up for the Navy for those “economic” reasons. I talked with him on Thanksgiving, gave him my two cents worth but I knew the lure, oops I mean lying of the military was too strong, especially since he sees no way to go to college without that aid.
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Bring back the draft . Bring back the draft . Bring back the draft .
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Eliminate the MIC!
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Agree, to both Ed and Duane. I had a long discussion today with my 34 year old son about the “draft”, and the lottery system back in 1970 when I met his father. MIC? What can I say but refer him to Eisenhower’s comments on that, and many others. So many feel that war keeps us “free”. He’s afraid. There are few that do not live in fear now, especially. Should I tell him to “keep on, keep on”? Never give up? Never quit? Keep on fighting the system? A system that does not work through illegitimate and useless wars? He has seen so many do that. So have I. So I’ll just comment here. That I don’t believe in war. As Alice Walker says, “It eats up everything.” But I guess meaningful wars (that’s an oxymoron!) are meaningful. Education is one of them. But I also believe don’t fight a war you know you can’t win.
Look who’s in office. And Trump, Lloyd, is now the “commander in chief”. You may not have said the words in your oath, but that is to whom you bowed down.
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There’s a great episode of The Office when Michael Scott starts his own paper company and almost immediately the new business starts to go belly up.
Michael gets depressed and Pam has to buck him up. He’s manically cooking piles of french toast then collapses. (Season 5, episode 20, “The Dream Team”.) Then, later on in the season, it’s Michael who has to pull Pam out of the pit of depression. It’s a funny show and I think a good depiction of how families and friends tend to help each other when things are falling apart.
And, I’ve seen this blog function in a similar way for us. We’ve been through a lot already. If we’ve made it this far, we can keep on going….
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I’m more depressed now than I was after Trump was elected. This is so disheartening.
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May i suggest this excellent piece.
I am quoting the words that rang true to me:
“We have never suggested that Democrats are angels and Republicans devils. Parties exist to win elections and organize government, and they are shaped by the interests, ideas and donors that constitute their coalitions. Neither party is immune from a pull to the extreme”
“But the imbalance today is striking, and frightening. Our democracy requires vigorous competition between two serious and ideologically distinct parties, both of which operate in the realm of truth, see governing as an essential and ennobling responsibility, and believe that the acceptance of republican institutions and democratic values define what it is to be an American. The Republican Party must reclaim its purpose.”
“Mr. Trump’s election and behavior during his first 10 months in office represent not a break with the past but an extreme acceleration of a process that was long underway in conservative politics. The Republican Party is now rationalizing and enabling Mr. Trump’s autocratic, kleptocratic, dangerous and downright embarrassing behavior in hopes of salvaging key elements of its ideological agenda: cutting taxes for the wealthy (as part of possibly the worst tax bill in American history), hobbling the regulatory regime, gutting core government functions and repealing Obamacare without any reasonable plan to replace it.
“This is a far cry from the aspirations of Republican presidential giants like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as legions of former Republican senators and representatives who identified critical roles for government and worked tirelessly to make them succeed. It’s an agenda bereft of any serious efforts to remedy the problems that trouble vast segments of the American public, including the disaffected voters who flocked to Mr. Trump.”
“The failure of Republican members of Congress to resist the anti-democratic behavior of President Trump — including holding not a single hearing on his and his team’s kleptocracy — is cringe-worthy. A few Republican senators have spoken up, but occasional words have not been matched by any meaningful deeds. Only conservative intellectuals have acknowledged the bankruptcy of the Republican Party.”
THIS IS HOW the essay began:
“Eleven years ago, we published a book called “The Broken Branch,” which we subtitled “How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.” Embedded in that subtitle were two assumptions: first, that Congress as an institution — which is to say, both parties, equally — is at fault; and second, that the solution is readily at hand. In 2017, the Republicans’ scandalous tax bill is only the latest proof that both assumptions are wrong.”
“Which is not to say that we were totally off base in 2006. We stand by our assessment of the political scene at the time. What is astounding, and still largely unappreciated, is the unexpected and rapid nature of the decline in American national politics, and how one-sided its cause. If in 2006 one could cast aspersions on both parties, over the past decade it has become clear that it is the Republican Party — as an institution, as a movement, as a collection of politicians — that has done unique, extensive and possibly irreparable damage to the American political system.
