Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced that he has tapped a second billionaires to “reinvent”
education in New York state after the pandemic. According to the New York Post, Cuomo sees distance learning as “the wave of the future,” so who better to enlist as his advisers than Bill Gates and now Eric Schmidt of Google.
Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis of “City and State” just tweeted this report:
Cuomo has announced the third billionaire to lead state efforts amid the coronavirus crisis: former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will be focused on new technology utilization. He joins Michael Bloomberg, who’s doing contact tracing, and Bill Gates, who’s doing education
Neither Bill Gates nor Eric Schmidt is an educator. They made their fortune selling software. Selling stuff to schools does not make you an education expert.
Obviously Cuomo thinks that the future of education is online.
He seems oblivious to the eagerness of parents and students alike to return to real live teachers in real school buildings. Parents want to return to work, students want to see their teachers and their friends, and they want to return to their activities and sports. Teachers want to see their students. No one but Cuomo—and probably Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt—wants remote learning to become permanent.
Please someone tell Governor Cuomo that the state Constitution and laws delegate all authority over education to the Board of Regents, and gives zero authority to him.
The pandemic is turning into a grand opportunity for the foxes to raid the henhouse under cover of darkness. Parents, teachers, and students want a safe and orderly return to real education taught by real teachers in real schools.
Why doesn’t the Governor listen to parents and teachers and students, who will tell him to reinvent schools by fully funding them? They want smaller class sizes, well-maintained facilities, experienced teachers, a well-stocked library with a librarian, programs in the arts, a nurse and social worker and guidance counselor in every school. They don’t want the massive budget cuts that the Governor has in store nor do they want the distance learning that they are currently experiencing to become permanent.
I think he will also go the educators for ideas, but you still need a means to deliver th Ed education you have in mind and to team up with two people who can help set up the platforms is a good idea.
Do you have any idea how many failures Bill Gates has created in his previous efforts to reinvent education?
Vacuum cleaner salesmen who are ideally suited to set up the vacuums to suck up data on millions of children.
What idea could possibly be better?
Rather than list Cuomo’s failures on education, try listing his successes. It’ll be a much shorter list and take less time to compile. It’ll be a blank page.
Recall Gov Cuomo disparaged public schools as a monopoly.
Right. He plans to “reinvent” them as private sector service providers.
Which isn’t a “reinvention” at all. Nothing new or creative about government contractors. There are thousands of them in all sectors.
But “let’s turn this public entity over to private contractors because we don’t want responsibility for it” doesn’t sound nearly as super-cool as “reinventing schools”
Pandemic is the perfect time to kill government—the golden chance. Revenues are plummeting & taxes are ‘unamerican’. This is Republicans & private corp. big chance. Schools are first; more to come.
They’ve been saying they’d do this since Gingrichs contract for America in 1994. This is the Republicans’ long game and it seems like Cuomo prefers playing nice with Republicans.
No doubt you are correct. But, most people by a sizable majority are seeing how government can help, hence the protests by a minority egged on by Trump and the plutocrats who fear the wider recognition of the importance of good well funded government. That can only be achieved by higher taxes on those who can afford to pay…..the wealthy individuals and corporations.
The only significant difference between Trump and Cuomo is competence.
Trump engages wealthy colleagues to advise on or manage public functions. He is incompetent and they are incompetent.
Cuomo engages wealthy colleagues to advise on or manage public functions. He and they are relatively more competent.
Both cases are striking examples of the uniquely American belief that anyone who makes money is wise in all ways. Gates is a business bully who enjoys unmerited adoration because he happened on a decent idea and monopolized it. He’s not even a technological wizard.
I have watched for all of my professional life as deference and respect are granted to wealthy people (mostly men) who have absolutely nothing of value to contribute. Often they don’t even contribute money, believing that their beneficence is gift enough.
Screw ’em.
