Rachel M. Cohen has the scoop on the Elizabeth Warren K-12 education plan, just released.
Warren would quadruple federal funding for Title 1 schools.
She would eliminate the federal Charter Schools Program, which has been a colossal failure and which Betsy DeVos has turned into a slush fund for corporate charter chains.
Cohen writes:
ELIZABETH WARREN RELEASED a wide-ranging education plan Monday, pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into public schools if she wins the presidency, paid in part through her proposed two-cent tax on wealth over $50 million. Sen. Warren’s plan is infused with her broader campaign themes of reducing corruption and fraud; she backs measures like new taxes on education lobbying, limiting the profiteering of tech companies that sell digital products to schools, and curbing self-dealing within charter schools.
And it builds on some of her earlier campaign proposals, like pledging to appoint aformer public school teacher as Education Secretary, supporting schools in teaching Native American history and culture, and expanding early learning opportunities for infants and toddlers.
In May, fellow Democratic hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders’s own education plan sent shockwaves when he endorsed the NAACP’s call for banning for-profit charter schools and holding nonprofit charters to the same transparency and accountability standards as traditional public schools. In her new plan, Warren joins Sanders in embracing these positions.
Warren goes further than Sanders in calling not only for a for-profit charter school ban, but also extending the ban to any non-profit charter that “actually serve[s] for-profit interests.” Warren said she would even direct the IRS to investigate non-profit charters for potential tax status abuse and recommends referring “cases to the Tax Fraud Division of the Department of Justice when appropriate.”
This is great news for all of us awaiting the K-12 plan of the candidate who has a plan for every other issue. This is a strong plan.
Supporting privatization lite (charter schools) is no longer a bipartisan issue. Republicans support charter schools.
I am especially pleased to see that her plan proposes elimination of federal support for charters, which now stands at $440 million a year and is used to grow KIPP, IDEA, Success Academy, and other big chains as they replace democratically controlled public schools.
NPE’s Report “Asleep at the Wheel” demonstrates that 1/3 of federally funded charters either never open or close soon after opening. Carol Burris has updated that report and is in Washington, D.C. today reporting to members of Congress on the waste of at least $1 billion on failed charters.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
FANTASTIC NEWS!!!
Feel the Bern but don’t forget Warren. Two great contenders for the presidency.
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Warren is a distant second to Bernie: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/10/why-criticize-warren
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“We right now have one of the best Democratic Presidential primary fields in a generation, and much of that is thanks to the work that Bernie Sanders has done.”
If you agree with this statement, you would support Bernie Sanders and work hard for him, but if he doesn’t win the primary, you would be delighted to support whoever does win the primary so that Trump can be defeated.
You would support whichever candidate came out of one of the best Democratic Presidential primary fields in a generation. And you would focus your criticism on the truly corrupt and repellent Republican Party instead of whoever comes out of the best Democratic Presidential primary fields in a generation.
The first statement was made not by some corporate Democrat but by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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Wow! She seemed to be avoiding the issue, so it’s shocking — and gratifying — to see her taking such a strong position. Hooray!
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Great quip from Nina Turner at Bernie rally in Queens. Why choose similar when you can choose same. That is: As Warren positions tack to the left, you’ll find them edging to where Sanders has consistently stood. Someone else said–we don’t want reform, we want transform. Too bad phony media are working to keep the Bern from catching fire and only get interested in him when they can make age and health a concern.
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I agree with you, Fred Smith.
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Bernie just came out with his ed reform plan this spring, even though he has sat on education committees for decades.
Why can’t you just be glad that Elizabeth Warren is finally embracing this just like Bernie did a few months ago?
Either one of them would make a terrific President.
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Thank you, NYC Public School Parent. I just don’t like situational politicians who take sniff-the-wind positions. I regard Warren as Bernie lite or Bernie-come-lately. She supported Hillary in 2016, no? Bernie is the compass she looks at for direction. Perfect job description for her to be a member of his cabinet.
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Bernie supported Hillary in 2016 after she won the nomination.
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“I just don’t like situational politicians who take sniff-the-wind positions.”
Who gets to decide what is “sniff the wind”? I don’t like that Bernie was supporting “public charters” in 2016 and fighting hard for a DFER Democrat who promised to turn Virginia into a pro-charter state instead of a pro-public education state in 2017. Are you really going to make a nasty character attack on Bernie that he “sniffed the wind” and finally changed his mind but we shouldn’t trust him? Or is that just something you reserve to attack other Democrats?
I love Bernie, but his supporters love to idealize him and use right wing character attacks against all the other Democrats. It is what got us Trump.
Bernie is a human being and a politician with the same flaws as other politicians. He has always stood up for many things that I like, but that doesn’t mean that every position he takes has been perfect. He should have opposed charters a long time ago, like when Diane Ravitch first noted that they were not living up to their promises. The fact that he very recently changed his mind is something to ADMIRE!
But I am tired of this double standard where only Bernie can change his mind and not be called “sniffing the wind” or “untrustworthy” but other candidates get smeared in pro-Bernie article after article. The Intercept article linked here this is nothing but an ugly character attack on Elizabeth Warren is a good example. If someone did the same to Bernie, you would be up in arms.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – who praised the other Democrats running instead of bashing them – doesn’t stoop to dishonest character attacks because she understands that doing so is about helping Trump and the right wing Republicans win.