“Even today, many people like to imagine that the damage has all been President Trump’s doing — that he took the Republican Party hostage. But the problem goes much deeper.
We do not come at this issue as political partisans; though we are registered Democrats, we have supported Republicans, consider ourselves moderates and have worked with key figures in both parties to improve political processes. Still, we can’t help seeing the Republican Party as the root cause of today’s political instability. Three major developments in the party required us to change our view.”
“FIRST, beginning in the 1990s, the Republicans strategically demonized Congress and government more broadly and flouted the norms of lawmaking, fueling a significant decline of trust in government that began well before the financial collapse in 2008, though it has sped up since. House Republicans showed their colors when they first blocked passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Plan, despite the urgent pleas of their own president, George W. Bush, and the speaker of the House, John Boehner. The seeds of a (largely phony) populist reaction were planted.”
“SECOND, there was the “Obama effect.” When Mr. Bush became president, Democrats worked with him to enact sweeping education reform early on and provided the key votes to pass his top priority, tax cuts. With President Barack Obama, it was different. While many argued that the problem was that Mr. Obama failed to schmooze enough with Republicans in Congress, we saw a deliberate Republican strategy to oppose all of his initiatives and frame his attempts to compromise as weak or inauthentic. The Senate under the majority leader Mitch McConnell weaponized the filibuster to obstruct legislation, block judges and upend the policy process. The Obama effect had an ominous twist, an undercurrent of racism that was itself embodied in the “birther” movement led by Donald Trump.”
“House leaders CONTINUED TO INFLAME THE POPULIST ANGER OF THEIR BASE, TO WIN MID-TERM ELECTIONS in 2010 and 2014. They repeatedly promised the impossible under divided party government: that if they won, Mr. Obama would be forced to his knees, his policies obliterated and government as we knew it demolished. Their subsequent failures to do so spurred even more rage, this time directed at establishment Republican leaders. But most pundits still clung to the belief that pragmatism would win out and Republicans would nominate an establishment insider in 2016.”
“THIRD we have seen WE HAVE SEEN THE IMPACT OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE MEDIA, which had a far greater importance on the right than on the left. The development of the modern conservative media echo chamber began with the rise of Rush Limbaugh and talk radio in the late 1980s and ramped up with the birth of Fox News. Matt Drudge, his protégé Andrew Breitbart and Breitbart’s successor Steve Bannon LEVERAGED THE POWER OF THE INTERNET .. And WITH THE ADVENT OF SOCIAL MEDIA we saw the emergence of a radical “alt-right” media ecosystem ABLE TO INVENT ITS OWN FACTS”and build an audience around hostility to the establishment, anti-immigration sentiment and racial resentment. Nothing even close to comparable exists on the left.”
IF I MAY SAY ONE THING ABOUT THAT LAST PARAGRAPH. Have said it here, and at Oped before. This is an ERA OF TRANSFORMATION, and like all transformations, there are INADVERTENT CONSEQUENCES! This era opened a ‘space’ where anarchy rules. Opinions became ALTERNATIVE FACTS when repeat endlessly on the net, but also on Fox news, and Briebart news, which cherry-picked the lies, and repeated them, as did the hackers from Russia.’
Inundated by endless ‘punditry’ an ignorant population tuned out the real news, and listen to their leader, whose attack ON THE PRESS, WHICH IS AT the core of our CONSTITUTION GAVE THEM A MODEL.
How we can counteract such anger and ignorance is THE question.
Send with a quote that I read this week, and which Have been posting here and at Oped News, because it is the BIG TRUTH that drives everything:
““The destruction of the distinction between truth and falsehood is the foundation of dictatorship.”
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Is it possible that the 35% who support him were living in an alternate universe long before Trump came on the scene .
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They are aided and abetted by the 10% or 20% on the left who are certain that Democrats are just as evil so might as well have one devil or the other.
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OF COURSE THEY WERE!