I completely agree with you. After enormous success in MS he almost destroyed it with his incredibly stupid idea to pit employees against one another that turned MS into a joke for years before Balmer diplomatically killed Gates folly. Unfortunately Gates using his money foisted that terrible idea unto public schools with once again disastrous consequences.
When I hear Gates speak I actually believe he is not too bright.
He might be a bot.
He’s too illogical to be a bot.
A bot would self correct.
Maybe he is a bot
“I am Billmad, I am perfect”
“He seems oblivious to the eagerness of parents and students alike to return to real live teachers in real school buildings.”
Oh, parents and students will be deliberately and carefully excluded from all planning, as will all possible dissenters. The price of admission to one of their “debates” is agreeing ahead of time to all their opinions. No one else gets past the vetting process.
When they assemble the echo chamber they’ll then congratulate one another on how miraculous it is that they all agree. The agreement means they are “right”.
Here’s how they responded when public school parents questioned the Common Core tests:
“In 2013, as the Common Core outrage grew among parents in New York, Duncan said some of the criticism was coming from “white suburban moms” who were finding out “all of a sudden, their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were.” Duncan apologized for the comments, but they became emblematic to many of how education policymakers had become tone deaf to criticism during a period of change.”
No criticism or debate is permitted. All questions are assumed to be bad faith and motivated by selfishness or stupidity. There can be no other possible good reason to question anything they do or say.
I think that’s actually why conservatives hated Common Core so much. The precious suburban white mom was attacked.
Nevertheless, I agree with the other comments above that we automatically assume that success in one area grants one the right to speak with authority on other topics.
This is the equivalent of making Hollywood stars authorities in marriage because they are great at acting.
Wrong. Suburban moms hated CC because it was wrong for children and set ridiculous standards guaranteed to fail most children. They hated it for good reason. It was hastily written by non-experts.
But Pearson had their best people on CC. Even the Pearson Foundation PHDs weighed in. It was so successful Pearson is no longer even in the K-12 US market and the Pearson Foundation shut it’s doors.
Imagine (apologies to John Lennon)
Imagine there’s no Windows
It’s easy if you try
No Gates Foundation
And no obnoxious guy
Imagine all the people sharing code today
Imagine no tax loop-holes
It isn’t hard to do
No way to beat the taxman
And no accountants too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no billyanthropists
If you just take a minute
No need for buggy software
A brotherhood of Linux
Imagine all the people sharing all the code, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Oh this is beautiful, SomeDAM. Sing it again.
Cuomo has emerged nationally in the plague as a leader and counter to Trump; he’s a wily politician who has subdued labor as well as Wall Street; approaching billionaires now who will be needed to fund his run for the White House in 2024 is building more political capital; Cuomo is an authoritarian who rules NY with a homey Queens accent and a New York fist; Joe Biden will be 82 by 2024 and may choose not running for re-election if he wins in 2020.
The presidency will be open in 2024. Cuomo is lining up billionaire supporters. Remember he declared that he is a champion of charter schools. Like Bill Gates.
He also added his daughter for some BS…By the way…she’s a kennedy. Michaela, Mariah, and Cara Kennedy-Cuomo are Andrew’s girls with ex-wife Kerry Kennedy, daughter of none other than Robert F. Kennedy. Talk about a democrat dynasty. From Ivy League schools to black tie benefits to vacations in Hyannis Port, click through for a peek inside the fabulous lives of the Kennedy-Cuomo trio.
Hyenasport
Laughing all the way to the bank
Cuomo has a common political disease: stickittotheteacherosis
Wow, are you folks not willing to even consider the upside potential of distance learning? Personally I think this is a remarkable Leap Forward in the education endeavor. It can give massive opportunities for added educational value to the classroom experience. It also can help address the constant teacher and administrator shortages caused by natural turnover. It also can help constrain educational cost which would reduce the tax burden for homeowners, particularly seniors on fixed incomes. While I absolutely agree that there are risks of exploitation and profiteering, as usual, I don’t believe that should be the reason we don’t push the technology Envelope as far as we can and figure out the issues as we go. Robust online educational opportunities for both students and parents of disadvantaged circumstances to help in reducing the inequity in opportunities compared to the better off should be an area a focus and collaboration.
