Aug 20, 2022·edited Aug 20, 2022Liked by Robert Reich, Heather Lofthouse
I remain optimistic. All that stuff is good, but we have to grind to achieve victory.
All politics is local. I live in the Fascist state of Florida where we had 7 x the number of COVID deaths per 100,000 than other states (like California) because we were in a failed herd immunity experiment. Civil rights like freedom of assembly and voter rights have been curtailed by DeSantis and a willing state legislature. Republicans fight Mickey Mouse, our largest employer. a Republican candidate says stuff like “Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight, Let freedom ring.” Republicans have been caught in voter fraud schemes.
According to polls, De Santis, our Francisco Franco, if not Fidel Castro, leads. Of course we are still in the midst of a primary election. One poll has Val Demmings up against Little Marco Rubio by 4 points but that is an outlier.
We have to stop Fascism. DeSantis is a "very dangerous individual' because he has 'already absorbed all the lessons of Trump" but doesn't have any of the baggage. We now have a civilian-law enforcement elections-fraud squad, DeSantis' personal army. We have "Don't Say Gay" and "Stop WOKE Act" to restrict race discussions in Florida but schools must dedicate at least 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.” He made intrusions on academic freedom, and we have a “ballot harvesting” law—eliminating delivering mail-in ballots belonging to anyone except the single voter and immediate family members — a third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison and $5,000 in fines. And those are just examples.
We still have an opportunity. Field Team Six has a database of 770,734 unregistered likely Democratic women. We need help. Please contact Mervis Reissig.
I'm also beginning to become a little bit more optimistic about the House. Before the SCOTUS decision on Roe, Democrats were predicted to have a 12% chance of winning the House, now it's 22% and rising steadily. I suspect a lot of people vote gas prices, and if prices continue to fall, and Fox continues to splutter, 50% is in reach.
In contrast to many, I am not deep in despair at the state of the country and the world. It is hard for many to grasp that the overall level of violence and repression in the world is simply far less than 30 years ago, to say nothing of 60 years ago. Wars are far less common and notably less lethal. Authoritarians are regularly pushed out of power, both by public repudiation and even in elections. In the USA, the fact that 20-30% of the population has decided as a matter of tribal perspective to reject the authority of the Federal government is a huge problem, with a cyclical aspect which makes this unsurprising, however. That said, the numerous layers of loyal, institutional, government in every part of the USA at the local, state, and above all Federal level make for a profound soft power against any fascist or even authoritarian initiative. Even if gaining the Presidency, authoritarian or fascist cadres are likely to be unable to impose their will, and were unable to do so during Trump’s tenure. They will ultimately be defeated because the bulk of the population simply will not tolerate their odious initiatives.
By far the largest problem we face in the US is NOT a fascist coup but the utterly toxic dead weight of finance capitalism, which renders the electoral system barely functional, suffocates the economy, has debt enslaved much of the population, and immiserated 80-90+% of us. Capitalism prevents meaningful movement in containing the harms of climate change or implementing a fair and cost effective medical system. And on and on: capitalism is our real problem, especially because the soft middle fo the country continues in its failure to accept the reality of this before all our eyes. Unconstrained finance capitalism which has captured most of the country’s regulatory regime will assuredly kill far, far more of us incidentally than any authoritarian of fascist movement will manage to do deliberately, in my view. I’m still optimistic that their wings will be clipped, but I can’t say when because, y’know, people are dumb and voters are people.
Regarding the midterms, there will be no Red tide. This is certain, from the polls and the results so far in the primaries, to the point that leading Republican figures are cutting funding in some states and openly dialing back expectations. There is a strong probability that the Democrats will actually INCREASE their margin in the Senate, enough so to outflank both Manchin and Sinema. The House is very much uncertain. In any other election with a dicey economy, and a governing party scrambling for traction still after a razor thin general in 2020, the Repugnicants would be expected to score major gains. Rationally, the Repugnicants gaining control in the House by a single digit margin is the betting scenario. That said, the main reason that governing parties in the US have frequently lost heavily in the midterms is that independents and some party voters simply stay home. That is not going to happen in this one, by all indications in the primaries. Turnout has been high, and independents have heavily leaned toward Democrats, with Dobbs as a huge motivating factor in all that. Results thus far have more nearly indicated a _Blue wave scenario_, if not a tsunami. There is a precedent for that in 1998, where grotesque Repugnicant overreach in impeaching Clinton was punished by the voters who increased the Democratic margin in Congress, if not hugely. The unknown factor is, what are the seven-nine million libertarian nativists who never vote usually but showed up in 2020 to vote for Trump going to do. If they show and vote, the polls will be underpredicting Republican totals. If a chunk of them stay home because the Senate is not going their way regardless and Trump is not on the ballot, I’d expect the Democrats to hold the House in this one.
