I was an enthusiastic supporter of Beto O’Rourke when he ran against Ted Cruz. I regularly sent him checks of $50, $100. I would have loved to see Beto beat Cruz. I heard that Beto’s wife Amy was connected to the charter school movement but decided that was less important than beating Cruz.
Now that Beto is running for President, it matters more. I don’t want another Democratic President pushing privatization of public schools and public money.
i won’t support any candidate who supports charters and/or vouchers. I also feel that he, like some other candidates, lacks the experience to be president.
Beto’s wife, Amy O’Rourke, is part of CREEED, an economic development agency that recruits charters to El Paso as part of an economic development plan (gentrification).
Amy runs the “Choose to Excel” Program, which recruits IDEA and Harmony charters to El Paso. Harmony is part of the Gulen Turkish network. IDEA bolsters its graduation rates by not allowing students to graduate until they have been accepted into a four-year college.
The Hunt Family Foundation gave $12 million to CREEED specifically to recruit more charters to El Paso. The local public school teachers were not happy.
“Norma De La Rosa, president of the El Paso Teachers Association, said the donation is a slap in the face to public schools and teachers.
“De La Rosa added that charter schools don’t work as closely with special needs and limited English-speaking students.
“Public school is here to provide that education, that support, and prepare our students for the future,” De La Rosa said. “Charter schools do not have the interest of all students at heart.”
“However, Woody Hunt, chairman of the Hunt Family Foundation and vice chairman of CREEED’s board of directors, said he hopes the donation will show large charter school backers, like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, that the education community in El Paso is committed to school choice.
“This is a journey, and I think the reason for us to go public at this time is the opportunity we have with some external funders that are potential investors, and we wanted to send the message that the local community is financially supportive of the endeavor,” Hunt said. “
The Washington Post said that Beto and Amy had worked closely with local Republican businessmen on economic development, which some saw as gentrification.
“Before Beto O’Rourke became the darling of liberal online donors, his top financial backers hailed from a different set entirely — wealthy businessmen who have sought political influence by collectively donating millions of dollars to Republicans.
“Several of El Paso’s richest business moguls donated to and raised money for O’Rourke’ s city council campaigns, drawn to his support for a plan to redevelop El Paso’s poorer neighborhoods. Some later backed a super PAC that would play a key role in helping him defeat an incumbent Democratic congressman.
“For his part, O’Rourke worked on issues that had the potential to make money for some of his benefactors. His support as a council member for the redevelopment plan, which sparked controversy at the time because it involved relocating low-income residents, many of them Hispanic, coincided with property investments by some of his benefactors.https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-32/html/container.htmlAs a congressman he supported a $2 billion military funding increase that benefited a company controlled by another major donor. That donor, real estate developer Woody Hunt, was friends with O’Rourke’s late father. Hunt also co-founded and funds an El Paso nonprofit organization that has employed O’Rourke’s wife since 2016.
“We shared a common goal,” said Ted Houghton, a local financial adviser and longtime O’Rourke donor who raised money for former Texas governor Rick Perry, a Republican, and helped steer millions in state transportation funding to the city. “The common goal was we needed to move El Paso in a different direction.”…
”In contrast to the aspirational image he has fostered in recent years, however, O’Rourke’s political career traced a more traditional path for a Texas politician — winning support from a typically pro-GOP business establishment interested in swaying public policy. Born into one politically potent family and married into another, he benefited repeatedly from his relationships with El Paso’s most powerful residents, including several nationally known Republican moneymen….
“Once O’Rourke got to Congress, he made cleaning up corruption in government a priority. He stopped taking money from political action committees after his first term, promised to support term limits for members of Congress, and sponsored bills to provide partial public financing for campaigns and limit donations to national party committees.
“At the same time, O’Rourke continued to receive large amounts of money from employees of companies run by major donors. Employees of one of his father-in-law’s former companies, Strategic Growth Bank, including Sanders himself, gave $57,400 during O’Rourke’s 2014 and 2016 House campaigns. Employees of El Paso-based Western Refining, including its chairman, Foster, gave $10,600 in 2014.
“Hunt Companies’ employees, including Hunt, gave $60,300 to O’Rourke in the 2014 and 2016 cycles, more than the employees of any other business, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
“O’Rourke worked in Congress to promote a military funding issue that directly affected Hunt’s business. Hunt Companies boasts of being the nation’s largest builder and manager of privatized military housing in the country. In 2015, the Obama administration persuaded Congress to cut troop stipends for those units.
“Until then, troops who lived in the privatized units on bases would receive a monthly stipend equal to their projected rent. But when the cuts became law in 2014, the stipend was to be gradually reduced. As a result, providers of base housing were faced with either reducing their rents and losing revenue or risking the loss of tenants by asking soldiers to pay out of pocket.
“In response, Hunt Companies’ lobbyists billed $380,000 in 2017 and 2018 for work that included contact with Congress on military housing and defense appropriations issues. During this period, O’Rourke’s office listed restoring the money for privatized housing as the 13th of 15 priorities in an internal database shared with Republican leaders, according to a person familiar with the work of O’Rourke’s congressional office.
“With the support of Republican leaders of the House Armed Services Committee, who had opposed the initial housing stipend cuts, the defense spending bill that passed in 2018 included an increase in funding for privatized housing that the Congressional Budget Office estimated would cost taxpayers an additional $2 billion between 2019 and 2023. O’Rourke voted for the bill, which President Trump signed.
“O’Rourke’s spokesman said Hunt played no role in O’Rourke’s support for the measure.”
Forbes took up the question of whether Amy Sanders O’Rourke is a billionaire heiress. It disputed that characterization and concluded that her father was worth “only” $500 million.
Whatever her father is worth is irrelevant.
What bothers me is that she is deeply tied to the charter ideology, with charters used as a tool to transform the economy while drawing funds from the local public schools.
The Intercept wrote here about Beto’s charter school problem. Frankly, I hope that every Democratic candidate realizes that charter schools are an albatross and that real Democrats support public schools. Charter schools are part of the Republican ideology of consumer choice andthe superiority of free markets. Charter schools and vouchers are points on the same spectrum.
That’s why I won’t support Beto in the primaries.
If he is the candidate, I will support him against Trump.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
His wife’s name is Amy. Not Ann.
Kathleen,
You are right! I corrected the post. Beto’swife is Amy, not Ann.
Two words:
Ben Austin
Ben Austin’s Twitter feed is full of Beto-luv.
(though Ben includes some AOC luv as well — “AOC is bad-ass!” — to keep up his usual false and misleading veneer of Progressivism … We’re on to you, Ben 😉 )
This:
And this:
And this:
And this:
Jack: Who is Ben Austin and why should I care what he thinks?
Ben Austintatious from Austin Texas?
Dr. Ravitch,
Could you handle Carol Mtaylasia’s question
“Who is Ben Austin, and why should we care what he thinks?”
It’s a pleasant Sunday Morning, and I’m not in the mood to lower myself into the goopy, gunky slime that Austin inhabits, and then write about and link to the relevant places that give and full answer and background to that question.
Thanks in advance,
Jack
Ben Austin created a “reform/disruption” organization in 2010 called “Parent Revolution,” funded by various billionaires like Waltons and Bloomberg. It’s ourpose was to persuade parents in impoverished communities to take advantage of the new Parent Trigger law and seize control of their public school in order to hand it over to a charter operator. Parent Revolution sent organizers to gather signatures in communities with low test scores, assuming most parents were desperate to kick out their public school and welcome a charter. Very few communities were fooled. PR’s efforts set neighbor against neighbor, led to court battles, and innearly a decade has won only one or two of its battles. Austin has moved on to another Reformer gig.
dianeravitch & Jack: Okay. I got it. Ben Austin is a dirty dude. There are a lot of them floating around.
Does it matter?
Ann or Amy, Bitsy or Betsy
Two types of people are attracted to destroying public education- grifters and those awash in White privilege. steeped in arrogance.