If Bernie supporters took a page from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez instead of a page from the far right, this country would be far better off and also far more progressive.
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You make good points. Everyone is entitled to change. See Diane Ravitch. You, as I do, extol AOC. I trust her and the page in her book endorsing Bernie–her mentor.
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Donating to Bernie today.
Thanks to Diane for her unrelenting effort to get candidates to stake a claim for public education, America’s most important common good.
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Fred Smith,
“You, as I do, extol AOC. I trust her and the page in her book endorsing Bernie–her mentor.”
Yes, AOC proudly endorsed Bernie! I’m glad you trust her on that. She made an excellent endorsement.
But do you also trust AOC when she says that “We right now have one of the best Democratic Presidential primary fields in a generation..”
AOC is not lying when she says that. She doesn’t have some ulterior motive to fool Bernie supporters. She is telling the truth.
Bernie may very well win the nomination and it’s fantastic that you support him. But if one of the other candidates from the “best Democratic Presidential primary fields in a generation” wins, will you decide AOC is not to be trusted anymore?
I just feel as if sometimes people who say they “trust” a candidate like Bernie are absolutely sure that Bernie is lying when he campaigned for HRC over Trump. And they say they “trust” AOC but then decide she is lying if a different candidate wins and she campaigns for them over Trump.
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I trust the Bern in AOC’s heart and am guided by her judgment.
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I have every intention of continuing to support and voting for the original, the one and only Bernard Sanders in the California primary. This is such welcome news, though, because Elizabeth Warren’s new education policy statement puts her in a position very likely to result in much better support for public education in a probable general election and probable presidency than before. I will be far less nervous about supporting her in the general election now (not that California is in play in the general election). Her silence on charters was frightening. A great many teachers, nurses, and labor union members in swing states will be more comfortable with her now. The current, surging front-runner is now moving in the right direction, and it’s not politically expedient to change course. What a glorious day this turned out to be!
And by the way, it’s wonderful that AOC is going to travel the country with Bernie on the campaign trail. She will learn a great deal from him about dealing with the pressures of going against the powerful, moneyed establishment. As she said Saturday, “Walking the halls of Congress is no joke…” Independent Bernard Sanders has been walking those halls for record-breaking decades. What a glorious last few days these have been!
The future is brighter tonight.
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Fred Smith, I don’t see Warren as a “sniff the wind” pol at all. Just look at her history w/neolib finance/ banking: she has been bucking the pop-political trend for ages. As a candidate she was long all general ‘rich-poor inequity/ pro-labor’, but eventually came out w/her 2% plan based on consulting w/Piketty folks. I see the same paradigm at work here. Her 20-y.o. position on charters didn’t square w/ today’s stats nor her positions against privatization, pro-union: after a pause [during which she no doubt consulted & researched– what’s not to like?], she comes up w/a specific plan which, whether you like it or not, does Bernie one better.
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NYC public school parent
Bernie supporters did not get us Trump. Neither did the fictional working class Obama to Trump voter, who seems to only exist in the media. Obama giving Black voters no reason to show up in 16 in the numbers they did in 08 and 12 gave us Trump. From Flint to Staten Island the failure to deliver gave us Trump.
This election was lost in the cities of the Mid West.
.” In two critical states that swung to Trump—Michigan and Wisconsin—black turnout dropped by just more than 12 points. Declines were less dramatic but significant in other swing states Trump carried: Ohio (down 7.5 points), Florida (4.2), and Pennsylvania (2.1). White turnout declined modestly in each of those swing states but Florida and Pennsylvania, where it increased by 3.5 points and 5.2 points respectively. Clinton lost each of those swing states but Ohio by a margin of less than 2 points. ” Slate.
Trump may have solved that problem for us.
Black Voter turnout in 18 was 10% higher than in 14. Hispanic and Asian 13% higher than 14.
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Joel,
I agree with you but it is all tied together. Why do you think so many of those voters didn’t show up in the midwest?** They were hearing the propaganda that there was absolutely no difference between Trump and the corrupt and evil Democrats – which would have simply remained laughable right wing propaganda except it got picked up by the mainstream media the same way attacks on Al Gore’s truthfulness, John Kerry’s lies, Mike Dukakis’ whatever got picked up to destroy Democratic candidates who were previously very popular. And the only way that the media could make it into a story was to start with “Even the Democrats know that Gore is an exaggerator” or “Even Democrats worry about Kerry’s dishonesty or Dukakis’ awful personality..”
That propaganda was not repeated in 2008 with Obama, maybe because the media was afraid of being called racist. Nor was it repeated in 1992 and that was because there was a huge reckoning by the media after they destroyed Mike Dukakis and were taken for a ride by Lee Atwater and Roger Ailes. Bill was a beneficiary of the media’s determination not to fall for that a second time in a row and therefore the attacks on him weren’t magnified when they easily could have been.
But by 2000, the media was playing along with right wing propaganda again, as it did in 2004 and 2016.
I am not “blaming” Bernie voters, but I am pointing out that the only way that the media is able to smear a Democrat is when the disaffected Democrats whose candidate didn’t win help smear them, so every article can start “Even the Democrats know how corrupt…”
If even one of the 2020 candidates had jumped on the “Biden is really corrupt” train, the media would have taken off and instead of impeachment, the only thing we’d be talking about is whether Biden would go to jail this month or next. Fortunately, the candidates held together. I want this primary to be about choosing the candidate who is best on the issues, not whose campaign is best at throwing false charges at the others.
