Liz Cheney spoke in Arizona and urged people to vote for the Democratic candidates for Governor and Secretary of State. Both candidates have said that they will accept the results of the election only if they win. A hard-right Republican who voted with Trump almost every time, Cheney has decided that preserving democracy matters more than party.
Rep. Liz Cheney brought her unflinching criticism of the Republican Party to Tempe Wednesday, calling out the GOP’s “Putin wing” and saying the threats to democracy are so serious she recommends voting for Democrats in two high-profile Arizona races.
“The country is at the edge of an abyss,” Cheney, R-Wyo., said during a talk with the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University.
“For almost 40 years now, I’ve been voting Republican. I don’t know that I have ever voted for a Democrat,” Cheney said, “but if I lived in Arizona now, I absolutely would for governor and secretary of state.
“We cannot be in a position where we elect people who will not fundamentally uphold the sanctity of elections. That’s got to be more important than anything else.”
Cheney cited Kari Lake, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, and state Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, who is running for secretary of state, for their unwillingness to pledge to accept the results of the upcoming elections.
“I spend a lot of time thinking about Arizona,” Cheney said. “If you think about elections that are happening now, in Arizona today, you have a candidate for governor in Kari Lake, you have a candidate for secretary of state in Mark Finchem, both of whom have said … they will only honor the results of an election if they agree with it.
“They’ve looked at the law, the facts, the rulings of the courts and they’ve said it doesn’t matter to them. If you care about democracy, and you care about the survival of our republic, then you need to understand — we all have to understand — we cannot give people power who have told us that they will not honor elections. Elections are the foundation of our republic.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Liz Cheney cares neither about democracy nor the concerns of working class Americans. Liz Cheney is an unprincipled political opportunist who recognizes a need to reposition in hopes of future appointment/election options. Democrats/Progressives should shun her, just as Wyoming’s voters did.
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I can’t agree with you. She had a clear path to staying in office if she chose to toe the line. Instead she chose to serve on the committee examining the Jan. 6 insurrection against the wishes of her party. She chose country over party. I wouldn’t vote for her, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate her integrity.
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I doubt it’s happenstance that Republicans reject sane, knowledgable women as their candidates. They prefer to promote uneducated, loonie women like Boebert and MTG and, incompetent women like Palin. That’s the way MAGA men want women portrayed. It’s the same MAGA reason but, applied to Black men, that led to the selection of. someone like Hershel Walker. I presume that behind closed doors, there are gatherings of rich libertarians who mock the crazy individuals they selected to run, relishing in their choices that make women and Black people look like fools on a national stage. In the case of Walker, the GOP makes him the representative of Black absentee fathers and men who are sexually out of control.
Walker was thoroughly researched. Then, millions were given to his campaign.
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Dear Ms. Ravitch, I subscribed to your blog because of my sincere interest in matters regarding public education. But you keep sending things that are tangential to the area of expertise which I was keen to access from you. I have thousands of emails in my IN-box, and I am well-informed about many issues of a political nature. I am frustrated to see SO MANY emails from you every day, and finally, I am giving up on trying to read them all–or even delete them all. Please remember that there is power in restraint. In desperation, I have unsubscribed. Helen
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Email notification is how WordPress lets subscribers know that someone has made a new post. You can also block any sender of emails on your phone or in your email program, such as Outlook. Simple Google How to block an email sender in _________, where the blank is whatever platform you are using to view emails.
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As one interested and always eager to learn (after decades) about education policy, to read education history and “how we got here” (a.k.a. read Dr. Ravitch’s books), and still intrigued by the latest in the reading wars, where did the arts go and more – –
– – public education is the last bastion of anything genuinely public today (ok, parks, highways, etc.). It’s as “local” as local government close to the people can be. It has elected officials who are held accountable at least once a month in public meetings and at the grocery store. Issues of national interest like freedom of speech and press, critical thinking, an informed citizenry, immigration and more play out at the school and board level.
So… reporting on the right taking over the courts, taking over state legislature (book burning, “crt”, no history prior to 1776t, etc), and government law suits against local schools for mask mandates – – – that is public education.
And, all of that has it’s “root cause analysis” in the previous White House, racist rallies (the ex president did ask a rally about the ‘n’ word and hoped they’d say “nuclear” (sure), and the hundreds of obliging silent angry wannabes who want to take kill public education.