Mrs. Beto O’Rourke, daughter of a real estate tycoon, who is labeled the godfather of the REIT.
Amen! Charter Schools are for the exclusive, gentrified leaning yuppies.
Beto and Mayor Pete, been there done that. A lot of hope and no change.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/03/all-about-pete?fbclid=IwAR3ReCl_uiqMAa2zNRfiX_1Q541BBtJhR6cCd_QX9zgf_Z4-1Td6RQHSqyE
AGREE.
Thanks for the link. My favorite quote: “So when journalists see “Harvard” and think “impressive,” I see it and think “uh-oh.” “
Ditto.
What does Pete Buttigieg believe? Where the candidate stands on 7 issues
Politics Feb 15, 2019 2:25 PM ED
Climate change: Thinks climate change is a national security threat. Supports the Paris climate accord.
Economy/trade: Supports labor. Thinks NAFTA resulted in significant jobs losses. He is a strong supporter of labor and union groups, and says Democrats must work harder to advocate for working people and help them achieve economic stability.
Guns: Supports universal background checks. As the mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that advocates for gun control legislation at the state and federal level. He also supports universal background checks, and opposed allowing guns in schools and so-called “Stand Your Ground” self-defense gun laws.
Foreign policy: Supports pulling troops out of Afghanistan.
Like other 2020 Democratic candidates, he has criticized Trump for conducting foreign policy by tweet. Buttigieg supports pulling troops out of Afghanistan, but has criticized Trump’s plans to withdraw from Syria. He has also said Iran poses the greatest threat to Israel in the Middle East.
Health care: Supports single-payer system.
Buttigieg says he’s “all for” a single-payer health care system. But he has said he wouldn’t immediately jump to single-payer from the current system. Instead, Buttigieg would first implement an all-payer rate setting — a system that would not eliminate private insurance companies.
Immigration: Supports a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Buttigieg supports the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, and would like to see Congress pass a law creating pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. He also opposes the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies
Social issues: Supports a federal non-discrimination amendment.
Buttigieg favors passing the Federal Equality Act, an amendment to existing civil rights legislation that would give federal non-discrimination protections to LBGTQ people. He opposes the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military. He also supports gender reassignment surgery for transgender people in prison.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-does-pete-buttigieg-believe-where-the-candidate-stands-on-7-issues
“College is supposed to be the gateway to the middle class for a lot of Americans,” says Buttigieg. “Beginning with the G.I. Bill, more people of any background could access education, and with it a better standard of living. Now, it’s almost become a marker of whatever class you already come from, when you look at the disparities of who can get in and who completes college and who could afford it.”
Buttigieg says he would support an expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, through which graduates could exchange public service for forgiveness of government loans, making it “a social norm that anybody would put in a year after high school with some kind of service. We would fuse those with a with a major break on college costs, tuition or debt.”
Where is K-12?
Indiana is mad for charters, vouchers, and everything but public schools. I assume he has an opinion.
In this article, it was support for a virtual charter school.
But the point of the article is don’t tell me what you will support in the future; show me what you have done or even supported in the past.
Warren and Sanders have long records of supporting and speaking on issues long before they were seeking the Presidency and in Waren’s case before she entered politics.
I thought I had posted earlier. that he has some credential to take a swipe at the “Elites” at Harvard. He is in a Doctoral program there.
I JUST received a request for money for Pete’s campaign. I spent money for Bernie the last time he was running for president. Don’t plan on sending anything at this time for anyone.
I returned a letter to this group requesting information on where Pete B. stands on public schools K-12 funding.
You are right in saying what actually did he accomplish. I read that he did some good things in South Bend, which is a poor area with a racial mix.
carolmalaysia
So what the author is saying is that Buttigieg just wrote this book which is supposed to be a showcase of who he is and what he has accomplished. Missing from the book are those accomplishments that are supposed to make me a progressive want to vote for him. Missing is any real concern for the issues you tell me are what he believes in, according to the author. I have not read his book. In fact, since Trump, I am lucky to make it through a long article without vomiting.
And what goes for Buttigieg goes multiples for Beto. Who was one of 26 Democratic House members to give Obama Fast Track Trade Authority among other things. “Vote for me I was born to run”
From the article: As I prefaced an email link with.
“If someone asks you “How do I know you’re not just some bullshitter?” and you’re not just some bullshitter, you can say “Because I have done X, Y, and Z. I have shown that I’m a person of my word. I have clear plans, and I can tell you why they’ll work, how they’ll help you, and exactly what I’m going to do to make sure they come about.” If, on the other hand, you are just some bullshitter, and your entire life experience up to this point has been going to Harvard and working for one of the world’s worst companies, you will flounder. You have no plans, no ideas, you have no record of good deeds and community service. He’s got you figured, and all you can do is “keep on with your pitch” and stammer the word “accountability.” “…
“Alignment of attributes? Are we building a Sims character? This is McKinsey-speak: optimizing candidate attribute matrix for maximal cross-national vote share. Unfortunately, many in the political press still find this meaningful. Have a read through the profiles and see how much time is spent thinking about Buttigieg’s Attribute Alignment versus asking him to name a single thing he plans to do to help working people.
A labor organizer friend of mine has a test he uses for politicians: When they talk, is it all about themselves, or all about the causes they care about? Do they talk incessantly about their Journey and their Homespun Values, or do they talk about people’s needs, the power structure, and how to build a more just world? Pete’s book is, for the most part, all about Pete. That’s not what you want.”…
“Demand the evidence. Examine the record. We have got to learn to see through this stuff. You have to look at what they did and said before it was politically opportune to say what they’re saying now. Five minutes ago, Pete Buttigieg was “the management consultant making the South Bend sewers run on time.” Now he’s suddenly a radical who wants to pack the Supreme Court. From Mitt Romney to Eugene Debs in a single news cycle.”…
“Why? Why have I spent so long talking about the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, an underdog candidate for the presidency? Why have I been so relentlessly negative? Because I see what this is, and I see how these things go, and we can’t afford to make this mistake again. No more Bright Young People with their beautiful families and flawless characters and elite educations and vacuous messages of uplift and togetherness. Give me fucked-up people with convictions and gusto. Give me real human beings, not CV-padding corporate zombies.”
Joel Herman (@jwherman11):I agree with you. I posted this because it stated what Pete said he is interested in doing. There is a lot of baloney being spread in politics. I like Bernie or Warren who have definite plans and have shown by their actions where they stand.
The ultimate con man is Trump. Remember he would never cut Medicare or Medicaid and now his budget is cutting those programs because more money is needed to fund his worthless ‘tax cuts for the middle class’…He is the ultimate BS’er.
Buttigieg speaks seven languages in addition to English: Norwegian, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Maltese and Dari.
He is part of that Ivy League liberal political current that thinks they can make decisions for the people, but first you have to pretend to listen to them.
Lance: TAGO…spot-on!
& it’s nice to hear from you, here, again.
This spoke volumes to me:
““For his part, O’Rourke worked on issues that had the potential to make money for some of his benefactors. His support as a council member for the redevelopment plan, which sparked controversy at the time because it involved relocating low-income residents, many of them Hispanic, coincided with property investments by some of his benefactors.https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-32/html/container.htmlAs a congressman he supported a $2 billion military funding increase that benefited a company controlled by another major donor. That donor, real estate developer Woody Hunt, was friends with O’Rourke’s late father. Hunt also co-founded and funds an El Paso nonprofit organization that has employed O’Rourke’s wife since 2016.”
Peter Greene also raised red flags about some of Kamala Harris’ rhetoric. She is trying very hard to seem progressive by supporting raises for teachers, a federal preschool program and a willingness to move toward free college tuition. As Greene points out, her rhetoric about students trapped in the zip codes is straight out of the “reform” handbook.http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-red-flags-in-kamala-harriss-pay.html
Harris’ platform, “raise teachers’ salaries”, is out of the handbook of Gates-funded CAP. (The John Podesta crew of Clinton campaign losers.)