Y’know, “distance learning” is not exactly a new thing. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. It has never, ever worked anywhere near as well as in-person learning with a qualified teacher.
“Robust online educational opportunities for both students and parents of disadvantaged circumstances to help in reducing the inequity in opportunities compared to the better off should be an area a focus and collaboration.”
When the billionaires on the panel start demanding the expensive private schools start pushing technology and eliminating small classes with discussions, then you would have a point.
If it’s as good as you say, then all the private schools would have embraced it long ago.
After all, you are faced with a huge logical conundrum!
According to your reasoning, rich billionaires pay private schools upwards of $50,000 per child per year and give as much or more as a donation to that school, and it is all because they believe their child should partake of a sub-par, terrible, meaningless education that puts that child at a huge disadvantage against all the homeschooled on-line students
This is a very easy issue to solve. Everyone on the panel must first put their own children in a distance learning situation and then after 2 or 3 years they can let the rest of us know how it worked.
If it’s so great, they would certainly be terrible parents who hate their own children if they don’t demand their own kids learn that way. And if they are such terrible parents who hate their own kids and are not demanding that their own kids learn via on-line education only, then why should anyone trust them with our kids?
If they really believe it is superior, they just have to show us how well it worked for their own kids.
Best idea for the billionaires, let them do some action research online with their own offspring. Do the politicians and billionaires know that cyber charters get dismal results? Peter Greene referenced this article by a charter authorizer. It discusses the failure of cyber charters. https://www.educationnext.org/online-charters-mostly-dont-work-forum-virtual-schools-greg-richmond/
Nailed it!
I have heard from many parents that their children are bored and disengaged because of distance learning.
Do you have some ideas for them?
Glad to be a retired NYC teacher with a constitutionally guaranteed (for now) pension. However, I agree witht the idea of constraining educational costs as a feature of on-line education. Upon retirement, I sold my home on LI and moved to PA for a less expensive alternative. Taxes on LI, even for a modest house, are outrageous and a substantial portion of property taxes goes toward education. Imagine if taxes were lower due to lower educational costs. People, including seniors and those younger who are just starting out, could remain and support their communities. Elected officials will play on that theme to attract wide suppor from voters who are paying through their noses. Additionally, retaining or even expanding the state budget for education is a non-starter given that we are already in a recession affecting all working people including white collar types. It’s even been posited that cuts among state, city and municipal employees (fire, police, emt, sanitation as well as lawyers and doctors) will be necessary to close budget gaps. Teachers don’t stand a chance of prevailing unscathed in this climate. In 2008, I recall that teachers came under financial scrutiny for all the usual reasons. Now, in 2020 scrutiny will be even more intense and the public less forgiving..
How nice for a retired teacher “w/a constitutionally guaranteed “for now” pension to give such advice, which threatens the superiority
of the brick-&-mortar school, whereby children have face-to-face interaction with real educators, as well as peer interaction, physical ed./recess & school libraries (hopefully, all of the last three).
Or is that only for the children of the privileged & wealthy (umm…Bill & Melinda Gates, Cuomo-Kennedy kids, Arne Duncan, WH son, etc.)? We who read this blog (haven’t seen your name here, Kevin, so maybe you’re new) are aware that the Gates, for example, send their kids to elite private school, where they are guaranteed these “perks” (which, BTW, use to be widely available in the publics);
they do not practice what they preach–they don’t subject their children to learning via Microsoft). But–of COURSE it’s okay for “other people’s children”…& the $$$$$ comes rollin’ in.
Anyway, I, too, am a retired teacher “w/a constitutionally guaranteed
(for now) pension,” & I find your suggestion to be unacceptable. I want other people to have the opportunities my daughter & my students had. I would wish no less for other children–every child in America deserves a great education. And teachers deserve to teach, just as we were so fortunate to have been able to do.