**Those voters were also being systematically purged from voting rolls by a concerted Republican effort to make it very hard for them to vote while making it very easy for their white Republican supporters to vote.
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^^And if Elizabeth Warren wins the nomination and gets mischaracterized by the media as a “sniff the wind” candidate who can’t be trusted on anything, she will lose.
The only way that Warren will be mischaracterized as a “sniff the wind” candidate who can’t be trusted on anything is if the media can interview lots of disaffected Bernie voters who can’t stop telling the public how much Warren shouldn’t be trusted.
“Sniff the wind”?? That’s a right wing talking point and hearing it repeated by the left is the beginning of the Democrats losing.
And I would say the same thing if Bernie is the candidate and the disaffected Biden voters start repeating the right wing character attacks on Bernie that we all know are coming if he wins the nomination.
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NYC public school parent . I believe the data shows that more Clinton primary voters did not Vote for Obama, than Bernie supporters who did not vote for Clinton (538)
As for adopting right wing talking points; the Democrats have never been able to use language period. I assure you had the roles been reversed, Clinton would have long before been impeached and removed.
Where is Allen Greyson when you need him.
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Joel,
I wonder if you agree with me that the fact that the 2020 primary candidates didn’t jump on the bandwagon to “get” Biden with right wing talking points is the only reason we are even talking about impeachment.
There were plenty of typical NY Times stories that played up the “Biden is corrupt” angle when this story first broke. So many stories that were clearly based on self-serving “leaks” from their sources in the White House — with the entire slant of the story being “inexperienced Trump just wanted to make sure there was no corruption and maybe he made a mistake but look how corrupt Biden was and isn’t that the important thing?”
After all, that angle worked perfectly in 2016 when what mattered was not the crime but instead the crime didn’t matter because look at how those e-mails prove the DNC and HRC are completely corrupt (they did not, but it didn’t matter).
But this time, the media and the far right propagandists did not get help from the other candidates and their supporters. Not one of the Democratic primary candidates jumped on that bandwagon and instead they acted in concert to make it clear that the propaganda was absolutely false and Trump was looking to use foreign aid to get a foreign country to manufacture dirt on his opponent. That really changed things because the Democratic candidates chose the path of honesty rather than what would have helped them undermine Biden even if it wasn’t true.
I want Biden to be criticized for his positions on the issues. Biden should have to defend his positions. But he should not have to defend himself from right wing smears designed to imply he is corrupt. That’s what HRC had to do throughout 2016. I hope the reaction to this attempted smear will be a sign that the same mistakes made in 2016 — and 1988, 2000, and 2004 — don’t happen again. The candidates can’t get smeared with right wing talking points without people from their own party helping. And in this case, they did not.
I watched a popular Dukakis at the convention then get destroyed and then blamed for his own destruction. I watched the same thing happen to Al Gore and John Kerry and HRC — and always they got blamed. But the right certainly tried that with Obama with their “cling to their guns and religion” and Jeremiah Wright smears. But no one played along, just like they shut down this Biden smear when the Dems stood together to resist it instead of conceding it was true. Standing together on principle instead of looking for some short term political gain made the Democrats much stronger.
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NYC public school parent
There may not have been any illegality but it is certainly inappropriate. They are paying for access whether they get it or not. Fortunately the opponent is Trump so it is like a felony vs jay walking.
Trump handed this on a silver platter or Nancy would be sitting on her hands still.
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Joel,
Just think how lucky we are that at least we don’t have the corrupt Andrew Cuomo as Speaker of the House. Cuomo takes his marching orders from right wing hedge funders who hate public schools. Compared to Cuomo’s “I’ll do what the big funders tell me”, Nancy Pelosi looks like the 2nd coming of AOC.
So it could be much worse.
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If the House succeeds in passing Articles of Impeachment, it will be because of Pelosi’s masterful leadership. AOC and the young guns are important for their passionate belief in progressive causes, but none of them could have led the House to where it stands now on impeachment. I shared the frustration of many with so many obviously impeachable offenses seemingly staring us in the face, but watching the progress of events, I have to be really glad that Pelosi has had the reins.
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I agree as well.
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It is an ambitious plan and I commend Warren for coming around like Bernie did on these issues. They both have strong plans. I share the same view as Nancy who recently said in a previous post I came across:
“I think the bottom line is that probing this question for a straight answer, once the Democratic field is narrowed to a half-dozen candidates, is essential. I’m not certain more federal intervention in alternate governance / alternate funding schemes for local schools is a good thing.
We won’t get rid of charters in one policy-based fell swoop. We’ll get rid of them, permanently, when people have better choices. As Buckminster Fuller said: ‘You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.’ What I want is a candidate who wants to build new models of fully public education, models that show charters for what they are–ripe for corruption and profiteering.”
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As long as those “new models” of schooling are not more “throw the baby out with the bath water” models. Public schools are not the disaster the scorched earth reformers claim. Public schools have changed over the decades and will continue to change as we develop new tricks or tweak the old. Disaster capitalism only serves those trying to make a profit off what should be a public service. You know that most of the “elite” that got behind the reform agenda would disappear if they didn’t see a direct benefit to themselves. They weren’t around when schools were recognized as a vital public institution. They won’t stay around if we refuse to treat them as consumer goods.