Oligarchs are transactional. They think everybody is for sale.
Greene pointed out nothing about Kamala. It raised more questions about his motives than it did about Kamala.
I challenged Greene to confront her directly.
O’Rourke is a disappointing moderate, he’s no AOC or Bernie Sanders. Beto is not even for Medicare for all or single payer, he’s for some gradualist plan that someday maybe in the future would lead to universal health care, maybe. Sigh! Obama was a centrist and a horror on education but I voted for him twice because the alternative was the same on education and even worse on other issues. Unfortunately, Beto and Booker are very charismatic and appear to be progressive but they are not and they stink on education.
Agree completely. Running against Cruz very different from running for president. I, too, kept donating hoping to get if another horrible republican (oxymoron-is there any other kind?). But I won’t be supporting him in primaries. Not sure who to support since my guy , Sherrod Brown, said no.
I assume you won’t support the two guys you know best, from Colorado.
Staying in D.C. is Sherrod Brown’s motivation. He talks a good game but he won’t go against oligarchs because that might cost him his job.
Thank you, Dr. Ravitch. I am informed now. That is also my concern with Cory Booker, who championed charters in his home state. Preserving and improving public education for all our people, young and old, is very important to me in the coming presidential election. Garrison Keillor wrote in his book Homegrown Democrat (2004), “When you wage war on the public schools, you attack the mortar that holds the community together. You’re not a conservative; you’re a vandal.” I long for the time when Democrats stood up and spoke out for the ideals of one of our most democratic institutions, the public schools.
I think both Booker and O’Rourke are just plain annoying people.
In this video O’Rourke is just constantly emphasizing every word of what he is saying. Everything he says is extremely important. The whole tape is completely artificial, and the presence and “acting” of the wife just makes it even more puzzling: does he think, this is a way to announce candidacy?
Booker just loves to (and can) talk, does it too much, pronounces trivialities as great truths he discovered, and he loves himself to death
That’s how I choose who I am going to vote for too.
The annoying ones get scratched off the list and I vote for whoever happens to be left, which usually is not more than one person. Sometimes not even one.
Politician and Not annoying seem to be mutually exclusive categories.
Yeah, as soon as they say “The American people”, my ears close off and start eyeing my bookcase for titles or take my dogs out for a walk. Even picking up dog crap is better hearing the end of that proclamation.
Who else talks about “The American people”?
Booker is the worst. If one had to choose between Booker and Beto, I would have to choose Beto. Booker is one of the worst privatizers ever, since he was Mayor of Newark. He not only supports charters, but vouchers as well. He was on the board of Betsy DeVos’s school privatization foundation, before she became Ed Secty.
Booker is an excellent speaker though, which concerns me that he can fool people with beautiful words, who are not aware of his record. (Besides ed privatizers, he has been in bed with Wall Street and big pharma, Very corrupt.) We need to educate people about his record.
What about a choice between Booker or Trump?
Lloyd Lofthouse
Same as Clinton vs Trump. Vote for Booker go wash your hands and hope you get to spend 4 years fighting him.
Hold your knows … and wash your hands but Booker would still be better than Trump. On a scale of -10 to +10, Booker would be ranked a zero but Trump’s a minus 1000.
Lloyd, agreed. Zero versus -1000.
@ Mr. Lofthouse
I’ll crawl across broken glass to vote for a dirty dog like Bill Clinton before I’ll vote for a Republican.
But Donald Trump isn’t anything. As the worst president in the history of the country, he is a Republican in name only.
He has a history of switching political parties and he has no center, no brain, no morals, nothing. He’s just a fake billionaire who spouts lies and cheats people out of money or launders money for Russian oligarchs.
Wait a second … I was wrong … he does have something, and that is a lot of flab because of his fast food diet and lack of exercise.
The Most Important point in Your Post to Me is that if he is the nominee, You Will Support him…This is what We should be Doing…Listing Our Objections and Opinions about the Candidates in a Civil manner, Realizing that Not One of the Candidates will be Perfect…The Most Important Result is to Elect a Democrat, and Remove drumpf…Thank You for the information…for Me, it’s “VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO”…I Can’t Breathe…LOVE
Cory Booker supported and perhaps still supports charter schools, vouchers, and TFA. Heis cozy with the Wall Street guys who love school choice, also was part of Betsy DeVos’ orbit. He opposed her nomination even though he agrees with her agenda.
You make enough noise about how much damage it will do to state legislatures, judge candidates, governors, and congress in terms of lost turnout numbers…..that you DO NOT LET BOOKER GET NOMINATED. More than a presidential race is at stake by being bullied into not nominating the best possible candidate the democrats can offer….and quit making it all about who do you want….hillary, or biden, or cory booker or Trump……..which is a lot of the corporate wing of the party will be demanding. They are actually threatened by a huge turnout……they would prefer the power they have with a low turnout victory, which accidentally did not happen with Hillary…..and would have left the democrats in a not very good place.
This is the candidate that Creeed supports. She is pro charter.
OPEN LETTER TO DISTRICT 7 TRUSTEE – WE DESERVE INTERGITY
This is a public letter to the District 7 EPISD Trustee to give her an opportunity to correct the record with documentation. Ms. Laura M. (Mickey) Loweree, has chosen not to communicate with EP AFT nor respond to E-Mails over the past 17 months, despite promising to do so on November 1st, 2017. Therefore, we have to ask our questions publicly.
This is Ms. Laura M. (Mickey) Loweree’s official EPISD Bio on the EPISD Board’s Web Page.
“Mickey Loweree is a former educator serving 10 years as a teacher within EPISD. Ms. Loweree earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. Ms. Loweree has served the EPISD students and community as a volunteer for over 25 years.”
Let’s parse this out to identify the apparent falsehoods.
“Mickey Loweree is a former educator serving 10 years as a teacher within EPISD.”
#1. On November 1st, 2017 Ms. Loweree stated to a group of EP AFT Officers that she was a “Paraprofessional” during her interview for appointment to the Board.
Question: Ms. Loweree, which is the falsehood? That you were a Paraprofessional or that were you a Teacher?
#2. That discrepancy lead to research by myself and three others. We came to the same findings.
There is NO record with SBEC of Ms. Loweree having ANY kind of Texas Certification as a Paraprofessional or Teacher, active or inactive. We checked with all her names and combinations thereof, “No Record”.
Question #1: Ms. Loweree, will you provide an SBEC Certification to EP AFT?
Question #2: If you can’t, please explain why you falsely claimed being a Teacher and a Paraprofessional?
#3. There are no records or memories of Ms. Loweree being a Teacher or Paraprofessional in EPISD at all, let alone for 10 years.
Question #1: Ms. Loweree, will you provide proof of employment with EPISD as a Teacher for 10 years duration to EP AFT?
Question #2: If you can’t, please explain why you falsely claimed to be employed by EPISD as a Teacher for 10 years to EP AFT.
“Ms. Loweree earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.”
Once Ms. Loweree’s claims in the first sentence were found to be false, we wondered if the Bachelors of Science (BS) Degree from UTEP claim was also false. We contacted UTEP to verify Graduation and Degree. UTEP’s response was “No Record” of either.
Question #1: Ms. Loweree, can you provide proof of graduation and degree from UTEP to EP AFT?
Question #2: If you can’t, explain why you falsely claimed to be a graduate with a degree from UTEP to EP AFT.
Ms. Loweree, here is an overarching question given your loose connection with the truth as shown above; your falsely accusing a fellow trustee and EP AFT of a conflict of interest while operating a campaign Facebook page for Ms. Fenenbock; lying to constituents about the closure of Carlos Rivera; or, your submitting a false police report as a Trustee at 10:30 PM on a Saturday night. This demonstrates your unfitness for office. So, here is the overarching question.