And–BTW–now we are finding that families prefer that their children go to school. Article from the Sunday, April 26th Chicago
Sun-Times: “‘I Just Can’t do This’: Harried Parents Skip Home School–Some families opt to disconnect for rest of academic year”
(AP) by Gillian Flaccus & Jocelyn Gecker:
” Frustration is mounting as more families across the U.S. enter their 2nd or even 3rd week of distance learning–& some overwhelmed parents say it will be their last…’I’d rather have him watch classic Godzilla movies & play in the yard & pretend to be a Jedi rather than figure out basic math.'” (from a mother of a kindergarten child in a town near Boston). “‘I wanted to get into a fetal position & hide out,'”
said a mother who is “‘a professor of wildlife biology at Virginia Tech who is also teaching her own students online.”
&–BTW–it’s National Teachers Appreciation Week. THANK YOU TO ALL ACTIVE TEACHERS, & wishing you a LONG & HAPPY CAREER
w/your students, parents & colleagues!!! Now, more than ever, teaching is a challenge, & I know that I speak for others when I say WE SALUTE YOU!
I didn’t give any advise. I am simply stating what should be obvious to us all…the days of brick and mortar education are numbered and to be prepared for its demise. Neither emotional responses that cloud good judgement nor wishing for the ideal educational system will prevent the coming seachange. Money is tight, budgets are stretched, many are out of work and some bilionaires who think they’re always right have “the answer”.
Unfortunately, the “constitutionally guaranteed” pension of retired NYC teachers is one of the biggest costs that is never talked about. In my opinion, it is outrageous that it is never talked about.
The cost of those pensions for retired teachers is buried in the school budgets and that enormous cost is hidden so that it looks like the city is “wasting” more and more money on education when in fact they are spending an ever-increasing amount to pay their retirees.
And here is what is even worse — the ever increasing cost of the pensions of retirees is borne by a smaller and smaller percentage of students, with certain “privileged” students not having to pay anything toward that cost of long-retired teacher pensions, while the remaining students who are much less privileged are now charged not just for their own share of that cost, but must now also pay the share that the “privileged exempt” students pay. Instead of those high pensions costs for retirees being divided among 100% of the students, it is divided among 90% with the other 10% being exempt because somehow the 90% of students should be punished by having to pay retirement costs for teachers from 30 years ago but the favored students should not.
The easy solution is to put all the costs of pensions for retired teachers into a separate pot. That pot would have nothing to do with the DOE’s education budget.
I absolutely believe retired teachers deserve their pensions. But it seems as if the cost of that is hidden and simply gets charged to today’s students and it warps the perception of how much money is really spent to teach students. Not only does that benefit charters — who claim they deserve the same amount per student even if an ever increasing part of the public school student’s share is paying for pensions of retired teachers — but it also leaves off the hook the short-sighted politicians who refused to properly fund the teacher pension fund when times were good.
“Natural teacher turnover”
“Naturally turn ’em over”
Urged the man named Bill
“VAM ’em with a dozer
Bury ’em under the hill”
Computers are useful tools. Let’s not pretend that the online education is equivalent to in class, human instruction. Cyber charters get dismal results. We also do not know anything about the long term impact of so much screen time on developing eyes and brains. Most students find the online programs tedious and boring.
Exactly, Diane. Nailed it.
Let’s see. For the kids that dropped behind should we move them ahead without learning? Should we retain them in the same grade, no fault of their own? Thus doing great damage to them. Or should we give them remediation to catch up. But what if they don’t catch up. We then fail them into oblivion.
Those are the choices the system gives them, yes the same system that was developed in the 18th century. The same system that was never designed to serve all kids. The same system that those of us on this blog seem comfortable with. Can we not see the problem even when it is right here in front of us? So what if we screw over kids by pushing them so far behind they will drop out. So what if we destroy kids by passing them with a D-. So what if WE support the school to prison pipeline.
