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Alt-Right and Neo-Nazis Are Using Popular Film “Black Panther” for Their Cause

By dianeravitch
March 18, 2018 //
22

 

A disturbing article in the Washington Post says that the Alt-Right and White Nationalists are co-opting the popular film “Black Panther” to promote their own hateful vision of ethno-nationalism.

White nationalists have embraced “Black Panther,” Marvel Comics’ blockbuster, to push their argument online that nation-states should be organized by ethnic groups, according to new research published Wednesday, an unlikely convolution of the ground-breaking African superhero movie.

One popular image circulating on far-right corners of the Internet shows the title character — the superhero king of the fictional, secluded and wealthy African nation of Wakanda — wearing a red “Make Wakanda Great Again” hat. This is an explicit homage to President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign gear.

The image, first posted online in June, months before the Disney/Marvel film’s February release, carried a headline of “BLACK PANTHER IS ALT-RIGHT,” referring to the movement that espouses racist, anti-Semitic and sexist views and seeks a whites-only state. It claimed the superhero opposed immigration, diversity and democracy while favoring “ethno-nationalism” — a profound mischaracterization of the movie’s main themes, according to researchers at Data & Society, a New York-based think tank that studied far-right online conversation about the film. They said the film uses science fiction and “Afro-futurism,” a thematic exploration of African and African American history, to explore real-life questions of culture, race and politics.

This is such a crock of you-know-what. This country is thoroughly multicultural and that cannot be reversed or imagined away. We must learn to live together or we will surely destroy our great experiment in democracy.

Categories Democracy, Education Reform, Media, Racism

Idaho: Voucher Vandals Seek to Subvert State Constitution

By dianeravitch
March 12, 2018 //
10

 

Levi Cavener, a teacher in Idaho, describes a money laundering scheme meant to undermine and subvert the plain language of the State Constitution.

The goal, as usual, is vouchers for religious schools, which the State Constitution explicitly prohibits.

Demand a referendum. Find out if the people of Idaho want to amend the Constitution.

No, the privatizers won’t risk that. They fear democracy. They know only a tiny minority want religious school vouchers.

Demand a statewide vote.

Vouchers benefit no one while undercutting the public schools which enroll 90% of children.

Use democracy to protect democracy.

Categories Democracy, Idaho

Trump Organization Sets Up “Reform” Group in New York

By dianeravitch
March 4, 2018 //
10

 

Don’t be fooled. Another phony organization has set up shop in New York to cut taxes, attack unions, and reduce government services.

It is called Reclaim New York. 

It wants to eliminate waste and corruption. So do we all.

The founder, chair, director, and treasurer is Rebekah Mercer, who has been the financial backer of Breitbart and Steve Bannon (she is said to have cut off Bannon after the expose “Fire and Fury” was published, which quotes Bannon extensively about Trump’s flaws). Her father is billionaire Robert Mercer, who bankrolls the alt-right.

Reclaim New York incorporated in 2013 as a tax-exempt nonprofit. Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News and a mastermind behind Trump’s nationalist campaign, was a founding director. Laurence Levy, a longtime associate of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, filed the paperwork.

The stated mission was to be non-partisan. Tax filings show that the Mercer Family Foundation provided about $1.3 million of Reclaim’s $2 million in revenue during its first three years, including the group’s entire $1.25 million in revenue in 2015, the most recent year for which filings are publicly available.

Muir refused to say what Reclaim’s budget is now or who else is funding operations.

In 2016, a related organization called Reclaim New York Initiative incorporated as what’s technically called a “social welfare organization.” Such organizations have earned the moniker “dark money” groups because they can typically shield the names of donors from the public. New York State rules, however, do require some disclosure.

It’s through this entity that Reclaim does its lobbying.

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway was a founding director of Reclaim New York Initiative. Disclosure forms filed with New York state show Robert Mercer provided $70,855 in March last year to launch the lobbying unit.

One of Reclaim’s most visible projects is building a giant, searchable database of government spending. The group says it has filed 2,500 public records requests with government agencies across the state, including tiny villages and school districts, asking for their “checkbooks” — records of all expenditures in a given year.