So – my suggestion is if you don’t want to read about Ms. Cheney or the others, keep scrolling.
And, yes, the blogs on the latest iteration of doing away with leveled-books, standards-based grading, and others will surly continue to be here.
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So grateful, here, for Diane’s wise, judicious curating of news. Often, I first hear about some important story via her blog. Thank you, Diane! And please don’t change a thing you are doing!!!! xoxoxoxoxxo
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Thank you, Bob. I read widely in newspapers, magazines, and other blogs. My primary interest is education, but education is affected by the broader culture and by politics. I share what interests me. My opinions are obviously my own. I am interested in others’ opinions, but I draw the line when it comes to Trump and Putin. Both are vile men, and I do not welcome their admirers. One because he is a pathological liar and malignant narcissist who is undermining our democracy. The other because he is a cruel, evil man who crushes the lives of others as most people step on ants.
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One cannot rationally report on education today in the United States without reporting on politics. US education has become a political battleground, and there are forces at work right now trying, for political reasons, to distort it beyond any recognition. We’ve already gone a long way down that road, toward Christian fundamentalist morality and thought police running our schools, in all of our classrooms. Diane understands this. Perhaps some people don’t because they simply aren’t as hip to what’s happening as Diane is.
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What Bob said at 8:03!
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Helen,
I’m sorry to see you go.
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Helen,
You can decline to read the Ravitch posts. However, for you to find a blog where a nationally recognized expert in education reads your comments will likely be impossible.
I receive no e-mails from the blog. I Google the blog when I
seek information from a hero of public education and democracy.
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Thanks, Linda. I read every comment.
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It appears to be impossible to unsubscribe. Not a good sign.
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Intelligent people figure out how to unsubscribe. I didn’t subscribe you and I can’t unsubscribe you.
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Diane,
Your Herculean effort in reading the comments is one of the hundreds of reasons I admire you.
Helen,
At a point when I needed simplification for better focus, I opted out of blog e-mails. It’s been too long ago for me
to remember how. But, I remember it as easy to do.
I like to check in frequently to the blog to catch up on major issues, to learn info., to help me construct my own viewpoint, to find links to music, humorous stories, etc. With appreciation, I acknowledge this space as a full service blog with a host extraordinaire.
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Wow, though I would disagree with Liz on most other issues, I do have to give her credit for guts and fighting for sanity and true democratic values. She gave up her own career to fight Trump, Trumpism and all the little Trumpers who spew vile lies and far right disinformation: Such as that the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump really won. Who would have thunk it, the daughter of Darth Vader (Dick Cheney) would be campaigning for Democrats!?!!!
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Darther of Vader?
Do you suppose Darth and Liz battle with Light Sabers in the Death Star (aka Cheney Household )
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Or maybe Darth prefers a shotgun?
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Liz Cheney strongly disagrees with Democrats on almost every policy.
They have one point of agreement — that replacing democracy with authoritarianism or fascism is NOT the way to get your policy goals. It is a short-sighted way to destroy our country and make it a place like Russia where people desperately want to leave.
That’s why Liz Cheney is fighting so hard to defeat the REPUBLICANS offering the policies she likes and to empower the Democrats whose policies she disagrees with.
Bernie Sanders understands this and so does AOC and so does Noam Chomsky.
The people who post here whose main goal is always to defeat the DEMOCRATS are no different than Trump supporters. Democracy is expendable to them. They are so consumed with hate that they would sacrifice democracy for the chance to punish the people they hate.
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The icy bits on Hell’s lake get a little thicker.
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and it seems like pigs are flying all over the place
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lol
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Would she had come to this conclusion in 2016. If Republicans had been repulsed by the man who built his campaign on distrusted others, we would be in far better shape.
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All the candidates inn2016 warned about how dangerous Trump was. When he won, they immediately caved.
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It floors me that Mike Fanone voted for the Idiot in 2016.
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I don’t think the Republican, or, as I like to call it, Neoconfederate, Party has really thought through making enemies of the Cheneys. They do understand that this family shoot their friends in the face?😀
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LOL!!!
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In other news, the Monster of Moscow is bombing Kyiv in retaliation.
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Apparently, the U.S. policy is to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.
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Apparently your view is that the Russian dictator should conquer any nation he wants and no other nation should try to stop him.
How did that work out with Hitler?
