The Washington Post Editorial Board is made about charter schools. They were also over the moon for Michelle Rhee’s authoritarian rule of the D.C. schools, which launched a short career as an outspoken proponent of charters and vouchers. Rhee became closely allied with Jeb Bush, who was also Betsy DeVos’s friend and mentor.
This we should not be surprised to discover that the Washington Post published an editorial blasting Senator Sanders’s critique of charter schools, using almost the same language as the far-right choice ideologue Jeb Bush.
Isn’t it interesting that this Washington Post editorial has almost the same headline as an article from a right-wing think tank (the Foundation for Economic Education) https://fee.org/about
There’s nothing progressive about strangling charter schools – The …
5 hours ago – Among the more promising efforts to deal with this urgent issue have been public charter schools, which give poor families the choice in their …
There’s Nothing Progressive about Bernie’s War on Charter Schools …
3 days ago – Doubling down on efforts to strengthen an inherently coercive system of mass schooling by diminishing education choice is a troubling retreat …
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yep.
Looks to like the Washington Post Editorial Board decided to outsource its work to fee.org and the pr firm that fee.org hires. No effort required.
There’s nothing progressive about strangling public schools to pay for charters.
Yes. I think that that’s the lede.
Omg…more DISINFORMATION from the DEFORMERS. The DEFORMERS are running scared.
What dross – “Teachers’ unions, of course, are smart to oppose charter schools and other school choice programs. Their primary purpose is to secure the jobs and benefits of their union“. I guess they forgot about that whole “educating children” thing….
Here is my comment online to WaPo editorial board.
……
carol_ring
12 minutes ago
I am A RETIRED TEACHER and this whole writing by the editorial board is a slap in teachers’ faces. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU!!
CHARTERS DO NOT PERFORM AS WELL AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS!
They siphon money from public schools and set up an alternative system that chooses its students and kicks out those who don’t meet their standards. There is no federal requirements for treating disabled students with the respect and educational skills that they needs. English language learners are too often not accepted because they bring down test scores. These students are sent to public schools that admit everyone.
Charters are way too often run by people who know nothing about education but are in it scam the system and make out like bandits. Too often they use TFA’s who are cheap. Too often they do not allow unions and underpay the teachers who work in the charter industry. Too often they close with no warning and leave student and parents hanging with no place to go except back to their public school.
Charters encourage segregation because there is too often white flight to the charter schools, leaving the poorest blacks and Latinos in the public schools.
Charters do not perform better. Any that do better on tests do so because they cherry pick who stays in their schools. A high % that go to college is done by eliminating those who did poorly on score on tests or were behavioral problems. Look at the initial number who enroll and then at the number who finally graduate. Kicking kids out is done way too often.
Bernie Sanders learned about the fallacy of the charter schools. Diane Ravitch knows about the harm that they are doing to the underfunding of public schools.
SHAME ON THIS EDITORIAL BOARD FOR NOT DOING ITS HOMEWORK AND FINDING OUT THE DAMAGE CHARTERS ARE DOING TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF POOR STUDENTS. SHAME ON EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!
I am a retired teacher and I am furious.
Well-said!
Remember from here on out to start referring to charter schools as PRIVATE charter schools.
Because you know that the edudeformers and privateers will be referring to them as public charter schools.
Duane E Swacker: Good point.
“charter school students were more productive and had better outcomes than students in traditional schools. ”
Wow. Now the claim is charter school STUDENTS are better.
No wonder no one in ed reform invests in or supports public schools. Charter school students are better!
The Motivation Factor – Physical Education in schools in 1960’s – #JFKChallenge
Doug Orchard
Published on Mar 12, 2015
PE 50 years ago…compare to today!
The 90-minute documentary won ‘Best Documentary Feature’ and also ‘Audience Choice Award’ at the Life Fest Film Festival in Hollywood, CA on May 6, 2017 and won ‘Audience Choice Award’ and ‘Festival Heart Award: Celebrating the Best of the Human Spirit’ at the Intendence Film Festival in Denver, CO on 6-24-17.