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Hear, hear, speduktr!
greg howard, re: “We won’t get rid of charters in one policy-based fell swoop. We’ll get rid of them, permanently, when people have better choices”: public schooling is PUBLIC. “Better choices” implies dividing the finite public revenue stream into some revenue for these folks, some for those—no way to divvy the single resource pool into varying streams w/o harming some at the expense of others. You want “better choices”? Work for it as a citizen promoting good ed for all kids.
As to ‘we won’t get rid of charters in one policy-based fell swoop’: I challenge. We got where we are because natl DofEd winked while states went their own way, divvying up finite resources among various groups in support of various agendas [privatization, segregation, publicly-supported religious schools], & eventually supported these efforts w/fed funds for charter expansion—current admin proposes to go so far as supporting publicly-funded private schools. The data is in on this 20+-yr experiment, & it points plainly to civil rights transgressions—the very thing Dept of Ed was elevated to Cabinet position to avoid. And arguably to breach of separation of church & state. The time is past due for a ‘policy-based fell-swoop’ putting single-stream tax revenues behind single-tier schooling.
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I applaud this, her plan. It is exactly what needs to happen and happen now. We cannot afford to drain the public school system anymore than we already have. Here in Oklahoma Epic Charter has stolen millions from public schools. Their vendor list is ridiculous, from flight school lessons, maternity photo shoots, and several churches. The web of politicians and lobbyists interwoven in Epic runs far and wide from Jeb Bush to SDE attorneys.
My only concern with Warren’s plan is cutting off voter support. She won’t cut mine off, because I know. I know what goes on with charter schools and the vochers push. However several devoted Democrats, liberals, anti trump supporters have students in charter schools, are supporters of charter schools. While I would hope they would want oversight, investigations, everything to be on the up and up; and I’m almost certain that they do want that. I can see how her plan could cut off lots of voter support. Not support if it were just she and Trump but in the primaries when we are picking which one to put up against Trump (if he’s still in office).
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What churches?
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A “flash sale” is coming to the Oklahoma Epic Center’s site where “swag” is sold. The school has a shop tab at its site. Seriously, LOL.
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I say it’s about time Dems grew a pair & nominate a candidate who supports what is right for the middle/working classes. Long past time. Charter schools represent anti-union, cheap privatized alternatives to public schools, just like every other piece of the anti-public-goods corporate-dominated policy that got us where we are: our kids– & many, many adults– have to work 2-3 PT jobs w/o benefits just for roof & food. The voters you’re worried about being wedded to charters are inner-city minority poor: do you think they’ll jump the shark & vote for Trump despite decades of experience that they do better under Dem admins?
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I’m not seeing any testing improvement? Or am I missing something?
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Good question.
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I thought she came out against high stakes testing? I’m just quoting from a Huffington Post article I read:
“She pledges to ban test scores as a significant determinant in personnel terminations, school closures and other “high-stakes decisions,” noting that “the push toward high-stakes standardized testing has hurt both students and teachers.”
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I think you put your finger on something profound, Tu…
Even teachers have been dragged into this idea of instant evaluation (we give ‘tests’, right?). However, the proof of the pudding only happens many years down the road, when we see how our students help create a better society.
By then, of course, most ‘teachers’ will be too old to correct their course, and so we rely on more short-term feedback. ‘How did my student do in his college courses in my subject area?’ or ‘Did I inspire anyone to continue further study in my subject when not required to do so?”
So, we give tests… partly because we must give a ‘grade’, and tests are the best chance we have at an ‘unbiased’ assessment in the short run. But, they are a poor measure of what really matters.
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“So, we give tests… partly because we must give a ‘grade’, and tests are the best chance we have at an ‘unbiased’ assessment in the short run. But, they are a poor measure of what really matters.” But a whole hell of a lot more astute measures—tests devised by teachers based om what they’ve been teaching—than the annual stdzd testing to which I assume tutucker refers.
I think we can take hope from “she backs measures like new taxes on education lobbying, limiting the profiteering of tech companies that sell digital products to schools.” And I’m sure I’ve seen multiple clips of Warren speaking out against ‘overtesting’ in town hall gatherings—as confirmed by NYSPSP’s cite. Warren is against the corporate takeover of the pulic domain.
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High stakes tests are hard wired into ESSA. All other tests are the result of state policies, not federal policies. This means that the “down tickets” into Congressional seats and elections of state legislators are no less import than leadership from the next President and federal officials in DOE.
Moreover, many state policies on testing are the result of charter lobbying because the miserable scores are used as reasons to increase “choice.” Charters work hard to be test-centric. They market test performance to recruit enrollments. The failing school narrative depends on keeping test scores as if a gold standard for everything worthwhile in education.
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Detailed plan and a brave one. I would like to see her champion these texts on her campaign trial and during live debates.
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Warren’s plan for education is worth the wait. Warren is a deep thinker, and she understands funding and consequences of such funding. She understands there is little difference between for-profit and non-profit private charters. She wants to encourage greater equity, clamp down on charters, vouchers and tax credits and provide funding for aging facilities. She also plans to regulate charters and investigate financial irregularities in charter financing. Like the Marshall Plan Warren seeks greater investment in public education. Her plan says nothing about high stakes standardized testing that narrows curricula and wastes instructional time. I’m still feeling the Bern because I trust that he is more likely to keep his word.
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Warren NEEDS to reveal her views on the Common Gore and high stakes testing, and online everything.
