I am speechless. Wordless. How could anyone who cares about their reputation join the most shameless department in the most shameless administration in history? DeVos showed her colors when she harassed 16,000 students to pay debts for their time at the closed for-profit Corinthian Colleges when the debts would have been cancelled. She has repeatedly shown her views: her contempt for public schools and for civil rights enforcement.
Reported by Politico Morning Edition:
CAP’S COLLEEN CAMPBELL TO JOIN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT: Campbell, the director of postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress, will join the department later this month to oversee strategic communications for the NextGen project.
— NextGen’s goal is to overhaul how the federal government collects student loans.It involves creating and running a new platform on which tens of millions of borrowers will manage their loans, as well as awarding contracts that are collectively worth billions of dollars to financial services companies.
— During her time at CAP, Campbell wroteextensively about the department’s student loan servicing proposals and has been widely quoted about the issue in the press.
— Campbell said she decided to take a role in “a government and an administration under someone who I don’t always agree with” because she believes the Office of Federal Student Aid has “a vision that’s borrower- and student-focused” when it comes to the NextGen plan.
— Campbell’s hiring brings new progressive credibility to a project that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has described as one of the major ways she’s working to modernize and streamline how the department operates. Read more from Michael Stratford.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
we believe that Neera Tanden and CAP are Progressives, or even Democrats at our peril. Tanden is a corporatist–nothing more, nothing less. she’s in the game to protect her power–she cares not one whit for children, or voters.
That’s why I joined “The Justice Democrats”. I’m hoping that they can reform the party.
“According to Justice Democrats, their highest priority is to effectively eliminate the role of money and conflicts of interests in politics. As such, any candidate running with Justice Democrats must pledge to refuse any donations from billionaires or corporations.[21] Declining money from corporate PACs and supporting Medicare For All have both been described as litmus tests for the organization.[22] Justice Democrats support the idea of publicly funded elections, banning Super PACs as well as banning private donations to politicians and campaigns. In addition, they advocate for the reinstatement of provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and a ban on gerrymandering for partisan gain. Several members have voiced support for a constitutional amendment aimed at removing money from American politics.”
Let’s hope they are not a Trojan Horse.
Diane I am still reeling (along with that judge) at DeVos’ contempt for the law. These people must think they own the world. Is it some kind of poison that comes with being dollar-rich, or what? CBK
Not only contempt for the law (a Trump administration habit) but contempt for the people affected, who went broke paying off fraudulent loans.
Please note that that contempt is bipartisan, as evidenced by one of the leading Democratic organizations joining forces with DeVos. Yet another example of the fact that if you’re looking to the Democrats to save us, you’re looking in the wrong place.
If Democrats can’t save us, who can?
It all depends on what you want to be “saved” from. I want to be saved from the goon in the White House. Only Democrats can oust him.
Who else were you thinking of?
“If Democrats can’t save us, who can?”
Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee
That means Trump has to be Saruman and the Waltons are Sauron. Bill Gates is Smaug. Betsy DeVos is Gollum ( she even looks like Gollum). Charles Koch is Shelob.
Please note that – should Bernie Sanders be the nominee — so-called progressives who keep insisting that Trump is no worse than a Democrat (and was completely exonerated by the Mueller Report) will likely be using the kind of broad smears that dienne77 used in order to attack Bernie in an effort to get them to not vote or vote 3rd party.
This is Bernie’s campaign manager:
“Bernie Sanders is starting his 2020 presidential bid right: Fresh off his candidacy announcement, he’s already picked up an all-star progressive operative to head his campaign. The Daily Beast reports that Sanders has tapped Faiz Shakir to manage his second run at the White House.
An alum of Harvard and Georgetown Law, Shakir started off his political career with a seven-year stint as Vice President of the Center for American Progress, where he made a name for himself as editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress. Shakir saw CAP grow into a central liberal policy institution, and established himself as a top progressive mind at ThinkProgress before moving on to more direct political endeavors.
Shakir handled policy and communications work for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, and served as Senior Adviser and Director of Digital Media for Nancy Pelosi before cementing himself as the National Political Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Needless to say, his reputation precedes him as a top civil rights advocate and liberal mind in Washington. He’s renowned for his abilities as a grassroots organizer, known as a shrewd political operative who’s memorized the modern political advocacy playbook, and—cherry-on-top—was once called a “fucker” by centrist Clintonite and CAP coworker Neera Tanden.”