In 1962, JFK gave a speech to the nation challenging them to make a “great national effort.” He held the La Sierra High PE up as the model for the nation to follow. 4,000 high schools followed this program. This is the only known digitized copy of his speech. The footage shows one high school PE class. Remember, this is a normal PE class at the high school. This was PE 50 years ago in America! This is just a small part of a full documentary film project we are working on that shows the “why” behind vigorous physical exercise. It has interviews with top MD’s and Ph.D’s from Harvard Medical School, MIT, Cleveland Clinic, MUSC, etc., and summarizes over 1,000 peer reviewed studies linking vigorous physical exercise to emotional health, high academic test scores, and productivity….
The truth is charter school facilities couldn’t be locally funded. If they were locally funded they would have to go to the public and make a case for why they want to build and open each school, and in many cases the public would reject that.
With federal or private funding they can go around the local public and build anywhere they want, with no analysis of system capacity or whether the community wants the school. The facilities funding they have is the facilities funding they require- they wouldn’t survive a local vote on public financing of new facilities.
Mercedes Schneider took a deep dive into charter financing and bonds. Not a good lewk:
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/2018-charter-school-credit-ratings-for-nine-states-with-a-focus-on-california-and-michigan/
“The second of 20 San Antonio IDEA Public School campuses is headed to the South Side and and is scheduled to open in fall 2013.
The new campus — which has yet to be named — will be built on an eight-acre plot of land on the corner of South Flores Street and West Harding Boulevard.”
If IDEA had to go to the public and ask for facilities financing to build and operate each of 20 new public schools the public would reject all or some of the new schools, because they would (rightfully) ask why they’re replicating a system they already have. There would be a long public debate on public investment. They would have to scale back plans or scrap them completely.
Charters know this, so they use federal and private financing. If they used local facilities funding they would have to get the consent of the public.
When ed reformers say they want local facilities funding remember that if they had local facilities funding the approval process would have to go thru the public, and the public would object to funding 20 new school buildings that replicate schools they already have. That would make it impossible to plunk down 20 new charter schools.
If charter schools and charter school students are better, as the Washington Post and Jeb Bush and the rest of the echo chamber argue, why don’t ed reformers advocate to get rid of public schools completely?
For 20 years the whole echo chamber have been claiming these are better schools – Bush says charter STUDENTS are better. So why not just drop the pretense of “supporting” public schools and replace every public school with one of the charter chains or a private school voucher?
Is it because they know the public would object to this, so they have to put forth some pretense of supporting public schools while actively working to undermine and replace them? In other words, it’s a political decision?
Chairs. You are exactly right about the charter schools facilities problem. Your reaoning and examples show why the industry wants the right to co-locate in an existing school, has a massive charter school financing fund, has real estate and legal specialists to aid in finding suitable investments and perks for investing in facilities, and why the charter loving federal officials, aided by Congress, authorized money for charter school facilities.
I read a number of comments in this WaPo article and most of the commenters were against charter schools. That is good.
“Betsy DeVos
In 4th grade, Kendra was struggling in her neighborhood elementary school. Her mother enrolled her in a public charter school and Kendra’s confidence soared. Read more about Kendra’s story”
The publicly-funded social media presence of the US Department of Education is one big advertisement for charter and private schools.
They no longer even pretend to serve public school families and students. Our students and schools are completely excluded from these promotions.
Complete and utter capture by the ed reform lobby, to the extent that they no longer mention 90% of students- the students who attend the public schools they oppose.
If you landed on earth from Mars and looked at the US Department of Education promotions you would think every (successful) student in the US attends a charter or private school. Only the losers attend public schools. Pure propaganda, and really unfair to public school students.