Reclaim sued 11 local agencies for either denying the requests or not complying quickly enough. When it won, Reclaim fought for lawyers’ fees. One Rockland County village implored the judge to impose what it called “The Mercer Mercy Rule” and not require the cash-strapped village to pay the legal bills for the billionaire’s nonprofit. The judge agreed.

The group also holds workshops across the state in hotel conference rooms, restaurants and other local gathering spots. The events feature a presentation on New York’s “affordability crisis” and training on how to use public-records laws to keep an eye on local officials.

Watch out for Reclaim New York. It wants to destroy our state and local governments.

 

Categories Billionaires, Budget Cuts, Democracy

I Am Rooting for Ellen Lipton for Congress in Michigan

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2018 //
0

 

I met Ellen Lipton several years ago when I met with a large group of superintendents.

Ellen impressed me as smart and passionate. She understands the importance and value of public schools.

She’s running from Congress and I urge you to support her.

We need more leaders in Congress fighting for strong public schools. With Betsy DeVos’ war on public education, it’s critical that we elect dedicated champions willing to stand up and defend public education for all of us.

That’s why I am thrilled to support Ellen Lipton for Congress (MI-9). Elected three times as a state representative in Michigan, Ellen was fearless and effective in the fight against DeVos and Governor Rick Snyder’s right-wing privatization agenda. If she is elected, she won’t let us down.

Join Team Lipton now and let’s elect a committed education champion to Congress!

Ellen has a background as a patent lawyer, scientist, and public education advocate. She opposed Snyder’s failed “Educational Achievement Authority,” which put corporate profits ahead of Michigan’s students.

We must all stand together to help elect Ellen. She will be a champion for public schools in Congress.

Join us,

Diane

P.S. Want to make an even bigger impact? Chip in now to Ellen’s campaign!

 

Categories Democracy, Michigan, Politics

A Message from David Berliner about the Day of Action

By dianeravitch
February 25, 2018 //
7

David Berliner wrote a series of tweets, calling for a national teachers’ strike, on February 14, after the news of the massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That night, he combined the tweets into a short post, which I put online. That post received more than 100,000 views in a bit more than 24 hours. Clearly, many teachers, parents, and students were eager to find a way to express their sorrow and outrage.

This is the product of Dr. Berliner’s brilliant idea. 

David Berliner sent the following message as a follow-up:

“I think my essay, sent to Diane’s many followers, sparked the fire we now hope to build under the NRA. We have had enough. It’s a representative democracy and our representatives need to do what we want, not what the NRA wants.

“I had proposed May Day as the day of action. For lots of other reasons many groups preferred April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine massacre, as a day of remembrance and action. I will happily join with teachers and administrators. I will happily walk with school bus drivers and school lunchroom, janitorial, and maintenance staff. I hope also that the millions of ex-educators, parents and grand-parents are with us too, demanding safety for our children and our teachers. We need gun control and more widespread and better mental health services now!

“April 20th will be a day to show what democracy looks like. A day our citizens order our representatives to make us a safer nation.”

DCB

David C. Berliner
Regents’ Professor Emeritus
Arizona State University
120 E. Rio Salado Pkwy, #205
Tempe, AZ 85281-9116
Phone: 480-759-5049

Categories Accountability, Democracy, Education Reform, Guns in Schools, Resistance

Bill Phillis: Gubernatorial Candidates Pledge to Repeal Anti-Democratic Youngstown Plan

By dianeravitch
February 22, 2018 //
1

 

”The Youngstown Plan” was cooked up by corporate elites to strip democratic control from the people of the city and privatize their schools without their consent.

Bill Phillis of the Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy writes:

“ The “Youngstown Plan” (HB 70) catches the attention of gubernatorial candidates

“Dennis Kucinich and Joe Schiavoni agree the legislation that removes boards of education from operation of school districts (HB 70) is bad public policy. Senator Joe Schiavoni has opposed HB 70 beginning with its morally-defective process of formulation, and passage. Dennis Kucinich proposes the repeal of this legislation.