What??? SEVEN years at CAP? And then worked for Reid and Pelosi? How can Bernie “trust” him? And how can any of us “trust” Bernie now? At least, that is the propaganda we will hear from those who think Trump was exonerated by the Mueller Report.
I beg people not to believe the smears from people like dienne77 that all CAP people are evil and any politician that has anything to do with them must be defeated even if the means another 4 years of the (completely exonerated) Trump.
CAP has had many people pass through who end up more liberal or more conservative. To try to smear everyone who has any association of CAP of being untrustworthy for all time is a direct smear of Bernie Sanders’ campaign manager and Bernie himself. Let’s not have a repeat of 2016.
And this is not CAP “joining forces”. It is someone from CAP leaving just like another person from CAP left and eventually joined Bernie’s campaign. Does that make all of CAP left wing?
I am very critical of CAP. But using that to try to defeat all Democrats because you hate them more than Trump is truly appalling. And I worry that those people will be using it to smear Bernie if he wins the nomination. Their hatred of Democrats and non-stop attacks on Trump critics make me very worried that they will be using this CAP smear to try to defeat Bernie, too.
Turning valid criticism into a woman who left CAP to work for DeVos into a comment about “if you’re looking to the Democrats to save us, you’re looking in the wrong place.”
AOC is a DEMOCRAT. Anyone who smears her because of her evil association with the evil Democratic party has a right wing agenda. So it is not surprising they are the same people who insist that Trump was completely exonerated by the Mueller Report.
“In the conventional view of American politics, Joe Biden is a moderate while Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are on the left and Donald Trump is on the right. This conventional view is rubbish. Today’s great divide is not between left and right. It’s between democracy and oligarchy. There are no longer “moderates.” There’s no longer a “center.” The most powerful force in American politics today is anti-establishment fury at a rigged system.”-Robert Reich (What do you think?)
Arts Smart,
I am a big fan of Robert Reich. He would be appalled at the bashing of ALL Democrats. Reich made it absolutely clear that progressives needed to “work like h***” for HRC even though he supported Bernie in the primary. Reich understood that if HRC had won, Citizens United would likely already be repealed and the road to a more progressive future made easier. Reich understood that the people who insisted that Trump being empowered are the same people who now insist that the Mueller Report totally exonerated Trump. They are untruthful in their rabid defense of Trump, which makes the rest of us wonder what their agenda really is.
Reich understood how dangerous the people who claimed to be “progressive” and helped Trump win are. And they continue to be dangerous with their (completely dishonest) claims that Trump is being unfairly attacked and it’s really every single person ever associated with CAP or the Democrats who are evil and must be stopped. Those people serve the far right.
Although now that I have told you that, I expect to hear the usual suspects saying Reich himself is corrupt – unlike Trump who is unfairly targeted by evil people like Reich.
When it comes to the corruption of the very wealthy, we can learn from the Bible and history:
Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Lord Acton writes to Bishop Creighton that the same moral standards should be applied to all men, political and religious leaders included, especially since “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (1887)
https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/214
Lloyd Poison is poison, no matter who drinks it. CBK
The link is not directing to this commentary by Michael Stratford. It is more like an invitation to join Politico Pro. But the brief you provide leads me to conclude that the crossover from CAP to DeVos is not surprising. Claiming that CAP is “progressive” on educational policy is a hoot and viewing the USDE policies as if open to a reboot is a farce.
“NextGen’s goal is to overhaul how the federal government collects student loans.It involves creating and running a new platform on which tens of millions of borrowers will manage their loans, as well as awarding contracts that are collectively worth billions of dollars to financial services companies.”
The contractors will STILL determine how borrowers can manage their loans.
College loans are “neo-serfdom” for the working class and the poor.
TRUE, retired teacher.
This what the OLIGARCHS want … SERFDOM.
Individual Americans have far more personal debt on average than Russians do. The amount of difference stunned me.
Maybe Campbell is following Sun Tzu’s advice.
Yeah, she might have planted herself as a Trojan horse into the DeVos organization, or at least to have the ability to keep a close eye on the operations.
We woukdn’t mind Trump appointing a liberal supreme court judgem would we?
I read a piece yesterday that alleged Kellyanne Conway might be a Trojan Horse in the Trump Administration and that she is the anonymous “New York Times” Op-Ed Writer from the White House and is also the author of the book “A Warning”.
If true, this might explain why George Conway, a Republican hardcore Never Trumper, hasn’t divorced his wife yet.