I too am still FEELING the BERN, because like you, retired teacher (to use your words), “I trust that he is more likely to keep his word.”
We don’t need another DEFORMER for potus. This country can’t take much more of that &*^%.
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Bingo, Yvonne! Warren makes no mention of these particulars.
Equally interesting, or terrifying, is Cohen’s description:
“she backs measures like new taxes on education lobbying, limiting the profiteering of tech companies that sell digital products to schools, and curbing self-dealing within charter schools”
Why permit lobbying in the k-12 sector at all?
Which lobbying? Just those representing for profits or also those standing behind layers of veiled do-goodies for the techie biz members? These 501(3)6 memberships that support the online consortiums used to water down privacy laws and turn over student data?
What about limiting profiteering by tech companies offering FREE product in return for student/teacher/family data? These are either hoping to be bought out for millions or will acquire other companies to build on these same student profiles.
What about curbing the self-dealing within ALL schools so student data does not wind up with its own market on the exchange?
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Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Bernie did not mention these issues either.
Thus far, Sanders and Warren are the only candidates to come out strongly against privatization by charters
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I just get the feeling that Warren is now trying to co-opt the teacher vote (perhaps Randi W. put in a call to her). I’m still uncomfortable with the cavalier attitude Warren’s campaign showed to Diane when she was trying to find out what Warren’s position is on K-12. I’m uncomfortable with TFA scab Josh Delaney holding so much sway with Warren.
I also can’t help but think Warren co-opted off of Bernie, and is somewhat stung by AOC’s endorsement of Bernie. How convenient that Warren waited until there was too much talk about her lack of a K-12 policy. It almost feels forced.
Let’s not forget that while Warren talked the progressive talk in 2016, she was working behind the scenes with Hillary; a revelation that did not come out until recently.
I am still standing with the most authentic and consistent candidate of all, Bernie Sanders.
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Excellent. I agree full heatedly. In my state Bernie has been very visible and joined picket lines for a variety of causes. There was a recent article in the intercept titled:
“BERNIE SANDERS STOOD UP TO TEACH FOR AMERICA WHEN CONGRESS WOULDN’T
This was during the Obama years and he really stood up for teachers. I think he is less likely to conform to Washington norms, as Obama sadly did when he took office. Another example is medicare4all, Warren campaign is under the process of making changes and I think she has struggled in this area. Bernie has a message, a clear one and we can trust that he will fight. Both are candidates and I would campaign and support Warren in a general election.
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Did you actually read the article?
In it, Bernie repeated over and over again how much he supported programs like TFA. The “standing up” involved a discussion about whether the TFA teachers could be called “highly qualified” or not.
In fact, the people on Bernie’s staff were former TFA people. In fact, in the article they felt that their opponents mischaracterized them as not supporting TFA or other alternative ways of certification!
I love Bernie, and I sure hope that this article is NOT his idea of “standing up” to the forces of privatization. I hope this article does not represents how Bernie will “stand up” to TFA. If a mainstream Democrat had ‘stood up’ like that, the progressives would still be bashing them as pro-TFA. “Look at how many times Bernie and his staff kept saying what big supporters of TFA they were.”
I am glad that RECENTLY Bernie started looking at what is wrong with charters and taking the right view. And the right view is about a lot more than “standing up” for a definition while embracing the idea that Teach For America is still a great program.
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NYC PSP,
I think you understate the importance of Bernie’s role in fighting the designation of TFA recruits as “highly qualified” in 2011. He correctly asked how someone fresh out of college, uncertified, could be considered “highly qualified.” TFA desperately needed that exemption so their I experienced recruits could staff schools receiving federal funds. He was right to raise the question, and he lost because of Senator Michael Bennett and Arne Suncan, who defended TFA. No one else cared.
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Bernie understands the issues much better than he did in 2016. Perhaps the discussions a member of his staff had with Diane helped to clarify some his former misunderstandings. I trust that Bernie has a clear picture of democratic governance of public education, and he will work to support that understanding. I trust he is less likely to flip flop than Warren who was once a Republican. She also voted to go into Iraq. Bernie does not fold to group pressure. I trust Bernie’s instinct and judgement, but this is simply an opinion.
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“She also voted to go into Iraq. ”
Elizabeth Warren took office in 2013.
If we start throwing out accusations instead of facts, we are no better than Trump. If we can’t have real discussions where each candidates pros and cons are weighed, but instead must resort to character attacks and innuendo, then Trump has already won.
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Diane,
I didn’t intend to minimize what Bernie did — but the article from the Intercept made it clear that Bernie still was a strong supporter of TFA.
” in October 2011, he introduced two amendments, known collectively as the Assuring Successful Students through Effective Teaching Act, to address the problem. The measures would clarify that a “highly qualified” teacher would be someone who has completed their traditional or alternative teacher preparation program, and if they had not yet completed it, then parents had to be notified, and the teachers would need to be given additional supervision, guidance, and support.
In a Senate HELP committee hearing, Sanders emphasized that his amendments would not conflict with the goal of attracting new, bright teachers to the classroom, and said he is “a strong supporter of programs like Teach for America and other efforts to attract young people into education.”
Bernie is so unafraid of criticizing the powerful. If I read this, I would think that Bernie thinks TFA is a great idea and he just wanted parents who had TFA teachers to know that their child’s teacher had not yet completed their teaching requirements. But isn’t the real problem TFA itself? Don’t we need progressives who are standing up to that organization?