Remember Neville Chamberlain?
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To empire apologists it’s always 1938, and those who advocate for peace are accused of being appeasers. To those advocating for escalation of tensions, it’s never 1919, when the world recognized–after the slaughter of millions–that militarism, imperialism, nationalism, and alliance systems caused the so-called Great War. The U.S. government is fighting a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine; indeed, it has spent ten times as much money supporting Ukraine as it has spent helping Puerto Rico, a U.S. possession. Meanwhile, U.S. defense contractors rake in record profits, and U.S. companies wanting to sell LNG to Europe look forward to cashing in, as well. I oppose all wars, not just this one.
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So, James, you are indifferent to Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. You think the Ukrainians should be forced to give up their elected government and accept a Kremlin leader? What will you say when Putin decides he wants to recapture Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia? Will you care if he marches into Poland?
If you saw a bully with a gun beating up a little old lady, would you turn your back and walk away?
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The US did not start this war. Russia did. Russia can end it by withdrawing. Ukraine, Europe, NATO, and the US should not give ONE INCH to the marauders but should drive them out entirely. Out of ALL OF UKRAINE, including Crimea.
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You seem to forget that the Ukrainians asked for the help from us. They have not asked us to leave. They are fighting to the last Ukrainian; they have seen the brutality of the Russians .
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Thank you, Diane, Speduktr. James will not see the blatantly obvious. Putin violated fundamental international law when he invaded Ukraine, violating the territorial integrity of another UN member state, and he has piled a long, long list of war crimes and crimes against humanity on top of that, including today’s bombings of civilians and cultural landmarks in retaliation for the bombing of the invader’s supply lines. If someone cannot see what is so obvious, clearly, he or she is an ideologue or cultist and will not be convinced by rational or moral argument.
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Putin has a strange idea about This war. First, of course, he says it’s not a war even though the entire world sees that it is.
Second, he believes that he can attack Ukraine but Ukraine is not allowed to attack Russia. WTF?
Third, while he systematically levels Ukraine and kills people and destroys cultural treasures, no other nation has the right to help Ukraine.
What arrogance! He can attack Ukraine but any defense of Ukraine is unfair!
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“The US can’t negotiate to give Putin a part of any other nation.”
Perfectly, beautifully said, Diane. Mr. Eales is suggesting another thing, like Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, that is a violation of international law. Ukraine is not anyone else’s to give away, in whole or in part. Ukraine belongs to Ukraine. Not to Putin. Not to anyone else.
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President Kennedy said, “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy, or of a collective death-wish for the world.” The U.S. should agree to negotiate an end to its proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. It’s irrational to risk a nuclear war–and the end of all life on Earth–over a dispute over who rules Donbas. Choose peace.
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The U.S. can’t negotiate to give Putin any part of another nation.
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You keep referring to the US war against Russia. The US did not start this war. Russia did. The US did not make war against Russia. It came to the DEFENSE of an ally. No negotiation with the marauders, with the war criminals. They must withdraw from ALL Ukrainian territory, including all of eastern Ukraine and all of Crimea; they must pay reparations; and they must turn over the war criminals, including the bloody little Chekist murderer Putin, to the International Court of Criminal Justice for trial. Choose justice and LONG-TERM PEACE, which CAN ONLY EXIST IF UN TREATIES GUARANTEEING TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY ARE KEPT and VIOLATORS OF THIS, LIKE RUSSIA IN UKRAINE, ARE PUNISHED.
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And Kennedy was a drug-addicted philanderer and predator from a family that made its money running illegal liquor who a) embroiled us in the Vietnam fiasco and b) pulled the air cover from the Bay of Pigs invasion, leading to the deaths of our people and our allies. Hardly a model for leadership.
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It’s not about who rules Donbas. It never was. Russia will not stop. Putin wants an empire.
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Never forget: Putin lamented that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. Also, that his entire career was in the KGB.
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Civilians and cultural landmarks in Kyiv and elsewhere. War crimes and crimes against humanity.
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Liz Cheny needs to stay out of AZ. The democrats are not addressing any issues that are important to our state.
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Of course she is if you think saving our democracy is worth it.
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Big GOP issue in Arizona: too many think Trump won! Despite all the recounts? Despite the hand recounts by the Cyber Ninjas? Why are there so many Arizonans who believe lies?
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