Are you familiar with this group in California? Thanks very much! I wonder what theyâre really up to. In Fresno many social justice groups are too entangled with city and school district management to be able to represent any communities of color.
Emily Brandt
On Thu, Nov 7, 2019 at 10:00 AM Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “I am speechless. Wordless. How could anyone who > cares about their reputation join the most shameless department in the most > shameless administration in history? DeVos showed her colors when she > harassed 16,000 students to pay debts for their time at the c” >
CAP is a DC based organization. I don’t know if they have a CA outpost.
Former CAP staffer, Ann O’Leary (Chief of Staff to the Calf. governor) was allegedly involved in the governor’s selection of a charter school-heavy committee assigned to review privatized K-12.
CAP’s head of Puerto Rican operations (similar programs were criticized as the disaster capitalism that followed the hurricane) was formerly with the charter school organization, Aspira of Illinois.
CAP’s prior VP of education policy was formerly with TFA.
Bill Gates funds CAP. CAP’s board chair has a lobby shop (Bipartisan Policy Center) that hosts events for education policy development sponsored by men like Gates and Enron’s John Arnold.
“Campbell said she decided to take a role in “a government and an administration under someone who I don’t always agree with” because she believes the Office of Federal Student Aid has “a vision that’s borrower- and student-focused” when it comes to the NextGen plan.”
Baloney. Student loans are a racket and they’re shamelessly ripping off young people.
Really lucrative for the adults who run the racket though. They pack these poor kids with debt like mules and they’ll carry it their whole lives. It’s shameful.
At least give them a fighting chance. Put an adult in the room who is working on their behalf. They’re like lambs to slaughter.
They all work on behalf of the lenders. The borrowers deserve an advocate.
Here’s an explanation of the “NextGen” plan:
“The Obama and Trump administrations have engaged in efforts to reform the system, including one to launch a single website where all 35 million Direct Loan borrowers will manage their accounts, make payments, and apply for repayment programs. FSA will finally be able to govern, track, and compare servicers’ behavior under this new regime, called the Next Generation (NextGen) Financial Services Environment, in its current iteration. NextGen will create a single phone number, e-mail, and mailing address for communications, and borrowers will receive consistent communications no matter which servicer was assigned their account. It will also allow programs to be rolled out more quickly, instead of FSA having to communicate and manage implementation across multiple systems and servicers.”
It’s a more efficient way to extract loan and interest payments from borrowers.
It doesn’t change the student loan system- it’s a publicly-funded system intended to benefit lenders, not borrowers.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/news/2019/09/10/474254/long-path-new-student-loan-repayment-system/
Why does every fake-progressive initiative involve creating a website? These people seem to really believe that rolling out a website is somehow magical.
How, exactly, does this benefit student borrowers?
Our elites are mesmerized by “dashboards”. It’s ALL bells and whistles and it’s empty. They’re not doing anything real to assist student borrowers. They’re just making it easier for them to borrow.
I’ll tell you what would help young people- subsidizing tuition. Like every generation before this one got.
Right! NextGen has been a farce from the beginning. My District adopted their Science Standards two years ago. Their website claims, “The Science PRP was launched by Achieve in 2016 to address the issue of insufficient and inadequate publicly-available examples of science instructional materials designed for the NGSS.”
https://www.nextgenscience.org/peer-review-panel/science-peer-review-panel#Who%20serves%20on%20the%20Science%20PRP?
Who and what is “Achieve”?
“Achieve is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit education reform organization dedicated to working with states to raise academic standards and graduation requirements, improve assessments, and strengthen accountability.”
Insurance, Tech, Wealth Management, etc… Reformers
https://www.achieve.org/our-board-directors
The kids are using online stuff. It’s data collection heavy.
https://www.nextgeneducationus.org/innovative-curriculum
It’s STATE WIDE – Written into the Ed Code
https://www.cde.ca.gov/PD/ca/sc/ngssstandards.asp
These NEXTGEN lenders already have student information because the schools SIS systems are owned private equity conglomerates.
Tom Steyer and his brother Jim (Common Sense Media) continue to fool a lot of people. Are they the money behind all the NextGen stuff?
https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/nextgen-climate-action-committee/
There’s also NextGen Health, and so on…. http://investor.nextgen.com/news-releases/news-release-details/nextgen-healthcare-inc-reports-fiscal-2020-second-quarter
The best that “the richest country in the world” can do for young people who want to go to college is to give them a “dashboard” to manage their crippling debt.