This is no surprise. However, they should not be allowed to repeat the lies of “reform” and get away with it. If they want an ideological argument, the claims should be grounded in evidence. Some deformers may actually believe parents do the choosing. Parents in urban charters realize that it is mostly the schools that do the choosing, the excluding, the suspending and expelling. Charter schools are niche schools that leave many students behind. They accept the easy and cheap to educate and eliminate the expensive and difficult to teach. This is not public education.
If WaPo is lifting from Jeb Bush, perhaps they are looking at this so-called report from Florida. This report should be fact checked by researchers. http://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/new-report-finds-florida-charter-school-students-consistently-outperform-their-peers-in-traditional-public-schools.stml
The Washington Post has become a tabloid not unlike The National Enquirer.
Their mindless cheerleading for the Iraq war and their choice of what to publish and what NOT to publish(propaganda by omission) had nothing to do with journalism and everything to do with pure unadulterated government propaganda.
And all their anti-Sanders articles during the last Democratic primary can only be categorized as pathetic. (Here we go again. Same as it ever was)
The Washington Post should change its name to The Washington Hos
If you want to actually find out what is going on these days (without all the propaganda spin), you really need to read some media outlets outside the US.
“Washington Ho’s” … accurate.
The Ho’s ally, Charles and David Koch, have new branding. Their slogan, “We must stand together to help every person rise”, in other words, “We must ‘stand together’ to impose colonialism, controlling every person and resource.”
Charles and David Koch are like Bill Gates. They want to distribute charity to those they think are deserving. The three are tragically flawed men whose dogma stops society’s advancement.
They might be flawed in our view (yours and mine) but they are not flawed (indeed they are ideally suited in a Darwinian sense) to operate in the world of unfettered capitalism, where the spoils go to the individual and company that is willing to do whatever it takes to “win”.
This is precisely the reason why so many at the top (in business and in government) are narcissists, sociopaths and even psychopaths. The business environment breeds and selects for such types.
Pence must be glowing silence this was his baby. Roe vs. Wade is going to be a dead duck. The US has no problem killing people in wars but ‘save those fetuses’ and make life difficult for women.
……………………….
The Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that struck down an Indiana law requiring fetal tissue from abortions to be buried or cremated. Without oral argument,#SCOTUS upholds Indiana…
The Supreme Court has reversed a lower court ruling that struck down an Indiana law requiring fetal tissue from abortions to be buried or cremated.
https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/supreme-court-upholds-indiana-law-requiring-fetal-remains-burial-or-cremation-after-an-abortion/#.XO1E0RwfCtQ.gmail
And of course, Pence has the Pope behind him, who just compared any abortion (including that of a deformed fetus) to the actions of a hitman
Pence and the Pope
Pence and the Pope
Like pig in a poke
A hanging man’s rope
The hope of a dope
The current Pope is an ideological hack and pedophile protector.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/146965/pope-francis-embroiled-major-pedophile-scandal
I don’t understand why more Catholics are not outraged by this fellow.
He is about as far from the teachings of Jesus Christ as one could possibly get.
Click on CC [closed caption] to get the English translation. It is a very moving documentary about the abuse in Poland by priests who are ruining children’s lives.
TELL NO ONE (2019) | Full Documentary Movie by Tomasz Sekielski | English Subtitles
SEKIELSKI
Published on May 11, 2019
The independent documentary movie by Tomasz and Marek Sekielski brothers. This is truth about the Catholic Church in Poland.
Religion is used by tyrants to keep women and workers from sharing in power and resources. The economic deprivations caused by men e.g. the Koch’s and Gates make people turn to religion where Catholic Popes and men like Sekulow, Graham Jr. and Falwell misuse the have-nots for the gain of the elite.
The Washington Hos
Washington foes
As everyone knows
Are tied up with bows
By Washington Hos
Yes, I will never forget when the Washington Hos ran 16-anti-Sanders pieces in one day.