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I agree. In the general election I plan to vote for any candidate the Democrats present. We have to unite and set aside politics and get #45 out of office. Every vote counts!
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Thanks Diane. I appreciate these posts. You are re-framing the debate.
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“Supporting privatization lite (charter schools) is no longer a bipartisan issue. Republicans support charter schools.”
Congrats to all the people who have said “no” to the attack on public education in the last ten years. This is democracy in action: pressure, relentless pressure. Ordinary people have forced the Democratic Party to change course. That’s a real accomplishment.
Even though the fight is far from over, we can take a moment to recognize that the hard work of people who resist can have an important effect on political reality.
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The Resistance is winning! Arne Duncan just went to Denver to endorse school board candidates who support charters and testing. He will be the last man standing in favor of NCLB and DeVos
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The source of Arne’s paychecks?
Answer- Billionaire widow of Steve Jobs (Betsy’s look alike).
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“reducing corruption and fraud” – exactly how?
“she backs measures like new taxes on education lobbying” – who is to be taxed and how much?
“limiting the profiteering of tech companies that sell digital products to schools” – how and to what number?
“curbing self-dealing within charter schools” – how?
The only specific item she mentioned is two-cent tax on wealth over $50 million, and even this is not clear to me: 2 cents from each dollar, or what? So, it is 2% tax from wealth over $50 million? That would be clearer.
“Warren would quadruple federal funding for Title 1 schools.” – why not nationalize all public schools and fund ALL of them from federal budget?
Her plan is just as vague as Bernie’s, and mostly about money, not about curricula or building codes or furniture or schedule etc.
You can see a very clear difference between these candidates and business leaders like Zuck or Gates: when they give money they push their vision, however flawed it may be. These candidates only want to provide more money, but they have no vision whatsoever about actual education.
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BA, we have the same questions, with ours targeted at Warren AND the billionaires filled with self entitled, self enriching flawed and false visions.
Zuck & Gates? They “invest” in ROI. If Steyer wasn’t able to bankroll his own campaign these boys would be doing that along with Lauren Jobs and her fake equity schools.
21c schools are exclusively entertaining to the paid for Ed Tech curricula that’s data mining rich and supports the billionaires and their wanna be’s diversified portfolios in FIRE (finance, Insurance, Real Estate) and food, medicine, transportation, AI, you name it.
21c curricula? What’s that other than theory? And the funding to build? Bunding to incorporate uncomfortable/unsustainable/non-ergonomic seating and rolling desks and tables to create multipurpose (and multi-user) maker spaces for show without evidence of improved student outcomes or greater access to local jobs could turn out to be great window dressing.
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I don’t want Bernie or Elizabeth debating “curricula, building codes, furniture or schedules…” (Vermont would go on the warpath!) Last time I looked we still manage to handle some of those issues locally. We have to think carefully about what role the federal government should play.
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Wonderful news.
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Great News!
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Taxing wealth is extremely difficult, so I do not think that the net increase in tax revenue will be close to the projected $2.75 trillion dollars even if the tax is found to be constitutional.
For example, Bill Gates purchased the Codex Leicester in 1994 for $31 million. How should we determine the Codex’s value today? We will have to make millions of decisions valuing everything the relatively wealthy own so we can tax all their personal property that has a value above $50,000. The administrative costs will eat endlessly into the tax revenue.
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Your concern for billionaires is touching.
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This tax does not only apply to billionaires. The government will have to track the personal possession of about 83,000 households who have net assets of over $50,000,000. Each year, a new value will have to be calculated for the 1965 Pontiac GTO in the garage, the Cy Twombly painting in the dining room, grandmother’s engagement ring sitting in the drawer, and hundreds of other things that were worth $50,000 on last years assessment and hundreds of other things that might have crossed the $50,000 line over the course of the year.
I can certainly understand why lawyers and appraisers would love this tax.
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Your concern for billionaires is touching
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A wealth tax would definitely be a massive moneymaker for the tax and tax litigation departments at “biglaw” firms.
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“The government will have to track the personal possession of about 83,000 households who have net assets of over $50,000,000. Each year, a new value will have to be calculated…”
No problem! School district’s use Student Information Systems (SIS) – most owned by private firms that may also be illegally cashing in on the student/family personally identifiable information (pii). Rocket Science is not necessary, just forensic science to build an SIS for these 83 thousand. And if it becomes too complex, toss in progressive lens algorithms with predictive analytics modeling written by the conflict of interest free 99%.
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Forbes magazine tracks down the net wealth of high-value individuals. So does the IRS. Shouldn’t be that hard.
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I think you raise legitimate concerns. The wealthy have also had at their disposal the means to protect their means. Thus the problem of allowing a society to become so top heavy economically. This is why forcing a living wage and rewarding employment are worth more to what we do. We cannot preserve the status quo much longer without an economic catastrophe. Something must be done. If you have a better idea than simple faith in the market, please share this wisdom.
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Bernie is back! Feel the Bern. [I wish Bernie and Warren would get together. They would make a winning team.] Look at the great people who support Bernie!!