So incredibly generous. They’ll still owe 100k in debt but they’ll get a super-cool app on their phone to track the interest payments! Yippee!
Is there another country that does this? Treats their young people like a cash cow to be milked until they drop?
America is past the point where citizens expect anything but hypocrisy from Republicans.
We’ve learned tech’s richest 0.1%, e.g. Gates and Zuck, support the Republican campaign to concentrate wealth.
Unrelated- a CAP employee finding a place in the Trump administration – why any surprise? Eric Schmidt (Google) has a think tank similar to CAP, called New America. The New America site links to a book with a chapter written by Ben Miller, current CAP employee and New America alum. The book also has a chapter by Colleen. Ben Miller wrote in Forbes a recommendation for college accreditation changes that was quite similar to Marco Rubio’s proposed legislation. And, New America posted a plan that state funding for public universities should be shared with private colleges (legacy admission).
Colleen attended a public university that citizens sacrificed to provide for students so that they could have access to an affordable, quality alternative to legacy admission schools.
For the record, CAP is a Democrat Party organization, not Republican.
DINO organization. Media who find Neera Tanden’s staff to get obligatory comment, “from the left”, are lazy to the point of unethical or, self-serving- my opinion
Considering it received an infusion of Koch cash early on, I think we can agree on that. It still represents the official positions of the Democrat Party.
Justice Democrats represent positions of the Democratic party.
If Warren or Sanders are elected, the hedge fund and Wall Street positions of DFER will be laughable…wait…they already are.
DFER has been asked by two state Democratic parties to stop using
the name of the party. DFER- sister organization of CAP.
The DNC considers the state parties nothing but branch offices, the byproduct of people with a corporate mindset. It fits with its contention it isn’t obligated to accept the will of the party delegates and can nominate whomever it pleases. Hillary Clinton let slip in an interview she’s “pretty certain” she knows who the nominee will be–before a single primary.
I think I know who will be selected- oh- I let a state secret “slip”.
You forgot to add the talking point from the right wing, most recently uttered by Abby Huntsman, “Hillary’s going to be the candidate”.
I’m sure she wants to be, but the Dems wouldn’t be spending time and money and media support grooming Warren and Pete for that to be an option. Although I’m endlessly amazed how clueless they are, so who knows.
The main takeaway, though, is that plans are clearly once again in place to disregard the will of the party members and anoint someone.
Bill Gates probably plans to vote for Trump, the person with the “professional approach”. Taking money out of the pockets of the poor and middle class like the regressive tax in the state of Washington, reflects “professionalism” to colonialists, Bill Gates and Charles Koch.
We all should hope for election of a progressive. Based on Fed. Reserve data, projections show in 33 years, all national wealth will be held by the richest. That will be hell for all.
CAP and the religious right-
U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops
“Since the passage of the 1st parental choice programs, bishops and state Catholic conferences have been among the most important advocates for parental choice”.
Why is it so hard for people to grasp that the Democrats are just Republicans who smile more? While they stab you in the back and say it’s for your own good?
The CAP opposes every single progressive policy currently being featured in the presidential campaign. In fact, one way you can tell whether an allegedly progressive candidate is actually progressive is to view their relationship with CAP. Which received a nice influx of money early on from the Koch brothers to curtail action on climate change
At best, the establishment Democrats are now Eisenhower Republicans, and based on recent behavior one has to question whether they haven’t moved further right of that. They and their collaborative media have kept everyone so focused on The Donald as some outlier that’s going to bring the house down too many aren’t accepting the simple fact that he’s precisely what the economic system that’s been given charge of government in the US and abroad wants.
Elizabeth,
That last sentence is a joke, right? People want higher taxes on the rich. But, you and I can agree that Russia wants Trump to weaken America in every way possible including dissension based on income inequality.
Are you still voting GOP with only 11 women representing you in the House vs.186 representing your menfolk?
I disagree with the entire Russiagate nonsense, having seen ample evidence that it was concocted by the Clinton campaign as a political weapon. So, no, we won’t ever agree on that.
Elizabeth K. Burton, if you were not influenced by a severe case of confirmation bias, you would know that there is no valid evidence that Clinton had anything to do with the investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election.
The investigation was conducted by life-long Republican Robert Mueller, a former director of the FBI appointed to that post by Republican President G. W. Bush.
That investigation and America’s major intelligence agencies all agreed that Russia meddled in the 2016 election had played a major role in Trump winning the Electoral College by focusing on three of the battleground states that Trump won by less than 80,000 votes.