MARCH 8, 2016
Washington Post Ran 16 Negative Stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 Hours
https://fair.org/home/washington-post-ran-16-negative-stories-on-bernie-sanders-in-16-hours/
I hope YOU are writing a letter to Washington Post. And why don’t the Editors talk to their own Valerie Strauss? Martha Bridge Denckla, M.D.
Sent from my iPad
>
Bernie and AOC challenge the pretense of an American center and left, a ruse created by media like WaPo. CAP, DFER, Harvard School of Education, Michael Bennett, Gina Raimondo, Michael Bloomberg, Bill and Melinda Gates and the Clintons are similar to their right wing brethren. They thwart democracy so that elites can retain control.
Yes, this is all laid out in Manufacturing Consent (Edward S Herman and Noam Chomsky)
Matt Taibbi also discusses a related subject, how the media makes us hate one another in his book, Hate, Inc
The elites are deathly afraid that we “ordinary” Americans are going to figure out that we have far more in common with each other than we have with those who are manipulating our tellings toward one another for their own nefarious purposes.
AMEN sister! Here’s hoping that everyone catches onto the slick game. Feel the Bern!
Are we surprised by WaPo. Their one positive has been as a mouthpiece against Trump. On all too many issues they are a neo liberal center right publication. Including being Union Busters long before Reagan made it popular.
Liberals make a mistake when they tout the Washington Post simply because it supports their views toward Trump.
The Devil’s in the Details
When you trust the Devil
On anything at all
Devil’s bound to revel
In clear and certain fall
There is NO end to the meanness of Trump. He is determined to get rid of anything that Obama supported. Religious groups that discriminate are not true religions.
……………………………………..
Trump administration rolls back health care protections for LGBTQ patients
By DAN DIAMOND and RACHANA PRADHAN 05/24/2019 09:16 AM EDT Updated 05/24/2019 05:35 PM EDT
The Trump administration today proposed to scrap an Obama-era policy that prohibited health care providers from discriminating against transgender patients, in its latest rollback of federal protections for transgender people.
The health department’s proposed rule, a rewrite of an Obamacare regulation that bars health care discrimination based on sex, would also strike down protections for LGBTQ patients.
HHS said it is repealing the Obama-era definition of sex protections in order to make its regulations “more consistent” with other agencies. The proposal, released on a Friday before holiday weekend, comes two days after the Department of Housing and Urban Developmentmoved to let federally funded homeless centers deny services to transgender people.
The Obama administration had issued a rule asserting that Obamacare’s nondiscrimination protections, Section 1557 of the law, covered gender identity. But a federal judge blocked those protections in 2016 following a lawsuit from religious groups. The Trump administration said it rewrote the rule in response to the court ruling…
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/24/transgender-patients-protections-health-care-1343005
Jeff Bezos is obviously on a crusade against Bernie Sanders, particularly after Sanders recently forced him to raise the minimum wage paid to Amazon workers.
That the editors of the Washington Post allow Bezos to use the paper for his own personal vendetta against Sanders tells you that they are little more than Bezos’ Hos.
Bezos’ Hos
As Bernie grows
The chutzpah blows
From Bezos’ Hos
At Washington Post
Sanders Slander
Bezos’ hates Sanders
For telling the truth
His editor slanders
The latter, forsooth
“There you go again…” (Me quoting…Reagan?) Anyway, I like it.
Round Two of DINOs again anointing their chosen one (Biden) & cutting down Bernie.
(& who’s heard anything in the media about Tulsi Gabbard lately? She’s been made a persona non grata.)
Anyway, Bernie’s platform would certainly–gasp!–cut into Bezos’ billions/future gazillions.
Joe!
Jeff Bezos would have an aneurysm for sure if Sanders ever even came close to getting the nomination.
So we are going to see a veritable flood of anti Sanders propaganda from Bezos’ Hos (aka The Washington Post) for the next year.