Ms. Loweree, please explain why anyone should believe or trust you?
Thank you! This is EXACTLY how to talk about the Democrats.
Beto is going to be extremely charter-friendly if he wins. It sounds a lot like Obama — Obama didn’t use “public schools are awful, teachers’ unions are awful” rhetoric. Obama said nice things about teachers and public schools. While he slowly and deliberately made sure that 8 years of federal policies did everything to benefit charters and undermine public schools.
And it is perfectly okay to point this out and decide to vote for someone else in the primary. Just like Diane Ravitch did here. You point out where the Democrat supports something that is not what you want for the country.
What is not okay is to demonize the Democrat for that position. Beto is not a bad or corrupt person because he is charter friendly. On other positions he is good or at least decent (depending on what your particular viewpoint is). Anyone who supports public education should work hard for a different primary candidate who is a strong supporter of public education.
But do it the way Diane Ravitch did here — without making character attacks on Beto as one of the most corrupt and dishonest candidates in history who is lying about everything he says and is absolutely not to be trusted and Trump is no worse than he is.
Beto is wrong on this issue — way wrong. Just like Sanders and Warren are less than good when it comes to pointing out what is wrong with charters. (When well-known progressives still rave about how much they love “good public charters”, it gives a lot of succor to the pro-charter movement).
It is extremely important to have posts like this to educate voters as to where some candidates stand on issues. And it is extremely important not to turn a disagreement on this issue into a character attack. Because the Republicans are just chomping at the bit to use those attacks in the general election to demonize whoever wins the primary and get people to believe the lie that it doesn’t matter who wins so don’t even bother to vote or if you do, vote for some 3rd party candidate they haven’t demonized because they want Democrats to support that candidate so Trump wins.
No candidate will be perfect on all the issues that are important to each person. But every single candidate will be better than Trump and anyone who tries to tell you they are not or who tries to demonize that candidate as someone “not to be trusted” is just a pro-Trump troll.
It is astonishing that one issue that Trump beat HRC by a lot was “trust”. When it came to “trust”, HRC got very low marks — even lower than Trump. That isn’t her fault for being absolutely no different than every politician in history who has ever run for President in any primary. Just like it was not Gore’s or Dukakis’ or Kerry’s fault that by election day, so many voters knew they were untrustworthy or liars. But it will happen again to whoever wins the primary if we let it.
O’Rourke recently met with Randi Weingarten to discuss education. He talked to her about all the teachers he met on the campaign trail that are buying classroom materials out of their own pockets. Weingarten would not directly discuss the specifics of their meeting, but she did say the following:
Weingarten said they discussed the educators he met on the campaign trail who had to use their own personal funds to pay for classroom supplies and that they discussed the importance of community schools with wraparound social services.
She demurred on whether they talked about charter schools specifically. “I’ve been very careful to not repeat the content of conversations I’ve had with the candidates,” she said. “But the whole context of how austerity and competition have really hurt public school opportunities is something that he was very aware of, let’s just put it that way.”https://theintercept.com/2019/03/27/beto-orourke-charter-schools/
Unfortunately, theesence of charters is to take funding away from public schools, which means layoffs and austerity, and competition. If Beto knows this, he should take the leadin driving charters out of El Paso.
I do not put a lot of trust or faith in Randi. She is took quick to sell us out.
How about the NEA and digital learning?
The school supplies schtick was the impetus for Donor’s Choose which is heavy with TFA staff.
I had bad feelings about “Beto” from the start. All looks & sounds good…no substance.
Perhaps would have been better than Cruz, but most definitely NOT good enough for Dem candidate 2020. His background goes beyond sketchy DINO…
Just…ick.
“Perhaps would have been better than Cruz….”
Yikes. I look at the Senate rubber stamping everything that Trump wants and a right wing federal bench and Supreme Court that will very likely outlast my lifetime and I just weep that anyone could still believe that dumping the Republican Party is not the very first step in taking back out country.
As it is, the fact that HRC lost and we have a right wing judiciary means that the very notion of democracy and making sure all have the right to vote is in the most terrible danger.
NYCpsp: Yes, sorry, I agree w/you. Certainly would have been better than Cruz…or any Republican, of course.
I stand by my other comments, however.
“Beto” & Booker are no friends (rather, fiends) of ours.
retiredbutmissthekids,
Thanks, and I agree with you that Beto is “most definitely NOT good enough for Dem candidate 2020”. Let Beto be a Texas Senator who – like Susan Collins does for the Republicans – gets to spout conservative ideas but when ordered to will always vote with the Democrats to make sure every piece of progressive legislation gets passed.
Beto has given far too much support to the fossil fuels and pharmaceutical industries to be the Democratic candidate for the White House. Go Bernie.
Have you heard that Steve Bannon recently predicted a Harris-Beto ticket has the ‘best shot’ at beating Trump.
“I think the best they’re going to have, and I don’t think these people will defeat him, I think a combination … of [Kamala] Harris for president and Beto O’Rourke for VP is a way to mobilize their base and give it the best shot,” Bannon said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/29/steve-bannon-harris-orourke-2020-1243426
If what Steve Bannon thinks about O’Rourke isn’t enough for all progressives to run away from these two candidates, we are in trouble … OR … did Bannon come out and say this because he really thinks the opposite, that a Harris-Beto ticket is the best shot for Trump to win re-election?
After all, the Koch brothers did not throw their support behind Trump during the 2016 election, as if throwing their support behind him might be a blow that could cost him the election, and after Trump won, most of TD’s cabinet ended up being members of ALEC like Betsy DeVos who all started to dismantle the federal government and turn its agencies over to industries that would benefit from a powerless federal government.
Sorry, but I would not care one bit what Steve Bannon says.
When crazy conservatives like Bannon start allegedly supporting Democrats, whatever that nutcase says can’t be trusted. I didn’t way whoever that nutcase mentions. I said whatever he says.
Bannon can go soak his disgusting head in a tar pit.
Why just his head?
Submerge his entire body in the tar pit and in a few million years when the next intelligent species that replaces ours is digging around for fossils, they will find him and mount him in a museum as an example of why the humans went extinct.
“OR … did Bannon come out and say this because he really thinks the opposite, that a Harris-Beto ticket is the best shot for Trump to win re-election?”
Lloyd, do you realize that you just spent precious brain cell activity on puzzling over Bannon’s statements?
Since Trump moved into the What House, I’ve lost so many brain cells, I think I’m running a deficit.
So since we all know that the DNC is going to rig the primaries and we’re going to get another neoliberal (my bet is Harris, but Beto and Booker are definite possibilities, with Biden still in the running), what do you all plan to do about it? You’re going to vote for whatever awful choice the Democrats shove down your throat, so why bother worrying about it? Sorry to be cynical, but I’m seeing 2016 happening all over again.
I will vote for anyone running as a Democrat against Trump. Anyone. At. All.
I don’t know if my other comment will post, but this talk of “rigging” sounds exactly like Donald Trump talking about how the FBI “rigged” the investigation and Democrats “rigged” this or that.
It isn’t surprising that it is coming from the same quarter who spent the entire election telling us Trump was no worse than the Democrat.
And given that I have not heard a single retraction of that belief, I have to assume that they do not believe they were wrong. To them, the Democrat in the general was no better than Trump.
So, let’s all agree that if you are someone who still believes that Trump was no worse than the Democrat would have been, and that having Gorsuch and Kavanaugh instead of Merrick Garland and another Justice Ginsburg type was not important, then vote against the Democrat if it isn’t the Democrat of your choosing.
Let’s all agree that if you are still certain Trump is no different than the Democrat running, you should work to elect the person you want in the primary, but if they lose, make absolutely to demonize the winner and say that Trump is no worse.
I’m guessing that most people who do that will be white and not Muslim.
I’m seeing 2016 happen all over again, too.