The results of Mueller’s investigation: a total of thirty-four individuals and three companies were indicted by Mueller’s investigators. Eight have pleaded guilty to or been convicted of felonies, including five Trump associates and campaign officials. None of those five convictions “involved a conspiracy between the campaign and Russians” and “Mueller did not charge or suggest charges for […] whether the Trump campaign worked with the Russians to influence the election”.
The investigation was, however, more complex. On May 29, 2019, in a press conference, Mueller stated that “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime… A president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view – that too is prohibited.”
On potential obstruction of justice by President Trump, the investigation “does not conclude that the President committed a crime”, as investigators would not indict a sitting president per an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion, and would not accuse him of a crime when he cannot clear his name in court. However, the investigation “also does not exonerate” Trump, finding both public and private actions “by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations”. Ten episodes of potential obstruction by the president were described. The report states that Congress can decide whether Trump obstructed justice,[and has the authority to take action against him
It is clear to anyone with an open mind that Robert Mueller’s final report said there was not enough evidence that Trump had cooperated with the Russians in their meddling of the election to get him elected (but they could not say he was innocent). And Mueller did report there was evidence that Trump attempted to obstruct the investigation and obstruction of justice is illegal and by itself is grounds for impeaching Donald Trump.
However, the Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi decided not to impeach Trump on those alleged TEN charges of obstruction of justice. Then evidence surfaced that Trump broke the law when he asked the president of the Ukraine to investigate a political opponent, Donald Trump had gone too far and the Democrats could no longer ignore his continued alleged criminal activities any longer.
That is one remarkably bulky collection of misinformation, sir. Speaking of confirmation bias.
Sorry, ERB, it is obvious that you are WRONG!
The evidence I cited is what happened. It is part of the Congressional record. You can even find copies of Mueller’s report online that verify everything I wrote in my comment.
Once again, I am reminded that we can’t reason with someone that has decided to turn themselves into a faulty cement wall without any rebar to keep them from crumbling into dust.
In fact, it is also recorded that Obama was contacted by the FBI and warned about the Russian election interference months before the election and Obama made a horrible mistake when he called in Moscow Mitch and asked for his support in releasing that information before the election. Moscow Mitch said he would not allow that to happen, and Obama caved in.
A Democratic President had information months before the election that Russia was meddling in the election and Moscow Mitch McConnel refused to support the release of that info to warn the voters ahead of time.
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/21/587614043/fact-check-why-didnt-obama-stop-russia-s-election-interference-in-2016
Lloyd, apparently that Mueller is a republican is a misinformation.
I agree.
To an Always Trumper, because DT is the Chosen One and everyone that does not think like his followers are all liberals that hate guns and murder babies, that has to mean Mueller is a liberal and all the documented history that he served in the Marines, left the service a decorated war veteran with the rank of a major and entered public service as a registered Republican is all fake news.
Why? Because Mueller is a traitor to his country because of his Russian investigation report and what it said about the Chosen One.
Lloyd Whew! Thanks. I’ve seen the light. CBK
“everyone that does not think like his followers are all liberals”
No, down here, they are called socialists.
The current GOP tactic of calling every government program “socialist” does not include defense expenditures and corporate welfare. This rhetoric comes straight from the 1950s McCarthy era. I lived through that and can’t believe it has been resurrected. In Alabama, the GOP calls Doug Jones a socialist. Everything that does not benefit corporations and billionaires is “socialist.” And those who need government programs the most are first to fall for these lies.
What part of “I don’t buy Russiagate based on verified evidence and refuse to discuss it” shall I explain?
EKB, I am not interested in what you think when you do not back it up with links to reputable sources.
My comments have quoted reputable sources and provided links to them.
I’m interested in your beliefs if you would answer a few questions. Just a Yes or No will do.
One: Donald Trump is the Chosen One
Two: Everyone that does not support Donald Trump is a liberal
Three: Liberals hate firearms and want to take them away from people that own firearms
Four: Liberals are baby killers
Five: Liberals are socialists that want to take all private property away from the people and have the government own all of it.
Six: Donald Trump is an incredibly successful businessman that made his wealth from scratch with no help from anyone.
Lloyd: yesyesyesyesyesyes.
Well said, Lloyd.
You could find reputable sources to support your opinion. You could explain why you do not believe the CIA, the FBI, and all other intelligence agencies of the US government.