…………………………………………
Bernie’s Back: AOC Backs Sanders as 26,000 Rally in NYC at Largest Presidential Rally of 2019
OCTOBER 21, 2019
Vermont independent senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held the largest campaign rally of the primary season so far on Saturday. An estimated 26,000 supporters packed into Queensbridge Park in New York City. The event was held in the shadow of the nation’s largest public housing development. It was Sanders’s first campaign rally since he suffered a heart attack earlier this month. Sanders was joined on stage by three prominent supporters: Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico; filmmaker Michael Moore; and Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who volunteered on Sanders’s 2016 campaign before being elected to the House of Representatives in 2018. Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Sanders at the rally.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/10/21/bernie_sanders_rally_new_york_city
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Bernie could have 260 million people at his rally as ND the mainstream media (Fox, MSNBC,NPR, NY times, Washington Post, CNN, etc) would either ignore it entirely or say something like “over 26 people attended a rally for Bernie Sanders today, who nearly died last week from a massive heart attack, stroke and brain tumor”
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From the NY Times:
“Proclaiming ‘I Am Back,’ Bernie Sanders Accepts Ocasio-Cortez Endorsement”
“Senator Bernie Sanders wanted a show of force to convince voters he was back from his heart attack, and he produced one on Saturday: At his first rally since the episode just two and a half weeks ago, he reveled in one of the most coveted endorsements in the Democratic Party, from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Drawing loud cheers from a large, enthusiastic and diverse crowd that had packed into a park in Queens next to a public housing complex, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez offered resounding words of support, for both Mr. Sanders and his influence in shaping the Democratic primary.
…..
“Mr. Sanders said the crowd exceeded the 20,000 people the campaign had secured a permit for. Campaign officials, keen to affirm Mr. Sanders’s resilience and mindful of the big crowd Senator Elizabeth Warren attracted to her rally last month in Washington Square Park, said more than 25,000 people turned out.”
If Bernie were covered the way HRC was covered in 2016, the NYT would print a daily article about “her e-mails” and just this weekend would bury the story about how HRC was completely cleared of any wrongdoing with the e-mails.
I wish we could have a normal discussion without dishonest attacks or pretending that the media is any more nasty to Bernie than they were to Al Gore, John Kerry, HRC and Mike Dukakis. Yes, ALL candidates running as Democrats get trashed by the media whenever they have the opportunity and Bernie suffers from that, but so does Warren, Biden, Harris, etc.
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AWarren said she would even direct the IRS to investigate non-profit charters for potential tax status abuse and recommends referring “cases to the Tax Fraud Division of the Department of Justice
How about making this apply across the board.
How about investigating College Board for fraudulent violation of their noNProfit status?
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I’m sure some (not I, of course) would like to see David Coleman frog marched to the Federal pen for tax violations where no one would give a sh*t what he thinks or how he feels
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Any organization whose CEO gets a salary of $1 million should not be considered “nonprofit”
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Did Bernie’s Marshall plan for education say he would investigate the College Board?
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Not that I recall
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My point is that the problem extends far beyond charters.
But congratulations for imagining (as you are wont to do) that that was a dig at Warren.
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Yes!
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I don’t usually write comments while at school but I couldn’t wait until getting home. Best news ever! Hooray!
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Either Bernie or Elizabeth would be a worthy successor to Trump.
I HOPE!!!! that whoever gets the nomination that
they will get the necessary support and we not make the same the mistake this time around as happened in the last election that because we did not get our first choice we allowed Trump to devastate our country.
PLEASE, don’t make that same mistake again.
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Off-topic, but some people really need to read this: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/clinton-gabbard-russian-asset-jill-stein-901593/
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C’mon, we all know that the Orange Clown is directly controlled from the Kremlin, and if he does not want to end like Hafizullah Amin he better does what his masters tell him. The article is clearly a Kremlin propaganda piece, you can tell it by the red color used for the links.
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When David Duke and all sorts of alt right leaders endorse a candidate, I’m pretty sure that means that candidate is espousing views that are not progressive.
“Assets” can be unwitting.
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Putin clearly has his eye on Hawaii as a retirement spot.
The Russian Bear is Everywhere
Russians in the garbage can!
Russians in the flowers!
Russians in the ceiling fan!
Russians in the showers!
Russians in the Congress — yikes!!
Tulsi is a Bear!!!
Russians neath our Facebook likes!!!
Russians everywhere!!!!
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Not incidentally, it really goes without saying, but, as everyone who is anyone knows, Matt Taibbi is totally (and utterly ((and completely)) a Russian asset.
After all, he once called the standard bearer for American capitalism (Golden Sacks) the “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Can’t get much more Russian assetty (so?) than Taibbi.
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(sp?)
Nitwit Self-correct Programmer strikes again
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Yes, I know.
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Trump is the real victim here! Trump is being victimized by a corrupt Democratic party who wants to turn America over to corporate interests. The entire impeachment efforts are wrong and simply a way for the corrupt DNC to stage a coup and remove Trump.
The Mueller report totally exonerated Trump! Trump is a victim!
Tulsi Gabbard is right and Syrian leader Assad is a great man who deserves our respect! She’s also right that Obama should have been saying “radical Islamic terrorists” and that’s because he wants the terrorists to win and destroy what makes this country great.
Russians should be free to get complete access to all Facebook data and use it to target their misleading ads to help Republicans win. After all, that’s perfectly fine because America is evil and did that to another country so what’s the big deal if Russia uses Facebook data to target misleading ads?
However, if Bernie Sanders wins, then it is absolutely unfair for anyone to ever say anything mean about him and when Trump orders an investigation into why his wife was given a $200,000 payout I will object and demand that stop immediately. Brady Toensing and his mother Victoria are correct when they defend Trump and attack the clearly and obviously corrupt Democrats, but if they turn on Bernie, then they must be stopped.