Those politicians don’t get it. But that’s easy to understand, they are ignorant. They don’t understand the profession of education. What’s difficult to understand is that those of us on this blog don’t get it. Either that or we sit silent. If we want to see the problem, look in the mirror. Is that person content with the failed status quo? Or is that person afraid to speak up for systemic change.
ISN’T IT TIME TO STOP WHINNING AND PRESENT A VISION FOR THE FUTURE? THE PROBLEM IS US!
Ok, so here’s my vision for the future: affordable health care for all, living wage for all, a public health care option, subsidized child care, well-funded community schools. You know, that terrible, evil Socialist stuff…
Disagree that politicians don’t get it. That is by design, and Cuomo is a perfect example of that. They choose to align themselves with those with the big $$$, rather than real educators. It isn’t ignorance; it’s purposeful. They only align themselves with those like Gates, who are willing to advance their agenda, and in Cuomo’s case, it’s all charters all the time.
Yeah–what you said in your first paragraph, Oakland-mom.
Sadly, legions of people who were “frightened” by the idea of Medicare for All (preferred to keep their employer’s insurance plan) now have lost their jobs, no longer “have” insurance, & just wish they could have that Medicare for All (wonder how many people would have been voting for Bernie now–?).
(Since they reinstated the NYS Primary & are keeping Bernie & Yang on the ballot, perhaps we’ll see…)
At least Cuomo didn’t get away with canceling the primary.
Cuomo cancelled the Democratic primary for president. This would have prevented Sanders from winning any NY delegates and hurt down-ballot progressives. A judge reversed Cuomo’s decision.
What kind of “Democrat” would do that, anyway?
Certainly not a democratic Democrat.
Cuomo should be reading Diane’s BLOG and listening to the teachers. Good grief.
I think these politicians have only one button and it’s mostly OFF.
Is Cuomo looking for campaign donors?
Cuomo is a corporate Democrat. His donors are Wall St and other wealthy types. He wants the children of the state to pay for the C-19 crisis, not his wealthy friends.
Cuomo is actually a Republican and a ” Trump Republican ” at that.
No real Democrat would effectively cancel a presidential primary as Cuomo just did (overturned by a judge, thankfully) to increase his chances of becoming the nominee should Biden drop out.
Can’t get much more UNDemocratic — and UN-democratic — than that.
Corporate welfare has been the norm for public puolicy for a very long time. Trump has raided the treasury and created trillions in debt by giving tax breaks to corporations.
How about this: Have a claw-back on all corporate tax breaks dished out during the Trump administration. Get rid of golden parachutes for CEOs.
Send that money to public schools and social services.
I have little sympothy for the idea that public education cannot be well-funded and that brick and mortar schools should be torn down or repurposed as profit centers.
Covid-19 will put constraints on how education is offered but I say, follow the lead of the best private schools and billionaires who refuse to allow their children to be “glow students,” tethered to computer screens.
The one lesson I have learned about distance learning during my daughter’s experience has been that good students will find a place to learn in the face of anything. Her wonderful teachers had built a strong personal relationship with her, and she has worked way more than she would ever have worked in school. That said, she has not learned as much material and has not been learning it as thoroughly. there have been no teacher-made tests to inform her of how well she is doing.
Meanwhile there is my experience. Our students knew very soon that they would not be getting any credit for what they did during this time. So they did nothing. Some of y best kids did not even contact me. It was very disappointing.
For the commentators above who suggest the importance of distance learning, I suggest you go to Nebraska, where distance learning was going on before computers in places where there might not be a school for a hundred miles. They have done all right, but they would rather go to school, and many of them do so when they can.
Smart people have always learned. When books were rare, people traveled to places like Alexandria where there was a library. Medieval universities grew up around libraries, and students would hire individuals who were well versed in the material to give them lectures, because that was a way they knew they could learn. this is how the education system based on an instructor evolved. The computer is in its beginning evolution as it relates to education. Already it is possible to have the sort of conversation with erudite people that daily is joined here. No one will deny that. But Bill Gates is out for something else.