Not my job. All I did was express my position. You have challenged that. By the rules of logic and debate, it’s on you to provide counter-argument, not mine to persuade you. Which I wouldn’t do in any case.
And when we counter with reputable evidence and links to that evidence, you refuse to accept that evidence and refer to it as fake news with no reputable sources to back up your opinion. In a debate, that will make you the loser.
If you disagree with what I just wrote in the previous paragraph, go over to Debate.org where they have rules to follow and find a debate on this issue and see if you can beat someone that uses reputable evidence linked to reputable sources to make their case.
https://www.debate.org/
No, EKB. In a debate, you cannot just spout your opinion without citing reputable evidence.
When I was earning my BA in journalism back in the early 1970s, I took a class on how to write an Op-Ed and that class focused on the fact that we can’t just state our opinion. We have to back it up with valid, reputable evidence from valid, reputable sources, and a good Op-Ed will provide evidence from both sides and then point out what is flawed with the argument from the side you do not agree with.
Without valid evidence from valid/reputable sources, you opinion is a balloon full of hot air.
“All I did was express my position. You have challenged that. By the rules of logic and debate, it’s on you to provide counter-argument, not mine to persuade you. ”
What nonsense. “Mom, I am not going to take out the trash; that’s my position. It’s now on you to try to move my position.”
My kids outgrew this phase at age 10 when I taught them about some classic people who 2500 years ago already laid down the foundations of logic which haven’t changed ever since.
Oh, and no, I don’t believe the CIA and the FBI without concrete proof of what they offer, and it terrifies me intelligent people who should know better keep demanding I should.
Elizabeth,
Still waiting for your facts and evidence. You have already stated your opinion. Did you get your “facts” from a Trump tweet?
One of your best metaphors ever!
“Once again, I am reminded that we can’t reason with someone that has decided to turn themselves into a faulty cement wall without any rebar to keep them from crumbling into dust.”
Lloyd cited facts. You expressed an opinion based on tweets by the Orange One. Please supply sources.
Trump was elected by people who had opinions, not facts. They trust, this will be enough in 2020, and this is why talk like “What part of my opinion can’t you understand”.
Lloyd In speaking reasonably to Burton, you are assuming a reasonable person. Demonstrably not. CBK
Thank you for reminding me. I was aware of that but I think there must be voices of reason to counter empty, hot air balloons full of hate, misinformation and lies.
Lloyd Your later response to Burton, and link-reference, was right-on. CBK
Elizabeth K. Burton says:
“I disagree with the entire Russiagate nonsense, having seen ample evidence that it was concocted by the Clinton campaign as a political weapon.”
When you repeat the talking points from right wing racist websites, then you can’t really expect anyone to believe you aren’t a right wing hater of all progressives anyway.
Trump stole money intended to help veterans so he could get a free pass for Trump University conning veterans out of their money!
That sounds like the kind of guy you should support given your moral compass.
Typical Narcissistic arrogance from Elizabeth. I’m sure it’s not the first time she’s heard the criticism.
Why is it so hard for right wing propaganda purveyors to understand that CAP is not “the Democrats”. It is one organization.
Your post is no different than right wing racists who hate public schools who post “why is it so hard for people to grasp that the Democrats are in bed with lazy and overpaid union teachers who want to protect the jobs of the predators who will prey on your kids.”
You just admitted that the Democratic Presidential candidates aren’t offering policies that CAP likes. They are offering policies the teachers’ union likes.
And how dare you call AOC and Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats who have been working hard for progressive policies “Republicans who smile more”.
That’s a blatant lie. AOC and Warren and many other Democrats are not “Republicans who smile more”. If you can’t acknowledge that, then you aren’t being honest and that says a lot about you.
Elizabeth, honest?
“Collaborative” msm serves its right wing share holders. As Mooves said, “The goal is ratings.”
(Some msm have a political bent. CBS news is run by a former Fox executive and Sinclair broadcasting is run by Fox wannabe’s.)
Covert scheming by corporations – cultural changes advanced with their programming and advertising which drives the religious right to vote for business-friendly Republicans.
Commenter Elizabeth Burton tells us that the Kochs gave money to CAP about the time the organization was created- 2003? Does that line up with the timing of Bill Gates’ big spending on school corporatization and privatization?
Linda,
Does Bellwether support vouchers?
I deduce that they do.
Former Bellwether partner, Andy Smarick, is quoted as calling Boost Scholarships “terrific”.