It is clear that Bernie and AOC are seen as serious threats to the richest 0.1%. Reportedly, the Fresno Grizzlies (a team in the Washington Nationals franchise) aired a video implying that AOC was similar to North Korea’s dictator. The irony- the video mash was about freedom, as if American oligarchy was freedom for anyone except the Koch’s and people like them.
I’d never heard of the grizzlies. Thought it had something to do with DeVos. Duh. It was meant as ‘an upbeat patriotic message’? I’d say, stay away from the Fresno Grizzlies. Their idea of patriotism stinks.
………
AOC and Kim Jong-Un branded ‘enemies of freedom’ by minor league baseball team
Talk about strange bedfellows: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Kim Jong-un were labeled “enemies of freedom” in a tone-deaf Memorial Day tribute by a minor league baseball team.
The Fresno Grizzlies scrambled to apologize for the three-minute video montage but failed to explain how they somehow lumped together the Queens congresswoman and the North Korean dictator.
“It was a mistake and we will ensure that nothing like it ever happens again,” Grizzlies management said in a Tweet.
The three-minute video was apparently designed as an upbeat patriotic message for the holiday weekend where the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals was playing a double header.
Amid stirring images, President Ronald Reagan intoned a message about “enemies” and an image of AOC flashed across the screen alongside Kim and the late Cuban strongman Fidel Castro.
Ironically, Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most outspoken critics of President Trump. But Trump has cozied up to Kim, insisting that he is a partner for peace despite his brutal human rights record and aggressive nuclear weapons program.
http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAC2vl0?ocid=se
You are right, Linda.
The 1% see Bernie and AOC as a clear threat to their bottom line.
That video was no mere “accident”.
But of course, Grizzlies President and part owner Derek Franks has already effectively blamed it on a low level employee for “not viewing the video in its entirety”, excusing the management and owners of any and all responsibility.
The Fresno Grizzlies
The Grizzlies spat
And Grizzlies shat
On AOC
With Grizzly scat
The Grizzlies spit
And Grizzlies shit
Cuz Grizzlies hate
Her every bit
Poet-
Agree, a convenient answer.
What Franks won’t do is air a broadcast about those who are taking our freedom through Citizens United and gerrymandering.
Hoe ironic–as I wrote this (I’m listening to the local news)–NBC Nightly News lead story announced: “Joe Biden responds to Trump’s weekend attacks.”
Bet he will put a big scare into IQ45!
Joe!
And Joe has just revealed his anemic education plan.
Biden copies off Bernie with his vow to triple Title 1 funding, but only offers to ensure that teachers are paid “competitive” salaries.
How much you want to bet that most of that additional Title 1 funding will be siphoned to his donors in the EdTech industry?
Democrats should ask themselves this: can you name even a single thing that Biden accomplished or even did during his eight years in the White House?
I cant.
And even Obama probably can’t which may be why Biden does not seek his endorsement.
When Obama was asked by his personal Secretary to give a reference for Joe Biden, he allegedly said “Joe who?”
SDP: Biden has nothing to offer except for name recognition. That is being played up by the media. He is corporate owned and is playing the anti-Trump patriotic card with nothing of substance.
Biden His Time
Biden picked his nose
That’s something, I suppose
An eight year booger dig
Is really REALLY BIG!
OY! That is all I can say to such insanity.
So three retired corporate executives, a top philanthropist and a nonprofit chief are among the experts on raising teachers’ salaries? What a pile of _______. Since when do such people care about teachers? I guess this is being done so that Governor Holcomb [R-IN] can brag about having ‘looked into the matter’. Former CEO of Anthem and CEO of Mayflower are sympathetic to teachers who have to work 2-3 jobs to survive? The Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission is a joke. Disgusting.
……………………………………………
The governor appointed a commission to study teacher pay. So far, they’ve met behind closed doors
BY STEPHANIE WANG – 11 HOURS AGO
Three retired corporate executives, a top philanthropist, and a nonprofit chief are among those trying to solve one of Indiana’s most pressing problems: raising teacher salaries.