I suspect that distance learning will prove to be much more expensive than traditional classes if you figure its cost per success. In a traditional class, you state what children are supposed to do, and supervise them while they are doing it. Getting some of the students to do what they are told is pretty easy, because teachers can see their behavior. Getting students to comply with on-line requests is an enormous problem.
I have a good friend who teaches English in a high school. She attributes her interest in literature to a teacher at a community college I happen to know. Last year he was doing all his instruction on line. He was not happy, and his students were probably not either.
Makes you wonder if the guy was ever a kid. Did he like meeting friends to play with? Where did he meet them?
As for Cuomo & Co’s brave new world, who’s gonna take care of the kids when Mom & Dad go back to work? Where do they go, if not to brick & mortar– you know, buildings. What’s he got in mind: Matrix-style masses hooked up to monitors & headsets? & who’s minding that godforsaken store?
Smells like another boondoggle slouching toward Bethlehem, lining a bunch of pockets before dissipating into the taxpayer-indebted ether. Diane nailed the motivations above: “The presidency will be open in 2024. Cuomo is lining up billionaire supporters.”
Cuomo is a wolf in sheep’s clothing…….always has been. He is no friend of teachers, public education, and especially unions. This pandemic was the perfect opportunity for him to show everyone in NY and around the country what his narcissistic personality looks like. This attention is something he craves (just like Trump). He had to be in control of everything (just like Trump) and this has played out in his dealings with this pandemic from the start. For the most part he has done an admirable job in leading the state through these difficult times. As we all are starting to see however, his true colors are beginning to show. He despises public schools and will ultimately leave them hanging come budget time. This will be done intentionally of course to allow his wealthy donors the opportunity to prey on our school system as has been mentioned with Gates. With Cuomo’s school budget predicted to be a bad one, it will be interesting to see if we go back to the test and punish policies of the past decade. Lots of $$$ could be saved and better used to help schools in these times of fiscal stress. My guess is that things will stay status quo as he and the state education department are so deeply in bed with these testing companies that they will not reverser course and do what is right by the schools. It’s a total set-up for sure. Very sad state of affairs!
I would argue that Cuomo is a wolf in wolves clothing.
He does not even try to hide what he is but for some reason, people vote for him nonetheless, just like they vote for Trump.
And as far as doing an “admirable job”in responding to the pandemic, he was UNadmirably late in shutting down NY City and NY, which undoubtedly led to additional deaths.
From Wikipedia
“On March 17, as the number of confirmed cases rose to 814 citywide, de Blasio announced that the city was considering a similar shelter-in-place order within the next 48 hours. Across the boroughs of New York City, there were 277 confirmed cases in Manhattan, 248 in Queens, 157 in Brooklyn, 96 in the Bronx, and 36 in Staten Island. Seven city residents had died of the virus.[89] Mayor de Blasio’s comments were quickly rebuked by Cuomo’s office, and again later by the governor himself in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.[90] Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, issued a statement during the mayor’s briefing, clarifying state government was not considering shelter-in-place orders at the time.[89] Cuomo said later that morning, “We hear ‘New York City is going to quarantine itself.’ That is not true. That cannot happen. It cannot happen legally. No city in the state can quarantine itself without state approval. And I have no interest whatsoever and no plan whatsoever to quarantine any city.”[91]
On March 18, Cuomo reaffirmed that he would not approve a “shelter-in-place” order for New York City. “That is not going to happen, shelter in place, for New York City,” Cuomo said, “For any city or county to take an emergency action, the state has to approve it. And I wouldn’t approve shelter in place.”
// End of Wikipedia quotes
Cuomo waited almost a week after March 17 before changing his mind.
Cuomo may have got some things right, but people should be aware of the actually history and not the sugarcoated “I’m a hero” version Cuomo now wants everyone to believe.
When the subject is a city of nearly 9 million with a very high density, even waiting a what may seem to be a short time can make a huge difference in the outcome with a virus that is as readily transmissible as the coronavirus in question.