A Bellwether report (maybe written by Bellwether partner, Juliet Squire, of the RuralCharterSchools.org site) was reviewed in Aug., 2019. The reviewer said, “If school reform is to move forward, it will occur via new forms of competition…vouchers….”. That reviewer has been published in EdNext and in Catholic Education.
Another article disclosed that Bellwether has a Catholic school group as a client.
In another article, Squire was quoted, “500,000 private schools in 29 states receive public dollars through….vouchers…. They’re making it work”.
Speculation- The Cristo Rey Catholic school chain is the model ed reformers want. Reportedly, the schools use blended learning and purchase Common Core curriculum. A prototype in San Jose has 60 students, 1 teacher, 1 coach 1 tutor. The students work 5 days a month for companies (filing/data entry). And, the pay is returned to the school.
Students working for companies without pay while taxpayers fork over money for a classroom of 60 students, with 1 teacher seems to me like a huge step backward to a time without democracy and with great income inequality.
“…segregating …and contributing to the growing social distance…”,
a conclusion from “The Jesuit Social Justice Dialectic and the Cristo Rey School Model within American Jesuit Secondary Education in the 21st Century”, a doctoral thesis by Sajit Kabadi (2014), University of Colorado..
Linda A doctoral thesis? Do you have any idea how VARIABLE those are? So now do you think all Jesuits support vouchers? CBK
I was invited a few years ago to speak against vouchers at Notre Dame. It was a great experience. And the professors and staff were super nice.
CBK
A defensive response can be a positive reaction. It means a person is aware of and has assessed a situation.
Diane’s reports about Pastors for Texas Children and its expansion (I even donated) are heartening. If you have similar information, I look forward to Diane posting it.
In the interim-
Cristo Rey has expanded to almost one-half of the states. Ohio has three supported by vouchers, located in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. A Fordham-funded research project found there was no educational benefit derived from Ohio vouchers. (If the Catholic diocese in Cincinnati and Bellwether have links, I presume commenter Laura Chapman could provide the info.)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops self-state that they are among the most important advocates of parental choice and have been from the beginning of the privatization campaign.
The Koch’s AFP joined with a state Catholic conference (not Ohio) to sponsor rallies for school choice.
The Napa Institute has a team of lawyers to aid on the side of religion in court cases involving separation of church and state.
Betsy DeVos is strongly linked to the Acton Institute which is an organization of evangelicals and prosperity Catholic clergy and lay people.
Lay organizations labeling themselves as Catholic and evangelical are working to legislatively defeat Blaine amendments.
My opinion
It is an egregious act of negligence for a group of people claiming to support America’s investment in its most important common good to avoid confronting the most vocal proponents of privatization because they are part of a singularly protected religion.
“The Catholic Case for Parental School Choice”, on the home page of Notre Dame ACE Academies
At ERIC- an abstract, “Taking Stock of Private School Choice… how states should design and oversee voucher programs… (2018)- authors, Wolf of the University of Ark., Harris of Tulane (Arnold funded), Berends of Notre Dame,…
The webpage of a university rarely reflect how students or profs think about the world. It reflects only how admins, board members and financial supporters think.
Mate don’t bother. With Linda, it’s an exercise in cherry-picking. l CBK
Linda, you might have noted the bio of Patrick Wolf. He is on the faculty of Walton-funded University of Arkansas’ “Department of Education Reform,” yet was the designated “independent evaluator” of the Milwaukee voucher program and DC voucher program.
CBK-
“variable”
career advancement for education Ph.d.’s – paved road if they praise reform products like vouchers, school chains, blended learning, personalized learning, etc.
Mate-
Which has the organizational backing for political influence, administrators/college donors or students/faculty?
In Ohio, evidently, voucher money buys Common Core curriculum and blended learning packages for a Catholic school chain despite the finding that vouchers have no beneficial effect on educational outcome. Simultaneously, the state government eliminates local school boards and closes public schools.
AWrenchintheGears.com posted again in October about the “peril of wrap around services”. John Arnold recently funded a wrap around service project for Notre Dame’s economics department. The, “Stay the Course”, program for community college students was designed by Catholic Charities of Fort Worth.
Reflecting the irony of hedge fund and Enron “philanthropy”, there is an identifying blurb for the program, “human capital before financial capital.” That sentiment matches a school that has students indentured working 5 days a month filing and entering data for free for companies.