Can we please stop with the lie that the DNC “rigged” the primaries? It is a lie. It is an outright lie. If the DNC had truly wanted to “rig” the primaries, they didn’t have any more success that the FBI agents that Trump said “rigged” the election, too.
Those accusations of “rigging” sound a lot like Trump saying that the entire FBI “rigged” the investigation against him. The “rigging” Trump talks about is EXACTLY what the DNC did. It is not surprising that these kinds of outright lies are posted by the very same people who insisted that Trump would be absolutely no worse than HRC (their lies are evidence to all who believe there IS a difference in having Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh instead of having Merrick Garland and another liberal like Justice Ginsburg.)
One FBI agent told another person that they didn’t like Trump in a text! (They also said negative things about HRC, but who cares?) One DNC employee told another person that they didn’t like Bernie in a text! (Other people said negative things about HRC but who cares?)
Those people did not DO anything to try to sabotage Trump’s campaign. The very people that Trump claims rigged the investigation against him made sure to keep quiet and kept quiet so much that the NY Times ran pre-election headlines saying that the FBI had absolutely cleared the Trump campaign of any wrongdoing whatsoever! I guess the FBI officials who “rigged” the election for Hillary forgot to correct that error! Doesn’t stop Trump from saying they rigged the election! A text! An e-mail!
Just like the very same people who told us “Trump is no worse than HRC” say that the 2016 primaries were “rigged”. Someone said something in an e-mail! They “rigged it”! Despite bending over backward to give Bernie every opportunity to win.
Bernie Sanders lost because he did not campaign in the south and African-American primary voters preferred someone else. It is a nasty racist attack to blame African-American voters of being fooled by some “rigged’ DNC primary because they preferred a different candidate to Bernie. It is not surprising that these same people try to excuse the racism and xenophobia of the white working class voters in the midwest who were drawn to Trump’s racism and xenophobia and are STILL drawn to it as we saw at his recent rally.
If we have any primary candidate who spouts this kind of nonsense, claiming that any candidate that African-American primary voters want is being “shoved down the throat” and therefore it is rigged, I hope they get soundly defeated.
Total BS about “the DNC rigged the primaries”. Nice how you bought into Russian propaganda. So you helped Trump become President, by not voting for HRC in 2016? SMH No thanks to you.
THE DNC HAS NOTHING TO DO wITH THE PRIMARIES. THEY ARE RUN BY THE STATES. HRC won almost 4 million more primary votes than Sanders. That is called democracy, not “rigged”. The DNC runs the caucuses, which Sanders did very well in.
You are only helping Trump and the Russians, with that BS talk.
The 2020 primaries are gearing up to be similar to the 2016 Republican primaries with several choices.
I plan to vote in those primaries for the candidate that is closest to what I want. I don’t expect that candidate to match perfectly with what I want but even a half full glass is better than nothing.
And if my primary choice loses and another Democrat squares off against Trump, I’ll vote for that Democrat even if they are another corporate Democrat like Bill Clinton or Obama.
I don’t care if public education ends up with another Democratic president that favors corporate charters like every president going back to Reagan, because he or she will still be a better choice than Trump.
The only choice worse than Trump would be his master, Satan unless Trump is Satan in the flesh.
Lloyd,
Kudos!
“The only choice worse than Trump would be his master, Satan unless Trump is Satan in the flesh.”
LOL!
“The only choice worse than Trump would be his master, Satan unless Trump is Satan in the flesh.”
Lloyd, that’s weak from you. I expected at least “Satan in the red hairy fat”.
If Donald “Deplorable” Trump, the 1st-illegitimate president of the United States, isn’t Satan, he is Satan’s spawn and Satan’s DNA runs through every cell in DDT’s corpulent, flatulent, constipated body.
Now that’s better, thanks!
The problem with any candidate is that the business cycle is coming to a point where the continuing expansion will slow or contract a bit in the absence of some new influence. Due to the failure of the present tax cut to activate the economy, one of the weapons government can use to remedy the situation will be gone. There will be no money during a downturn for any political leader to do anything, because it will be wrapped up in the investment of powerful people who can wreck the economy.
Either all that or I am full of incorrect prognostication.
The recent good economy was rigged to help Trump. If a Dem. is elected, expect gas prices to be raised to make the Dem look bad. it’s just one of the manipulation tricks used.
I don’t think you’re wrong. I think there’s a good chance we will be entering into a new age of austerity politics. Particularly on the local level, where it matters far more.
2016 proved Randi and her establishment Dem friends’ lack of political ability, as if the prior 1000 legislative seats and governorships lost weren’t enough.
The candidates should be meeting with Diane, Jeff Bryant, and Michael Moore.
I listened to Beto’s formal announcement as a Presidential candidate . That was this afternoon and he had several things to say about education–he thanked his public elementary school, said teachers deserved to be well-paid and not have to secure two or three jobs to raise a family. He supported unions. He covered the waterfront on policies that resembles a chicken in every pot…from guaranteed health care to VA services, to restoring the US as an international power with many allies, to climate change. He struck me as a person who is skilled in rhetoric and marginally more sincere than Cory Booker. There were too many talking points meant to appeal to everyone in his hometown. He spoke for several minutes in Spanish.
All hat, no cattle.
The best bet at this point is a candidate who has a proven record of taking on Wall Street.
Rollin Rollin Rollin
Though the funds are stolen
Keep them charters rollin
Rawhide!
Whichish ! Whichish!
Like it-Poet
I really wanted to like him…
https://www.eclectablog.com/2019/03/beto-orourkes-charter-school-problem-hint-its-his-wife.html
And ye shall hear of charters and rumours of charters; see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to El Paso, but the end is not yet.” — Jesus , from Matthew 24
Not that which goeth into the mouth defilest a man, but that which comets out of the mouth, this defilest a man.
Comets out of the mouth?
Now there’s a poetic image that I’ll have to remember
Thanks for a belly laugh quote from Matthew!
Oh, SomeDAM. Now that is funny!
Amy O’Rourke’s father is a real estate tycoon. He’s called the godfather of the REIT. On-line documents reference Le Fe charter school in connection to the Le Fe Community Development Corporation.
General articles about real estate, investments in charter schools, etc. recognize a role for the REIT.
Trump can replace Bitsy with Ann O’Rourke. Or, Beto, if he wins, can do the change up.
Who among the 20-something likely candidates so the commenters think would be an acceptable nominee?
“Do” the commenters, that is.
Who among the 20-something likely candidates does FLERP! think would be an acceptable nominee?
Bernie is 20-something. I’m a big fan.
Bob Shepherd: I’m with you. [I’m also 20 something.]
It is a very complicated line up of would-be candidates, and so many bring different crucial issues to the debate (eg: what Warren is saying about corporation/Wall St. corruption is ESSENTIAL), but Sanders appears to be the only one not only willing to stand up as a far left candidate, but who has a history more closely associated to being a far left candidate. That is likely what will bring out the youth vote.
Interestingly, the “far left” Bernie Sanders would be considered moderate in Canada and in most of Europe. Our politicians typically look, to the rest of the world, like right-wing extremists.
Perhaps I should have written it (being stuck with nothing but a deep hope for it this next election season): the candidate most likely to let himself be pushed far left…
I am 70 something and I like Bernie.
I’m voting for affirmative action for women. There are enough qualified women, I’m not voting for a man in 2020. I believe in statistics,and zero out 45 means that it is time for some levelization to offset whatever bias has been at work for half of those 45 events.
Beto, Biden? Give me a break!
When’s a maximum age for president kicking in?
Never. It’s case by case. It’s about health, not age. In the field I work in, patients used to be cut off at the age of 65 for stem cell transplants. Today it is based on fitness. People over the age of 80 are being transplanted and people who are obese and out of shape at 45 are being denied. Fitness regardless of age is like the Potter Stewart “I know it when I see it” dictum. After all, the chief spokesperson for the RNC is young and sounds like an ancient confederate general while Bernie has the energy of college freshman.