It’s going to be nerve wracking in November therefore, but a triple axel with a backflip to keep Congress Blue and functional is a very real possibility. The silver lining if the Democrats loose the House and can do nothing for the next two years is that Biden and Pelosi are finished, Harris will likely sink with them, and the country can move on to a Democratic leadership who will actually fight for the country and govern with a will. All said, I’m more hopeful than fearful, with the proviso that finance capitalism is going to continue to kill us and the planet both until and unless we do something about it.
Daniel, I appreciate the link, but that said I have a strong resistance to utilizing YouTube for any purpose. Yes, it's quite functional for disseminating information. I loathe who owns it and the agendas involved.
Furthermore, watching video on anything is simply not time-efficient relative to a capsule summary, and also information poor by comparison, on the whole. It's extraordinarily rare that a talking head can express themselves as concisely in real time as can a one paragraph description. Now, images do count. Images can nail a specific description, but rarely convey the corona of content around that main point. Not everyone take in well content via text, and for them the 'Tube is a godsend. There is the further point that the discipline of drawing out summary analysis is essential to deep understanding or any higher analysis, and that discipline will NOT be learned by watching 'Tube vids. It's a learning-by-doing thing, and a generation is busily not learning the skills involved. I'm going to lead them along in that trajectory as little as possible, with the understanding that, for sure, I won't be thanked for that, to put it mildly.
I don’t favor the term ‘authoritarian’ at all. This is a pseudo-category invented in the 1980s by American journalists, principally for military dictatorships such as Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey. Not coincidentally, these were all regimes allied to the US. The good ol’ democratic USA could not credibly be friendly to, in fact funding, dictatorial regimes, so the ‘d’ word was disappeared from reportage for a distortive euphemism.
That said, it is useful to define an intermediate political focus between conservatism and fascism. In my perspective and to put it all simplistically, conservatives generally revere tradition and slightly less so institutions in the form of small government, at least when those favor wealth and ‘the Establishment.’ Conservatives generally favor the rule of law, not least because they believe it will not only work in their favor but that they will enforce it and are indeed its guardians. They speak in terms of obligations, but now more so than in the past leave some room for rights.
Authoritarians or whatever we would call them by a better term do not value the rule of law, political pluralism, or individual rights, and are major proponents of state power and hence Big Government if much undemocratically so. Because they do not favor the rule of law, personal enrichment via institutions and state power tends to be endemic where authoritarians are in power. Their other values trend conservative and traditional, but this is often window dressing, to seemingly validate their self-dealing and one party rule. Authoritarians can function in nominally democratic countries as well as open dictatorships, but their perspective is generally unfair to those not of the inner circle of power, regardless of the origins or even political persuasions of the rest. They're selfish bastards, in a phrase.
Fascists are, by definition, authoritarian in operation, but they are more than that. They are the revolutionaries of the extreme right. They detest the rule of law, but neither do they actually value tradition or institutions. They are extreme national chauvinists and ethnic bigots, often open racists. These positions are not simply to validate their authority or rule but are deeply believed and definitional. Their perspective is profoundly caste driven: One ethnic group, or class, or section of a society is in the right, and others are simply unworthy, not only of power but even respect. Human rights are derided in favor of caste privileges. Because their view of other sectors of their societies is so profoundly hostile that their perspective of others tends to be dehumanizing. Controlling ‘the other’ is a definitional purpose of fascists which is used to validate their rule. In consequence, they have quite often propagated the ‘stab in the back’ position regarding others in ‘their’ own societies whom they oppose, because the other groups in society are believed to be and presented as insubordinate and treasonous by definition. Denialism and the Big Lie are signature for fascists, since any view which contrasts with theirs must be wrong, by definition, regardless of subject. Fascist parties and propaganda are characterized by extreme falsehoods and a complete disinterest in factual truth. Extreme repression is their stock in trade, because it both validates their putative superiority and is seen as all that is due to unworthy, dehumanized, personages.