Cherry picking-
The following have been called out at this blog for their privatization efforts
CAP, DFER, countless billionaires by name, Walton-funded university departments and professors, Koch-funded university economics departments and professors, the organizations of Gates, Walton, Broad, Arnold, etc., Gates-funded professors, politicians by name, federal appointees like DeVos, appointees in state ed. departments, evangelical lawyer organizations that erode separation of church and state, recipients of grants, reporters and think tank staff who are biased, charter schools and their administrators/owners, etc.
Who’s missing?
Linda I think that “calling out” list is wonderful. But Catholic-bashing puts a bad light on the whole movement. CBK
CBK,
Agreed. Catholic-bashing is a non-starter with me.
Diane I can guess why Burton doesn’t believe the CIA, etc., . . . because they don’t agree with Trump. For many I have talked to, it’s defined as a conflict between democrats and republicans, and not between lies and truth. I doubt Burton would want to ask herself why most everything Trump does benefits Putin. CBK
I guess she gets her “facts” from Twitter, especially @realDonaldTrump
Diane Burton is Nietzschean. It’s all “will to power” and nothing else, even truth. It’s an inversion of what it means to self-transcend intellectually–to identify not with one’s group or tribe and their power, but with the truth itself. CBK
CBK
For clarification purposes, any reference made to the political activities of organizations and individuals who identify their religion when engaging in those activities will be construed as religion bashing? if evidence shows the political activities of one religion far surmount those of other religions, it is “bashing” to enumerate and highlight them without giving equal space to small denominations engaging in small political efforts with little impact?
I will fear for the country who has citizens who answer “yes’ to those questions. And, we’ll agree to disagree about what defines religion bashing, which I reserve for comments like saying in disparagement of evangelicals, they believe “Christ rode a dinosaur.”
Linda If I understand you correctly, your references to evangelicals (and to defining religion-bashing) shares in its generality your many real references to “Catholics” on this site. “Bashing”: all evangelicals believe that Christ rode a dinosaur.
AS BASHING, it’s “cherry-picking” all that is bad about Catholics at present (abstracting from the whole what you like), and none that is good and (again) BROAD-BRUSHING ALL with what, in many cases I agree, is wrong-thinking–by omission and so committing the logical error. Like your example of bashing evangelicals, none in the “they” group might differ. I had hoped you were better than that.
However, I’ve said this same thing before here on this site (for naught) as well as the fact that such practice hurts YOUR OWN credibility. . . . . CBK
CBK
Facts aren’t a function of a person’s “credibility”. Ability to persuade is linked to “credibility”.
I’ve deduced that you believe you would be more persuaded if I began by stating, religions do good things, a religion’s hierarchy that is politically active is but one faction.
Making either statement makes me feel like I am pandering.
Linda You say: “Facts aren’t a function of a person’s credibility.’ Ability to persuade is linked to ‘credibility.”
Facts ARE a function of a person’s credibility. In your quote above, trade “facts” for “truth” and “persuade” for “use” or “manipulate.”
It’s more reasonable to trust a person whom you know commonly tells the truth, even if they make mistakes about their facts sometimes, than one whom you know is good at persuading, regardless of the truth. (Even children know this–ask any teacher.)
If you know a person is truthful, even when truth may hurt them, they earn reasonable credibility. Once we’ve “persuaded” or lied to someone or used them, it’s REALLY difficult to recover their trust in us. We are credible no longer.
Persuasion, on the other hand, is a function of sophistry–advertising and manipulating . . . using people, twisting the truth to their own advantage, playing to weaknesses, or selective omissions, and need not take truth into consideration. George Orwell wrote books about this, and so did Plato and Aristotle.
Also, pandering is a function of persuasion, not truth-telling. If you don’t stand to get something from it, then you are probably not pandering. And if we cannot tell the truth about the good of someone or some X, without damaging our position, then we must consider that our own argument is probably weak.
Finally, integrity is on the side of truth-telling. As you seem to support in other arguments here, the facts and the truth are rooted in their alignment with the Constitution and the Rule of Law, and are beyond republican/democrat politics. Trump “persuades,” hates the truth, and seems to think that “the democrats” are after him. Most ARE, but his offense is not against democrats or FOR the republicans. Rather, it’s a breach of all that went into his Oath of Office, it transcends party affiliations as truth often does. It’s the democrats and the government employees, e.g., the State Department, who, in this case, happen to be on the side of credibility and that truth, with the hope that some others who happen to be republicans can do the same. CBK
Kellyanne Conway’s interpretation of the word, fact, aligns with yours.