Are age minimums for office really necessary? AOC should be able to run if she wants.
Ted, the age limit is in the Constitution.
I love AOC. Give her a chance to learn and grow. She’s a breath of fresh air amid the old men who run Congress. I watched her last night on Chris Hayes show on MSNBC, a one-hour Special on the Green New Deal. She was terrific. Smart. Thoughtful. Quick-witted.
The high point of the show was when MSNBC ran a series of video clips of Republican men insulting her and ridiculing her. One said that she was just like Stalin, he wanted to take our hamburgers away. Chris asked at the end of the clips, “How do you feel when you see this sort of thing?” She replied, without missing a beat, “I knew they hate the Green New Deal but I didn’t expect they would make such fools of themselves.” I almost fell off my chair guffawing. Exactly!
See if you can find the video. Nothing threatening about her except she frightens them so.
Frankly, I worry for her safety with these loons turning her into an object of hatred. Trump led a frenzied crowd chanting, “AOC Sucks.”
If they met her, they would hug her.
A minimum mental age is what should really be required for office.
For example, specifying that the President have a mental age of at least 3 would spare us from the twitterable twos.
Trump is three years old!
I’m so out of touch.
I’ve been thinking that Trump has the brain of a four-year-old autistic child since 2016.
Every time Trump talks or Tweets, I think of Lennie from “Of Mice and Men” and imagine Trump talking about touching nice, soft young things under the age of 35, until Trump drools.
If Trump only had George from “Of Mice and Men” to take care of him and keep him out of trouble.
35
It is important to remember that the average life expectancy in 1789, when the Constitution was ratified, was a little less than 40 years. Today it is around 80—and declining for the first time in our history thanks to scarcity of health care and adequate nutrition. So today’s 75 is yesterday’s 35.
I’m really liking the looks of Pete Buttigeig, and I’m going to be supporting a candidate who sees a path toward universal, single-payer healthcare. But, yes, anyone but Trump.
OK, look, life, you promised me, when I was just a child, and would believe anything, jet packs, paperless offices, robot cooks and butlers, flying cars, three–or-four-day work weeks, cities on the moon, cities on the sea, cities under the sea, a female president, space elevators, space arks, suspended animation, cures for cancer and the common cold, food replicators, devices for learning languages while I sleep, resurrected dinosaurs, the end of racism and sexism, world peace, clean air and water, sustainable cities, entire cities with rooftop gardens, solar power, wind power, fusion power, free love, anti-aging pills, universal healthcare, the end of want and hunger and care, a post-scarcity economy, disarmament, world peace . . .
and what did you deliver?
some orange simian mobster-caricature child-man with a portrait of Andrew Jackson on his wall ranting about he’s gonna “make America great again” the way it was . . . when?
back when he didn’t have to see any brown people who weren’t maids or porters or bell hops or elevator operators or comedians on television named “Stepin Fetchit”? back when he could grab ‘em by whatever and they were supposed to giggle and blush and be flattered?
Really? Seriously?
I listen to that man speak, and 2019 sounds a lot like 1948.
2020 can’t come soon enough.
I was impressed with a clip I saw on Pete when the interviewer was trying to goad him into to “are you a socialist” garbage trap. His response that it was really a choice between democracy and capitalism and in that case he came down on the side of democracy was artful and substantive.
Agree with Diane that we must support Democratic [no sic] nominee regardless. If it turns out to be a corporate privatizer, we have to commit to oppose them on the issue (and healthcare as well) on the day after the election (hopefully a win).
Bob, you are so right. Today does feel like 1948, with old white men warning aboutthe socialist menace, like decent healthcare, Social Security, and public education. The only thing new is a narcissistic president calling the press “the enemy of the people,” echoing Stalin.
After recently reading the term “enemy of the people” in a Milan Kundera novel I recently finished, I did some cursory research to try to figure out when it was first used. I assumed it was from the Henrik Ibsen play of the same title—in which the protagonist who determines that a mineral spring that is the source of tourism and income for a small Norwegian community is actually tainted by a bacteria that is potentially deadly to people exposed it is declared an enemy of the people by the townspeople who want to preserve their tourist income. It seems it was first used by Nero to characterize Christians, who were scapegoated to distract Roman citizens from his grandiose plan to remake—gentrify, if you will—Rome (see book and film Quo Vadis). It was also used by Robespierre to vilify Danton and other enemies in the French Revolution. And then it was used by Stalin and his acolytes behind the Iron Curtain for propaganda purposes. It became, pretty much, an obsolete term until Individual-1 revived it to first attack the press and then used as a general epithet against all his enemies. I may be wrong, but I believe he never used it during the campaign, only after his inauguration. The moral of the story is that the term has ONLY been used by demagogues who use it to create false narrative to deflect attention from their actual deeds. And a willingly accepting cult will always interpret it as a rallying cry.
Good research. I read Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People” in college.
I also remembered that Stalin used it to denounce his enemies.
Where do you think Trump learned it? Or picked it up? He doesn’t learn anything.
I’m betting John Bolton fed the line to him. The closest Individual-1 ever came to Henrik Ibsen was watching Henry Gibson on Laugh In.
Koch duplicity-
They trot out the specter of Stalin, while simultaneously using his tactics as inspiration. ALEC created the most incarcerated population;ation in the world- the United States. GOP policies impoverish the American middle class and poor.
Oh Beto! I hate school choice. Public schools are the best for public education!. I would never vote for Trump, but you lost my primary vote!
At this point, I would vote for Bernie over any of them. Also a big an of Warren. These younger ones–I’m going to want to see what they actually have to say. I don’t want to cast my vote for a candidate who will talk about “hope” and “change”; fill his cabinet with folks from Goldman, Sachs; and adopt Romneycare as his signature program. Anyone, just about, would be an improvement on IQ45, but as for the rest of these young candidates, I want to know a lot more. As another “stable genius” in the White House said,
Agree about Bernie and Warren, Bob.
Any candidate that the Gates-funded CAP wants is a candidate to reject.
I’m with you, Bob.
I agree with Bob, as well. & well-stated, Bob!
Democratic politicians are such dopes. I don’t think Democratic voters, a majority, would have been opposed to charter schools if Democrats had ALSO supported public schools.
But they decided to go full-on anti-public school – enthusiastic support of charters and vouchers and nothing at all for public schools.
It was stupid. All they had to do to get charters and vouchers past Democratic voters was show some practical, real and useful support for existing public schools ALONG WITH their preferred charters and private schools, but they didn’t.
It is now impossible to tell the difference between ed reform Democrats and Jeb Bush and Betsy DeVos. All they did was adopt the GOP position. It’s not just stupid, it’s LAZY.
Why should any Democrats support charter schools? They are a step towards vouchers. They encourage andletimate segregation. They are designed to be non-union. They rely on TFA and teacher churn. What’s the point other than to undermine public education as a civic responsibility?
I think charters are a bad idea, but I think Democratic voters were open to them, until it became obvious that ed reform Democrats preferred them, and would not support existing public schools.
There was no reason for the Obama Administration to do all that anti-public school politicking. They did it because they were completely captured by the ed reform echo chamber. They threw their own voters under the bus based on the beliefs and preferences of a handful of elite policy people and rich donors.
It was clueless. Maybe they’ve learned something since, but I doubt it.
I’ll vote for whichever one of them wins the primary but Democrats seem to have lost their way on education and I don’t know that consultants who come out of private schools and elite universities are going to get them back on track.
To really judge a presidential candidate prior to election I think one needs to know who they will hire.
We would have known a heck of a lot more about the Obama Administration’s anti-public school agenda if we had known he would hire every single high-level staffer out of the ed reform echo chamber.
If we get Beto they’ll all be back. They go directly from the public payroll to ed reform orgs. It’s a closed circle.