A SAMPLE”Eleven years ago, we published a book called “The Broken Branch,” which we subtitled “How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track.” Embedded in that subtitle were two assumptions: first, that Congress as an institution — which is to say, both parties, equally — is at fault; and second, that the solution is readily at hand. In 2017, the Republicans’ scandalous tax bill is only the latest proof that both assumptions are wrong.
We do not come at this issue as political partisans; though we are registered Democrats, we have supported Republicans, consider ourselves moderates and have worked with key figures in both parties to improve political processes. Still, we can’t help seeing the Republican Party as the root cause of today’s political instability. Three major developments in the party required us to change our view.
House leaders continued to inflame the populist anger of their base to win enormous midterm victories in 2010 and 2014. They repeatedly promised the impossible under divided party government: that if they won, Mr. Obama would be forced to his knees, his policies obliterated and government as we knew it demolished. Their subsequent failures to do so spurred even more rage, this time directed at establishment Republican leaders. But most pundits still clung to the belief that pragmatism would win out and Republicans would nominate an establishment insider in 2016.”
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Absolutely disheartening, but also, agreed, that surrender is not an option. On the two-tiered schools front, one thing that we need to do is to raise awareness of this travesty beyond the circle of the readers of this blog or of Peter Greene’s–it’s impossible to act if you are blind to what’s going on in the first place.
The video featuring Diane that NPE released in September was viewed by 850,000 folks and appeared in nearly a million more FB feeds. The next video in the series is coming out next Saturday, Dec 9 and, though in the works for months, it hits this particular topic dead on. (It’s even titled 2 School Districts, 1 Ugly Truth.) Please be on the look out for it and watch, comment, and share it widely! We’re actually hoping to release a teaser for it later tonight. (Full disclosure: I am 1/2 of the production team!)
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Will do!
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Thank you!
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Many people are aware of Trump’s “Voter Fraud Commission” set up to get
voter lists from every state in order to back up his claim that there is massive voter fraud. That effort was not a great success.
Even so, relatively few people are aware that Trump campaign OWNS a huge database on voters, developed under the guidance of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of Trump, and Brad Parscale.
The database, named project Alamo, is not under the control of the Republican party.
The Trump database “contains the identities of 220 million people in the United States, and approximately 4,000 to 5,000 individual data points about the online and offline life of each person.” That information includes psychological profiles of selected voters developed by Cambridge Analytica and e-mail lists solicited from Tea Party groups among others.
The Trump campaign also bought data, including records of voter registrations, gun ownership, credit card purchases, and internet account identities from “certified Facebook marketing partners”—Experian PLC, Datalogix, Epsilon, and Acxiom Corporation.
“Cambridge Analytica developed statistical models to isolate likely supporters of Trump and their geographic locations, enabling the workers on Project Alamo to target ads on Facebook, and plan Trump’s travel itinerary based on large clusters of people identified as “persuadable voters,”
In addition to Trump’s own database, Project Alamo had access to data from the Republican National Committee. That was important in raising $275 million dollars from supporters, especially via Facebook.
Toward the end of the campaign, and with encouragement from Steve Bannon, Project Alamo launched a voter suppression effort. The Project workers created non-public and outrageously derogatory Facebook ads designed to “micro-target” three groups believed to be supporters of Clinton: ‘idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans.” They also placed derogatory ads on selected African American radio stations with messages contrived to discourage them from voting.
Post-election records from targeted precincts suggest that this sophisticated voter-suppression effort worked, thanks in no small measure to Facebook’s advertising platform and tools for non-public ads (Dark Posts) targeting specific audiences.
Trump and Republicans may look like easy targets for mid-term and 2020 elections but they are in non-stop electioneering mode and intent on being the permanent party in charge of pleasing their donors. They are intent on rewarding the donor class with land, sea, and the legislation they write, They are intent on stacking the Courts, perfecting methods of discouraging voter turnout, and using the collectors and vendors of big data to do just that.
I have no idea whether an effective campaign can be mounted to unseat Republicans and limit Trump’s reign.