They’re handling a charged issue that has teachers impatient for a fix since Indiana routinely ranks among the lowest states in teacher pay. And they’re already in hot water with some critics.
The commission, formed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, met early controversy for not having any members who are teachers, except for one on the advisory council. Now, the group has met privately at least six times, prompting further concerns that educators are being shut out of discussions.
“I’m worried they’re having meetings behind closed doors, and teachers are not part of the conversation. It’s our pay. It’s our livelihood,” said Shawnta Barnes, a Wayne Township school librarian who writes for the education blog Indy K12. “It just makes you feel like the decision’s already been made.”…
The governor’s office said the informal working group can meet privately because they are not making rules or laws. Smith, the former CEO of the Mayflower transportation company and former CFO of Anthem, said the meetings are important for the commission to get informed and organized, so that members can be better prepared for public input and action.
All the statistics and studies they’re looking at are already available in the public domain, he added, including information on the gap between teacher salaries in Indiana and neighboring states, and how low pay affects teacher recruitment and retention.
Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt said the commission is not subject to public meeting laws, even though it might appear to be a public agency because Holcomb announced the group during his State of the State address in January and named it the Next Level Teacher Compensation Commission.
“By name only it appears like they might be [subject to the public meeting laws], but in functionality, they’re not,” Britt said. “It’s like a think tank, really, more than anything. They don’t have any power or authority to do anything, so they can’t really be taking official action on public business.”…
https://chalkbeat.org/posts/in/2019/05/28/the-governor-appointed-a-commission-to-study-teacher-pay-so-far-theyve-met-behind-closed-doors/?utm_source=email_button
Three retired corporate executives, a top philanthropist and a nonprofit chief are in a bar, talking about teachers’ salaries.
First exec: Those lazy bums only work six hours a day and get the summers off. We should actually be cutting their salaries
Second exec: yeah, they are like welfare queens driving around in Caddys and wearing diamonds.
Third exec: yes, who the hell do these goddamned, un American socialists …sorry for the redundancy …think they are, asking for a raise? They should be paying US for the privilege of teaching.
Philanthropist (Bill Gates): now, now boys [they are all men, of course], be nice. We have to be very sly about the way we approach this thing so it looks like we are actually raising salaries while we are actually cutting them. Maybe we can increase the copays on their health plan and cut out their retirement entirely without them noticing. Or maybe if we just fire half of them and double class sizes, we can raise the salaries of the remainder by a couple dollars a year and still save a boatload. After all, these are teachers we are talking about: the dumbest of the dumb.
Nonprofit chief (David Coleman) Frankly, all I care about is when MY next salary raise is coming. You guys promised I would be making a million and a half after the first year and my salary’s still just $900k.
SomeDAM Poet: GREAT reply. Definitely the truth.
“What a pile of _______.”
Answers:
A. Caca
B. Horse manure
C. Swine offal
D. Mierda
E. Excrement of Bovine Origin
F. Any and all of the above
Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, should be backing Bernie. The NEA backs people who are not the best supporters of public education. Biden’s first obligation is to his big donors.
……………………………………………………..
Joe Biden Tackles Education In First Major Policy Proposal Of 2020 Campaign
05/28/2019
By comparison, Biden’s education proposal is less ambitious in scope. The central pillar, in fact, is nearly identical to one component of Sanders’ previously released plan: Like Sanders, Biden has proposed a threefold increase in federal funding for the Title I program. With the additional funding, Biden said he would raise teachers’ pay at Title I public schools by an unspecified amount and institute universal pre-kindergarten. (Title I schools have a large percentage of students from low-income families.)
The Biden campaign said it hopes that increase in Title I spending would help reduce the funding gap between overwhelmingly white and predominantly non-white school districts, which has reached an estimated $23 billion.