DeVos takes a lot of heat but go read DeVos’ speeches compared to Duncan’s speeches. There isn’t much difference. Ed reformers quibble over details but the zealous IDEOLOGICAL commitment to privatization is identical. They simply don’t support public schools. They long ago rejected public schools as an inferior model. If your kid is IN a public school this is information you need, or you’ll be wondering how you ended up with thousands of public employees who are opposed to your kid’s public school.
This is perhaps too rigid but I’m supporting the candidates who attended public schools.
So that’s a choice of three, I believe. I am just tired of having a the vast majority of the people who supposedly represent a country where the vast majority of people attend public schools and the President has no clue.
Private schools are OVER represented in DC, along with elite colleges. It’s insular and it adds to their cluelessness, in my opinion.
I’d actually like to see a candidate who attended a NON elite college or even a community college, like the VAST majority of Americans. If I see one more Harvard or Yale resume I may puke. How did it happen that ALL of our representatives come out of the same narrow pipeline? Enough. Give someone else a crack at it.
Re your comment, Chiara:
“I’d actually like to see a candidate who attended a NON elite college or even a community college, like the VAST majority of Americans.”
AMEN.
Go Bernie.
Well lets hope from now on you will do more research into the candidates you support. His education policy was not a secret. It was obvious you supported him because he was not Ted Cruz and he had a D after his name. But I do thank you for this article. You might find it interesting to know that our new Governor (Bill Lee) hired Penny Schwinn (from TEXAS) to be our new Commissioner of Education. Bill Lee is pushing hard for vouchers and it looks like, after 10 years of fighting against them, he is going to win. He also wants a ton of money allocated to the expansion of Charters. Now the clincher. Penny Schwinn is married to the VP of IDEA. And all of this fits nicely into the REPUBLICAN Secretary of Education and the REPUBLICAN President’s plans for education. So there are enemies on both sides and we need to be careful who we support and research them thoroughly. I did and tried to get people to see Lee was no different than all the rest but of course no one every listens. I proudly voted for an Independent because he was not in support of vouchers, Charters and was strong supporter of the 10th Amendment and the Constitution. We had a Republican that was running that I would have supported because she too as a Senator fought Common Core, Charters, Vouchers and voted against Race To The Top here in TN because she said it was a violation of the 10th Amendment. But of course they squashed her right out of the gate. So I researched ALL of the candidates running (and there were a ton of them) and voted for the on I felt would do the most to protect education and bring back real classical public education. Of course he lost too.
Karen, from the post it’s clear that Diane knew O’Rourke’s standing on public schools. But he was was a much better candidate than Cruz, hence she supported O’Rourke over Cruz.
But yeah, what you write is all true here in TN. Haslam appears like an angel compared to Lee.
Schwinn, btw, also comes from TX where she did some criminal activity that cost $2millon to taxpayers there. This was reported here, on this blog.
Karen,
I appreciate your research. You are right. I supported Beto for the Senate because I hoped he would beat Ted Cruz, one of the worst of all Senators. I knew then that Beto’s wife was in the charter world. If faced with the choice today, I would support Beo against Cruz again. If he runs against Cornym in 2020 for U.S. Senate, and if he is the Democratic candidate, I would support him then too.
Take Action: Sign the petition today: Support public school teachers!
Support public school teachers!.
Educators and school staff across the country need your support in their fight for living wages, smaller classroom sizes, an expansion of resources for their students, and more.
They’re fighting for the future of public education.
Just this month, Oakland teachers won a collective $38 million in pay raises and promises of hiring more teachers and counselors after a seven-day strike.
Last month, Denver Public Schools teachers went on strike after year-long contract negotiations and West Virginia walked out for a second time to secure what they had won last year.
In January, over 50,000 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers went on strike also citing stagnant wages, large classroom sizes, and lack of school resources for their students.
Educators, parents, students and their communities are standing up with a clear message: We’re not going to accept underfunding and scarcity. That’s what sparked the actions in Oklahoma, Arizona, North Carolina, Colorado and Kentucky last year and why, for the first time ever, charter school educators also went on strike in L.A., Chicago, and Ohio.
What connects all these fights are years of disinvestment that have hurt our students and faculty. The Great Recession decimated school funding, and 25 states still spend less on K-12 public education than before the recession. Similarly, in higher education, 41 states still spend less. That’s why educators are saying clearly: Fund our future.
Educators take big risks going on strike and walking out. It is always the last resort in a long fight for the resources necessary to effectively educate. Knowing that the public is on their side is important to helping them win improved learning environments for their students and working environments for themselves.
Sign the petition today – support public school teachers!
Participating Organizations: Daily Kos American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Can you join me and take action? Click here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-the-petition-today-support-public-school-teachers?source=email&
Both candidates would be to the right of both of our 2 major parties. The Sanders we need is Bernie Sanders who works for the people.
Yeah, it’s crucial not to confuse Bernie with Amy Sanders, who is O’Rourke’s wife.
Bandwagons are dangerous things. Beto O’Rourke is a jacked-up parvenu with nothing to show for his time in Congress or anywhere else. And apparently his record in El Paso is full of accommodations to big-money relatives or friends of of relatives. Charters and poor-people-removal aka “development?” I don’t think so. We need someone with a record, good ideas and a history of commitment to democratic values for the entire country. That would be Bernie.
After reading nearly 130 comments it is clear that the Democratic primary is where all the action is. That’s where we can vote for the candidate that most clearly represents our views. Then, once that process is over, we can choose to stay home (if you’re in a state where the Democrat is sure to win) or “hold your nose” and vote if you feel the candidate is only better than the alternative.
The Most Important point in Your Post to Me is that if he is the nominee, You Will Support him…This is what We should be Doing…Listing Our Objections and Opinions about the Candidates in a Civil manner, Realizing that Not One of the Candidates will be Perfect…The Most Important Result is to Elect a Democrat, and Remove drumpf…Thank You for the information…for Me, it’s “VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO”…I Can’t Breathe…LOVE
I totally agree and also supported him against Ted with several donations.
Beto said the number at a campaign rally was 6,000 but the police estimated 1,000-2,000. Sound familiar? I’m thinking of the inauguration crowd that was much bigger than Obama’s. Sign said, “Beto is our christ”. Ugh.
…………………………..
The Myth of Beto O’Rourke
10:17 AM ET
EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE
When does monster fundraising turn into real momentum?
O’Rourke’s official campaign kickoff, with three stops in Texas on Saturday, was about generating interest ahead of the fundraising deadline, and about demonstrating that he could draw big crowds. The numbers soon got fuzzy. At O’Rourke’s first event of the day, in his hometown of El Paso, the police department estimated that 1,000 to 2,000 attended. The number was higher than what many candidates could draw, yet O’Rourke’s campaign said the number was actually 6,000. It claimed that 10,500 came to see him in Houston in the afternoon, and another 14,000 came to see him just before midnight in front of the state capitol in Austin, though Austin Mayor Steve Adler told me that he’d put the number at 6,000…
A little while later, O’Rourke took the stage, introduced excitedly by the woman speaking ahead of him as “the man—not the myth, but the legend.” In front of him were the official viva beto signs produced by his campaign, in what’s now become the familiar simple but bold white text on a black background, as well as a number of handmade signs, including “make america beto again” and “beto is our christ”…
Read More:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/orourkes-campaign-kickoff-texas-drew-money-crowds/586210/?utm_source=atl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share
They all have their stuff. Beto has my vote.
This is off topic, sort of, but shows the garbage that Indiana’s politicians allow to flourish in the climate of ‘choice’ that teaches nothing to students.
Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy enrolled 6,000 students and took more than $40 million of Hoosier taxpayer money. With this amount of money, the ‘school’ had more than 200 students for each teacher. Indiana Virtual School received its third F grade in a row.
It is up to politicians in this state to care about our students. Allowing a worthless enterprise like this to continue is allowing students to go through school and learn nothing. Thousands of students didn’t complete classes or never took them to begin with.
……………………………………………..