I hope so, but hope is not enough. In addition to doing the hard work of supporting trustworthy and well-informed candidates, there is a real need to support a free and independent press, net neutrality, and limits on data-gathering that make a mockery of the concept of privacy…and that includes children who are being used as guinea pigs by the pushers of tech into every school, home, and public venue.
See https://medium.com/startup-grind/how-the-trump-campaign-built-an-identity-database-and-used-facebook-ads-to-win-the-election-4ff7d24269ac
or read this longer review of two books by Sue Halprin “How He Used Facebook to Win” http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/06/08/how-trump-used-facebook-to-win/
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Thank you, Laura. I have nothing but DISGUST for Dump and the GOP.
The DNC made a BAD move when they decided to DISS public schools and public school teachers … and for what?
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I hope there will be enough disgusted people that will show up and vote, no matter what Trump and the Republican propaganda machine cook up.
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Love you reply. Thanks for the links
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Bill Moyers: http://billmoyers.com/story/ridiculously-unfair-tax-plan/
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I greatly admire both Peter and Diane—and while I fully understand, and to some extent share Peter’s pessimism, I am very moved by Diane’s closing words encouraging all of us to Fight Back—as hard as we can, and remembering not only to VOTE this November for Trump’s opponents, but to also IMPLORE and ENCOURAGE everyone we know to do the same.
There is NO EXCUSE for not voting; and it’s critical we do so if we want this nightmare to end.
If I were a Trump backer I’d want nothing more than for his opponents to get discouraged and give up—putting their heads in the sand, allowing Trump and his miscreants to rape and pillage humanity without resistance.
When we give up out of depression, exhaustion or cynicism, we HELP THE BAD GUYS! And they’re the LAST PEOPLE I want to help.
Resist, Remove, Replace: Together we will win. And we have no alternative but surrender!
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As you know, Virginia was gerrymandered by Republicans to guarantee Republican dominance of the House of Delegates. 66 Republicans, 34 Democrats.
A few weeks ago, Virginia shocked the nation. New faces ran against old and mean curmudgeons. More female candidates than ever. Young people. The balance is now 51-49. Three very close races are having a recount. One race is down to a difference of only 10 votes. Ten votes!! Get out the vote.
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One more thing: In a weird, unexpected way, Betsy DeVos has done more to galvanize the opposition to school privatization than anyone else who has ever held that office.
Parents and others who for years were extremely skeptical when they heard me criticize the K-12 policies of Arne Duncan—they would often respond by asking WHY would I ever be critical of the Obama Administration, almost assuming I was now some sort of right-winger who had turned on our Democratic president—are now with me 100% and almost instantly opened up to listening in a critical way that was never present during the Duncan days.
So, all of us need to talk about and harshly criticize the “Pro-Privatization/Anti-Public Education Policies of the Billionaires Trump and DeVos!”
I would argue that we have a uniquely exciting moment here that we haven’t had in decades, to educate the public as to the dangers of charters, vouchers, overtesting, CCSS and Privatization!
Let’s Seize The Moment and use it to our full advantage. (For Instance: I’m organizing the first ever “Education Film Series” at my child’s K-8 public school next month in an effort to raise awareness and consciousness among my fellow parents—and that’s just ONE of “A Thousand Points Of Light” that all of us can create and bring to life in the months ahead!)
Carpe diem, fellow parents, citizens and taxpayers! 2018 is Our Year and the time when historians will say “The Pushback Against Privatization” began. (If we want it to be and if we make it so.)
Carpe diem. Our time is now!
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Agreed, Puget Sound Parent!
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Puget Sound parent, Diane said something similar about DeVos as a galvanizer in the NPE video released in September (https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2017/09/8-powerful-voices-defense-education-diane-ravitch/).
Since you are clearly interested in visual media as a way to educate, please look out for and help us spread the next video in the series, which comes out Sat Dec 9.
Here’s a teaser: https://vimeo.com/245656517
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I do not agree that it started as a tax package . It was social engineering from the start with the added benefit of a tax heist.
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I agree with Joel. The entire privatization movement and this tax bill are all part of a social engineering agenda and who is at the helm of that ship driving it — the Koch brothers, Charles and David?
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Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
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