It’s pretty easy to belittle and stereotype anyone who disagrees with you but it’s not very nice.
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This is a symptom that the tide is turning in favor of the public schools. We need to work to continue the movement toward funding public schools at pre-recession levels, holding charters and voucher-accepting schools accountable by limiting the salaries of their administration, and elimination the profit motive from education.
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I have been hoping for something like this from Warren. Now there are two Democratic candidates that I can support and zero Republican candidates.
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WOW … again and again when I read the comments on Diane’s blog I think, “Teachers are really, really smart.”
No wonder those DEFORMERS want to “write the script” for us. They want us to READ their “warped” scripts.
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A tremendous victory! Sounds like her people spoke to Diane! 😉 I hope this sends a strong message to other Dem candidates who are either waffling on charters or worse, defending the status quo.
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All of this Bernie support talk. I will not say who my favorite is at this moment. I vowed to not only Vote Blue No Matter Who, but to support all the chosen few until the primaries. I have made an exception to this with Tulsi after her debate performances and listening to her interview on NPR I just cannot with her.
I was a giant Bernie supporter last time. I will vote for him again this time. I will put all my effort and support behind whomever gets the nomination. My whole families are huge Bernie supporters, in fact my brother is the lead singer of a band and he played for a Bernie rally.
What I want to say, state, is last time I didn’t get the Bernie hatred from several Democrats, Clinton supporters, and independents. I do get it now. I do not hate it, so please do not think that. I do not know if he is somehow to blame, I would like to think he is not and is clueless what has been, and is being posted on behalf of him, in support of him on all social media platforms.
It wasn’t until a friend of mine that is on his campaign staff added me (i didn’t sign up, click like) to a Bernie Sanders(and others) group that I not only grasped the hatred some Democrats felt towards the Sanders camp, but then I started seeing it these posts everywhere. It’s like when you buy a car thinking I’m so cool no one has this one, in this color, then they’re everywhere, all you spot are canary yellow, Ford, Pintos. This is what happened to me with the Sanders stuff. The Facebook page is Leftism. It is filled with memes, trash talk on Hillary, the DNC, all other dems running for nomination, posts that say “Not Any Blue Will Do” and it equates the other dems to something awful. Trash talk on Pelosi and more, yet it’s suppose to be a Bernie Sanders supporters page.
My stance on not coming right out and saying who I am supporting, is also a stance against spreading any kind of negativity, negative news, memes, whatever, online, social media against any democrat. I didn’t want to give the GOP any more fuel than they already have, are going to create on their own. So the trash talking, fake photoshopped memes, and just other stuff on that page got to me. I then started seeing these posts on twitter on Instagram from Bernie supporters. What if Bernie for whatever doesn’t get the nomination? What if he falls ill? Now out there on social media, being shared 1000s & 1000s of times are these hateful against all other candidates posts that could cost an election.
I’ve asked his supporters to please stop this nonsense, but they won’t. They have stated stuff about the DNC, Hillary, how she stole the nomination etc….whether that is true or not, it isn’t helpful when our goal needs to be getting Trump and as many of his cronies out of office as possible. This isn’t helpful when our goal should be making sure we elect someone who will fix our healthcare system so people aren’t dying waiting on meds, going into bankruptcy, losing their homes over medical bills. This isn’t helpful when income inequality is at an all time high. And it’s certainly not helpful when teachers are leaving the profession in droves which also causes shortages of every other type of professional. What educated professional wants to live in a city with underfunded, understaffed, underpaid, overworked teachers?
So please if you see Bernie supporters blasting others ask them to stop for the good of us all.
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Sarah79,
I’m sure certain posters here will attack me if I say this, but I think most of those supposedly pro-Bernie memes are actually right wing /Russian propaganda. Those posters who are actually alt right or Russian trolls pretending to be Bernie supporters to give legitimacy to their dishonest attacks against Democrats.
Some of them may be legitimate Bernie supporters who are re-posting the Russian/far right propaganda. I’m not allowed to call them “unwitting assets”. But the far right knows that they can dupe a few low-intelligence Bernie supporters into posting some of the ugliest, most dishonest attacks to destroy all of the Democrats, including people like Russ Feingold, who lost to a right wing Republican who was supposedly “more honest” and “more authentic” according to the people who read all the bashing of the Democrats and either decided not to bother to vote for Russ, or knew that even the right wing Ron Johnson was better.
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Thank you, Sarah. I agree with you. I suspect some of the memes you see were designed by Russian trolls to sow discord and hatred. The #1 goal is to defeat Trump.
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I reached my free limit of articles for the month on the Chicago Tribune so this is all that i could get.
Chicago Teachers Union gets support from Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, will continue walkout because ‘we have not landed on just terms yet’
WEDNESDAY, OCT 23
The CTU — which received a visit from Elizabeth Warren to the picket lines Tuesday along with a call of support from Joe Biden — reported late Tuesday that there was “good conversation” at the bargaining table but not enough progress for members to end the strike. Also Tuesday, the CTU has asked for a show of solidarity on Thursday by having people wear red and post messages of support on social media — another indication that the walkout could continue at least into that day as well.
“Everyone in America should support you in this strike,” Elizabeth Warren tells crowd at elementary school in the South Austin neighborhood.
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