Some parents say getting help was like ‘pulling teeth’ as troubled Indiana virtual schools grew
BY SHAINA CAVAZOS, STEPHANIE WANG – 13 HOURS AGO
Enrollment quickly swelled at the schools, thanks to the state’s favorable laws and lack of regulation about how fast they could grow. School leaders also had an incentive: Indiana’s funding system that gives schools more money for each student they bring in. Today, Indiana Virtual School and its sister school, Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, enroll more than 6,000 students and could get more than $40 million from the state this year.
But staffing didn’t appear to keep pace with that expansion. The schools have already received scrutiny for their tiny teaching staffs — with Indiana Virtual School at one time having more than 200 students for every teacher. And the schools have posted dismal academic results, with graduation rates in the single digits in recent years and a fraction of students passing state exams. Indiana Virtual School received its third F grade in a row from the state last year.
In an emailed statement, Thomas Burroughs, a lawyer for Indiana Virtual School and Indiana Virtual Pathways Academy, did not directly address whether Morrice’s description of the school’s student enrollment practices and outreach to inactive students was accurate. He also did not respond to requests about specific student and parent experiences. Burroughs said the schools could not remove inactive students from their rolls until a new state law took effect in fall of 2017.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2019/04/02/some-parents-say-getting-help-was-like-pulling-teeth-as-troubled-indiana-virtual-schools-grew/?utm_source=email_button
Good you have shared this research to illuminate Beto’s connections to funders who are trying to destroy public education. What’s missing is analysis of how we can escape from supporting corporate Dems who do the bidding of the billionaire privatizers because they are not quite as destructive as the GOP candidates who do their work as well. Hmm….
Amy’s involvement in the Charter School Movement is a game changer. Imagine Betsy DeVos as FLOTUS. The Charter School “movement” is all in how it is handled. If it is to create “private” and “religious” schools, as has been attempted here in Texas, this weakens our secular public school system with our elected school boards.
The Charter schools suffer from a lack of oversight. They also lack a mission of inclusiveness to students of all races and creeds. Diversion of educational tax dollars to these entities, dedicated to “running the schools like a business,” read, cut costs and create “profits,” is a bad “business” model for our secular tax supported educational institutions. Then there is an overlay of “religious” curriculae.
Our public schools have school boards elected by the tax payers who pick up the tab for these schools. This institutional model works. Charter schools divert funding from this system.
There is a documentary on this subject of Charter Schools to which I was invited by Gina Hinojosa and Jayme Mathias, who then sat on our AISD Board. The name of the film is “Killing Ed.” It is a stunning revelation of what the Charter School movememt is all about. It’s not just some cutesy fad to “make the schools better.” Weakening the system by diverting funding from it doesn’t improve public school education.
When Rick Perry as governor of TX cut the public school budget by $50 Billion there were thousands of teachers laid off in the AISD alone. The schools were forced to scramble to make up the loss in some not very acceptable ways. (Ask me in a FaceBook PM.)
Taxpayers in local school districts were hard put to make up the difference. In Ft. Davis now 80% of the cost of running their public schools fall on their property taxpayers. The state dropped the ball big time. We’ll see what the TX Lege has come up with this time around. They have been under court order to improve the funding of TX public schools.
I agree. I will not support charter schools that are privatized. I was in a wonderful public school several weeks ago in Tampa. I don’t think children could get a better education anywhere. The teachers are creative, and very important, the school is welcoming to parents who can come and eat lunch with their children in the garden. I saw children playing kickball and other games. In many Ohio schools the children do not have recess. However, the public school teachers are dedicated, and for the most part knowledgeable . it is the interference of public officials that needs to cease .
“I will not support charter schools that are privatized.”
Why muddy the waters? Why start appointing (and paying) oversight committees? Forget about supporting charter schools from public money.
In general, public money should support the public directly. This should be the goal and not the tendency of trying to support private projects by claiming, they are for the benefit of the public. Privatization decreases efficiency multiple times:
Why do we have an oversized military? Because it is claimed, the public needs it, but behind the scenes, there are these private military contracts of insane price for insane projects.
Why do we have roads everywhere, but not railroads? How come a city of 1 million (like Memphis) may have a single railroad going through it, and there may be no public transportation except for a nominal one.
How come in hospitals we have so many nurses, doctors? During my 5-day hospital stay, after Monday’s open heart surgery, I saw no less than 50 nurses: one kind for taking vital signs, one kind to draw and check blood, one kind for walking, one kind to help me to the bathroom, etc. I also saw similarly specialized doctors, who checked on me and when I asked them a question, they said “only the pulmonary cardiologist (or whatever) can answer that and he is coming soon” and when the pulmonary cardiologist came, he said “only the cardio-lobotomist (or whatever) can answer that and he is coming soon”.
Let’s not pretend that privatization has increased efficiency anywhere. The scheme of privatization has failed and trying to introduce them anywhere with saying “there will be proper oversight” is just trying put the foot in the door to let in ballooning inefficiencies that take money away from public goods like our public school system.
Instead of trying to claim socialists systems don’t work, we, Americans, should show the world, how to do it right,
like allowing small private businesses flourish instead of eliminating them. This is where we should try to lead the world, not in clinging to the outdated capitalist system that wants to take over everything.
Máté Wierdl: During my 5-day hospital stay, after Monday’s open heart surgery, I saw no less than 50 nurses.
Welcome back! You’ve been missed. Have a very speedy recovery!!!
I hate hospitals and all sorts of doctors. I was thrown out of a natural history study at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for being so severely mentally ill that I had to be taken out of the study. I had shrunk a brain tumor by 2mm and my hearing was improving. NIH couldn’t stand that and I was kicked out in November 2012. Their conclusion was that without psychiatric help in the future they were afraid that I’d hurt myself or others.
So, I’m officially severely mentally ill. Doctors can’t be wrong, can they? Ugh. I had a counter report done by a licensed clinical psychologist who read what NIH had stated in its baloney report and he declared that the medical profession doesn’t recognize healing. He saw no evidence of psychotic behavior.
Uh, that sounds bad, CM. You sound very rational here. My experience overall was positive last week: these people did help me get back after the surgery; they were always encouraging, exhibiting great energy which helps me. Just the system seemed extremely wasteful for no apparent reason, and was also much less personal than I would have liked.
Máté Wierdl: I had both knees operated on when I was in Malaysia. The nurses weren’t as knowledgeable as ones here but the compassion was endless. I had therapy for 6 months.
I also had my R big toe operated on. The operation was for one and a half hours and I stayed in the hospital for four days. The doctor would have let me stay longer if I had wanted. The food selection was Asian. How many hospitals in this country would let one stay for four days on a toe operation?
None of this cost me anything. Insurance came through the school.
I was also treated by cyberknife at an international medical center in Kuala Lumpur. The International School of Kuala Lumpur’s superintendent did not balk at signing a letter of guarantee for $40,000 to be responsible for paying that amount if the insurance company didn’t come through. I presented the letter of guarantee to him and he signed immediately. Can you imagine any school in the US doing that?
There are hospitals for the poor people. There is a longer wait but the cost, when I was living there, was about $.25 cents.
It was after I got mistreated at the National Institutes of Health that I no longer like doctors. Fortunately, I now have a certified medical doctor who is also an alternative medicine specialist. He has his own pharmacy of natural products which heal. He prescribes regular prescriptions when necessary.
So you really are from Malaysia? I also pay the nominal fee in Hungary so that I get free healthcare there (I am always in Europe during the summer). Most of my colleagues from Europe do the same. In France, for example, you get free healthcare automatically if you work there for however short period of time—at least that’s how it was last time in 2011.
Máté Wierdl: I lived in Malaysia for a total of 11 years. Am now in Indiana.
I don’t like this blog. I went to the trouble to write a reply to one comment and after I pressed “Post Comment” it informed me that the post would not appear. No reason given, just rejection.
Frances, I have no idea why your comment was rejected. Over half a million comments have been posted. Try again.