“Systemic racism is persistent across our institutions today ― including in our schools ― and must be addressed,” the campaign said in a press release. “President Biden will make sure that no child’s education opportunity is determined by their zip code, parents’ income, race, or disability.”
The campaign put forward a number of other education ideas on Tuesday as well, including reinstating the Obama administration’s Department of Education guidance to legally pursue desegregation and providing grants to school districts for the purpose of diversifying schools.
Additionally, the campaign said Biden hopes to create a program where teachers can make extra money by coaching and mentoring other teachers, increase federal funding for special education, double the number of guidance counselors and health professionals at schools, improve public school buildings through infrastructure legislation, and make it easier for educators to pay off their student loans (when asked, the campaign did not immediately offer specifics as to how).
Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, applauded Biden’s plan in a statement on Tuesday, saying it would “go a long way towards eliminating the persistent achievement gaps and providing opportunity for all students no matter their ZIP code.”
Lily Eskelsen García, the president of the National Education Association, applauded Biden’s plan in a statement on Tuesday, saying it would “go a long way towards eliminating the persistent achievement gaps and providing opportunity for all students no matter their ZIP code.”…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-education-proposal-title-1_n_5ced8dcce4b0793c23468d7f
Hey Diane,
FYI, it looks like the FEE story going after Sanders that you link to is headlined simply “Bernie Sanders,” with a long subhead: “All parents should have the freedom to choose the best educational option for their children, and all children should have the best opportunity to reach their full potential.”
I’m assuming the headline was previously, as you wrote, “There’s Nothing Progressive about Bernie’s War on Charter Schools…” If FEE made this change, it’d be interesting if it happened after you called out the similarity to the Post headline.
– Pete
On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 11:14 PM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “The Washington Post Editorial Board is made about > charter schools. They were also over the moon for Michelle Rhee’s > authoritarian rule of the D.C. schools, which launched a short career as an > outspoken proponent of charters and vouchers. Rhee became close” >
Good catch, Pete.
When I looked, the headline was exactly what I posted. It is also in the link to the editorial at FEE.
I couldn’t find a date on this article, but I assume it came before our last election. Krugman supported Hillary and bashed Bernie.
…………………
Paul Krugman on the “Happy Dreams” of Bernie Sanders
…Implicit in Krugman’s argument is the bland acceptance of corporations and too-big-to-fail banks always running the show in Washington. The trick for progressives, he advises, is to let go of our “delusions,” lower the scope of our demands, and appease those in power who have rigged the system to serve their narrow class interests.
Bernie Sanders wants to break the stranglehold giant corporations and Wall Street banks have on our political system by directly challenging their control over our “democratic” institutions. Sanders and his supporters are saying “Enough!” to this brand of corporate dominated politics and his ideas are resonating far more than they could have in 2008 or even 2012…
Workers fought for decades for elementary rights in the workplace; women fought for decades just to win the right to vote; African Americans and other minorities have fought hard since the start of the republic, and the civil rights struggle pushes on with Black Lives Matter, climate change activism has won recent concrete victories – THAT’s “how change happens.”
https://www.laprogressive.com/paul-krugman-bernie-sanders/
The “we have to compromise ” types are everywhere.
I encountered them when I worked as an engineer. These are the folks that tell you “We can’t do it the best way, so we just have to settle for third best”. These people have no vision, no imagination and very low standards and if you listen to them, you always end up with crap for the outcome. The only way to deal with the type is to ignore them because they will always bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.
What you gave pointed out here is the problem with the Democratic party, in a nutshell.
They have no principles to speak of and will pretty much give up before they have even started.
If these people were tasked with building an airplane (God forbid) they would simply throw up their hands at the very beginning and say “There is no way this thing is ever going to get off the ground. We might as well just make it into a bus.”
But of course, they would still leave the wings on it so it would be the worst of both worlds, driving down the highway with wings sticking out into oncoming traffic.