“Not even the State Board of Education members were aware of this game-changing public policy until after the Governor signed the bill. This stealthy policy proposal became law in less than 24 hours after its introduction.

“Readers may recall the current Governor and the past Superintendent of Public Instruction; along with a half dozen or so Youngstown area folks, crafted this anti-democratic policy in dark underground chambers in the Mahoning Valley-away from public view.

“Now the boards of education for Youngstown and Lorain have been stripped of their rights to operate their respective districts.”

It is up to the voters of Ohio to stop this theft of democracy.

Categories Accountability, Corporate Reformers, Democracy, Ohio, Privatization

Indiana: GOP Legislator Proposes Total Privatization of Muncie School District

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
9

 

A Republican Legislator has proposed turning over the Muncie School District to Ball State University and allowing the University to replace the elected board with an appointed one of its choosing. Muncie currently has a large deficit and an emergency manager. The state has starved the schools of adequate funding.

“During a hearing on Thursday, Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, questioned the bill’s author, Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, and the university president about a provision that would exclude a BSU-run MCS from having to follow numerous education laws.

“The bill would allow BSU to govern financially distressed MCS effective July 1 by appointing a new seven-member school board to replace the current five-member elected school board.

“There is a list four pages long, Tallian said, of “a huge part” of the Title 20 education code that the school district would not be required to follow, such as collective bargaining rights for teachers, health insurance, “the entire body of the school transportation law,” accreditation, equal education opportunity, teacher licensing, “the whole body of law about school curriculum” and data reporting.”

Ball State’s record running charter schools is unimpressive, although it’s lab school has high ratings.

“A laboratory school is a school run by a university, like Ball State’s highly rated Burris Laboratory School, which has much less poverty among students and many fewer minority students than the city school district.

“Unlike teachers in Indiana’s traditional public schools, Burris teachers lack collective bargaining rights. Charter schools are not required to participate in collective bargaining with teachers, either.

“A charter school is a public school operating under a contract, or charter, between the school’s organizers and a charter school authorizer, such as BSU, which oversees but doesn’t manage more than two dozen charter schools around the state, nearly half of which are rated D or F.”

So Ball State runs a successful elite school on campus but nearly half its charters are rated D or F.

The people of Muncie are divided about whether this is a good idea.

Ball State thinks it will burnish the university’s reputation. The heads of businesses and law firm like it. Legislators say “it’s a done deal.”

This is how democracy dies. One step at a time.

Categories Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, Indiana, Privatization

Some Good Counsel for the President on Presidents‘ Day

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2018 //
14

 

On February 13, the New York Times published a great full-page ad that consisted of quotes from previous presidents and other eminent people. It was titled “Mr. President, in anticipation of Presidents‘ Day consider the following words of counsel and caution.”

The ad contains  57 quotes. The article was summarized in Forbes, including some of them.

I could not find a link to the ad.

Here are some of the quotes.

1. Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel in order to be tough. President Franklin D. Roosevelt

2. Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may Be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of things. President John Adams

3. Let us not seek the Tepublican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.  Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us accept responsibility for the future. President John F. Kennedy

4. Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. Mark Twain

5. The freedom of speech may be taken away—and dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. President George Washington

6. It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. President Harry S Truman

7. I would rather the man who presents something for my consideration subject me to a Zephyr of truth and a gentle breeze of responsibility rather than blow me down with a curtain of hot wind. President Glover Cleveland

8. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President…is morally treasonous to the American public. President Theodore Roosevelt

9. How can we love our country, and not also love our countrymen. President Ronald Reagan

10. We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant. President Jimmy Carter

11. No person was ever honored for what he earned. Honor has been the reward for what he gave. President Calvin Coolidge

12. He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. Benjamin Franklin

13. Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost. President John Quincy Adams

21. Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching. President Thomas Jefferson

23. This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in if it is not a reasonably good place for all of us to live in. President Theodore Roosevelt

30. Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters. Albert Einstein

36. There is nothing new in the world e  pet the history you do not know. President Harry S Truman

40. It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own. President Herbert Hoover

41. When you single out any particular group of citizens for secondary citizenship status, that’s a violation of basic human rights. President Jimmy Carter

44. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

45. A people who values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. President Dwight D. Eisenhower

50. Leave the matter of religion to the Family altar, the church, and the private school. Keep the church and the state forever separate. President Ulysses S. Grant

52. No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. President Abraham Lincoln

54.You can give a man an Office, but you cannot give him Discretion. Benjamin Franklin

56. America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. President Harry S Truman

57. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

 

 

Categories Character, Citizenship, Courage, Democracy

The New York Times Editorial Board Aligns with DeVos and Koch Brothers on Education Policy

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2018 //
57

 

The New York Times is a  great newspaper. It is the most influential newspaper in the world. It has great reporters and opinion writers.

But, sadly, the New York Times has one glaring deficiency: its editorials on education echo the greedy, free-market views of Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers.

One person, Brent Staples, has written almost every education editorial for many years. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago. He is a brilliant man with a libertarian blind spot. Perhaps he studied under Milton Friedman or one of his mentees.

Whatever the case, the editorials of the Times sound as if they were written by the public relations staff of Charles Koch or Betsy DeVos.

New York Times: The time has come to decide which side you are on: those who care for the common good or those who believe in me first.

Note to the New York Times: defend democracy, not the plutocrats and privatization.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Democracy, Koch Brothers

BREAKING NEWS: Arizona Parents and Educators Win Legal Ruling vs. Koch Brothers

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2018 //
20

Great news!

SOS Arizona scored a significant legal victory over the billionaire Koch brothers in court.

After the legislature passed a bill expanding vouchers, SOS Arizona collected enough signatures to force a referendum on the expansion. Republicans intend to keep expanding until every student in the state is eligible to leave public schools.

The Koch brothers know that Arizona is ground zero in the fight to destroy public schools so they hired a legal team to knock the referendum off the ballot. They are afraid to submit their plan to the Democratic will of the voters. The Koch’s even got the legislature to pass a bill denying the tight of parents to sue, but it was too late.

“In a six-page ruling made public Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Margaret Mahoney ruled that the law in effect last year when a referendum on voucher expansion was filed did not give individuals the right to challenge petition drives.

“Mahoney acknowledged that lawmakers voted to create an individual challenge option last year, but that change took effect on Aug. 9.

“The petitions demanding a public vote on voucher expansion were turned in on Aug. 8. Quite simply, Mahoney said, there is no legal basis for the challenge to those petitions.

“The judge also rejected the contention by voucher supporters that some of the petitions had to be thrown out because the required signature of the person notarizing the document did not precisely match the name on the notary’s official stamp. Mahoney said the law doesn’t require that.

“Mahoney also rejected the contention that some petition circulators made false statements to would-be signers about what the voucher expansion law would do if allowed to take effect, including that it would be the rich who benefit. The judge said voucher supporters, in filing suit, did not identify who made such statements, to whom they were made, how they were false, and whether the person who heard the comments relied on the statements in signing the petitions.”

The lawyer for the Koch brothers vowed to appeal.

The Kochs are terrified of democracy.

A Note from SOS Arizona:

“Judge dismisses lawsuit against Save Our Schools Arizona

“We want you to be the first to know: the dark money groups that sought to prevent Arizona voters from having a say on Proposition 305 in November have gone down in defeat in Arizona Superior Court.

“In her ruling, the Honorable Margaret R. Mahoney dismissed the lawsuit “in its entirety.”

“Join us in savoring this victory, which began when we turned in your petitions and your signatures on August 8, 2017.

“While many battles remain and our opponents will likely appeal the ruling, let’s take a moment together to enjoy this huge triumph.

“Thank you for all you’ve done and will continue to do!

“The Save Our Schools Arizona Core Team”

Beth Lewis, Chair
Alison Porter, Campaign Manager
Cathy Sigmon, Treasurer
Dawn Penich-Thacker, Communications Director
Melinda Iyer, Managing Editor
Sharon Kirsch, Director of Research & Training
Allegra Fullerton, Field Manager

Please help with a contribution. Send whatever you can afford. I did. I hope you will too.

Donate

Categories Arizona, Democracy, Education Reform
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