Cuomo screwed up and it undoubtedly cost lives.
But I am sure lots of people will go on entertaining delusions of grandeur about Cuomo, nonetheless, just as so many entertain delusions of grandeur about Trump .
Cuomo issued a statewide “stay at home” order on March 22.
It’s worth noting that what concerned Cuomo most was not that people were getting sick and dying but that NY City mayor De Blasio was talking about shutting down the city without Cuomo’s “order”.
In other words “Who the hell does De Blasio think he is anyway? I — Cuomo — am The Decider”
If that is not “Trumpian” behavior, I don’t know what is.
I despise Andrew Cuomo, but calling his behavior “Trumpian” is like saying that a bad rainstorm that knocked down your front yard tree and downed power lines in your community for 2 days was “Hurricane-Katrina-like”. Cuomo is truly awful, just like a terrible storm that knocks down your front yard tree and downs power lines in the community. But Hurricane Katrina caused a suffering and human toll that is minimized by comparing it to the suffering when your tree got knocked down and your community lost power.
Cuomo’s actions during the pandemic’s early days were terrible and caused suffering. However, he eventually tried to do the right thing.
Trump’s actions during the pandemic’s early days were terrible and caused suffering. Trump acted to cause even more suffering and continues to act not to mitigate the harm but to cause even more harm.
It is possible to survive terrible politicians like Cuomo and live to fight another day, which is exactly why Bernie Sanders refused to endorse the progressive candidate who ran against Cuomo in the 2018 NY democratic primary. Sanders understood that as bad as Cuomo was, he was not so bad that Bernie felt he needed to help stop him.
But it is not possible to survive terrible politicians like Trump who truly have no moral core and would destroy democracy to regain power. It is why Bernie Sanders voted to impeach Trump and has made it clear to his true supporters that that if they support any of his progressive ideas they would vote for the democrat against Trump.
In other words, Cuomo is terrible but I don’t demonize progressive politicians who didn’t work to stop him when they could have because Cuomo is not what Trump is — a serious danger to our country and democracy itself.
I much prefer Biden over Cuomo if they were my only 2 choices in the Democratic primary. Maybe this country should be grateful for Biden and not a candidate like Cuomo. I am. Even if I greatly preferred someone else.
🍝
lol! Pot calling the kettle black.
I admit to being totally guilty of sounding like a broken record whenever I respond to the comments that sound like a broken record.
We basically agree on Cuomo being a terrible man except to call him Trumpian normalizes Trump instead of accurately depicting Cuomo.
After all, if Cuomo was really Trumpian, Bernie Sanders would have definitely endorsed his progressive opponent in 2018 but he didn’t. Trump stands alone in defining what Trumpian is, which is why Bernie endorsed Trump’s opponent.
Cuomo is very bad, just not nearly on Trumpian levels, which means that a politician continuing being in office is likely to be the end of democracy and elections, period.
He’s riding this wave of public admiration, but a baboon might fare just as well when contrasted with Trump.
And, yes: he knows what this pandemic will do to the federal, state, and city/town/village budgets. Perfect opportunity to push the agenda he’s always stood behind.
Questions:
Who watches the kids at home while they’re being taught, online? Our society is geared towards working couples. Stay at home moms and dads are in the minority.
Socialization and civics skills and values are a huge part of education. How will online learning cover these areas? These are hands on skills that can never be ingrained through mechanical reading and writing.
It’s important that we spread the news about this latest “endeavor”, ASAP.
As is so often the case; education is a back burner issue for many people. They don’t really “get it” until the sh%t hits the fan, and by then it’s harder to unravel.
Having Gates, Schmidt, and Bloomberg in control is a very, very, VERY big deal. They’re not just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs. Guaranteed they’ve already got some big plans in the works.
Again: it’s important that we make as many people aware of this as soon as is humanly possible. I mentioned it to some friends on a Zoom call last night and they had no idea. They were blown away that anyone would even consider anything like this, at all.