By this categorization, Boris Johnson in the UK was a grifter conservative. Rajoy in Spain was a conservative. So too are Nikki Haley, Liz Cheney, Pence, and Hogan in Maryland, as well as Rogers and Barrett on the SCOTUS. Kavanaugh on the SCOTUS strikes me as simply a shitheel, which is why his vote is for sale on some issues. It pains me to say it, but I’d see both Bushes as center right, and Merkel of Germany as well.
By contrast, the military dictatorships mentioned above were authoritarian. So was Malathir in Malaysia, Fujimori in Peru, Erdogan now in Turkey, the PiS party in power in Poland, and the current regimes in Burma, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Rajapaksa expelled from Sri Lanka was authoritarian. Modi in India is an authoritarian who, however, openly panders to entirely fascist factions in his government coalition. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are authoritarian, although those in power seem to be experimenting with fascism as a better deal for themselves. Thatcher was a definitional authoritarian. Reagan was authoritarian, but constrained by the government process of the time. Dick Cheney was an authoritarian who, in different circumstances would have been a fascist, in my view. Gingrich was a grifter authoritarian. Also authoritarian are DeSantis in Florida, Abbott in Texas, and Meadows in Trump’s government, although DeSantis is auditioning to be a fascist if there's a job opening for that. Alito and Scalia on the SCOTUS have both been definitionally authoritarian.
The military juntas in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil were definitionally fascist. Uribe and Duque in Colombia were both fascists---and to no surprise the good ol' USA funded them and backed them to the hilt like those other regimes before them. The Baathists in Iraq and Syria held a middle ground, but it is easiest to characterize them as fascist in my view. There was a Sinhalese fascist movement in Sri Lanka which tried to overthrow the government so it could massacre Tamils, only for the government to slaughter them as a matter of its own survival. Milosevic in Serbia worked himself into a fascist. Putin is very much a fascist. Orbán would love to be a fascist if he could get away with it. Duterte in the Philippines was a fascist. The TPFLA in Ethiopia has descended into fascism, and Afwerki in Eritrea has been there for some time. Zionism as an ideology is definitionally a fascist movement, as is the structure of power in Israel, even if many parties in Israel, even conservative ones, are not necessarily such, and the country as a whole masquerades as a marginal democracy. Dominic Cummings, Svengali to Boris Johnson in the UK, was a frightening fascist, and several other extreme Brexiters fit that profile, too. Steve Bannon, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley are, by their actions, fascist in my book. McCarthy in House and Noemi in South Dakota have descended into fascism. Trump’s denialist horde are functionally fascist, and increasingly openly so. While Thomas on the SCOTUS is hard to categorize, his perspective is functionally fascist. Gorsuch seems to be trending that way.
Trump is too mentally unstable to have an ideology. If he could maintain one, he would certainly be a fascist, by his numerous past actions.
While I broadly agree with your reading of the characters of Trump and Thomas both, I wouldn't call your descriptions ideologies: I'd call them personalities.
By ideology, I mean in this instance a political worldview, within the confines of which actions and statements are located. Hitler had an ideology as well as a highly disturbed personality. I do think that Thomas has an ideology, but he's not enough of an intellect to focus on expressing himself that way. Trump is too chaotic to maintain a perspective. And too sociopathic in the technical sense: he's all about himself, there isn't room for a worldview. That, he likely acquired from his father, a similar if more coherent personality.
A question is raised at the end of this video that's worth considering. Otherwise, it serves as a reminder of ol' Tweety's efforts along the lines the Tweety-tossers claim Garland is doing: https://youtu.be/Jdg9m52C1CM Spoiler alert: ol' Tweety knows what documents he has. Just my two cents in this discussion.
Anyone ever see the movie Bad Day at Black Rock, with Spencer Tracy as a one-armed war hero, Robert Ryan as the main villain, and a very young Lee Marvin as a tough guy?
This excellent film, directed by John Sturges and generally considered a neo-Western, was intended as a criticism of the racism and McCarthyism that was so prominent in the US during the 1950s.
An irrelevant coincidence, probably, but interesting I think.
And art can explain history too, but some people just don't get that. As an example, yesterday I read part of a review of Hell in the Pacific on Amazon, which is another of my all time favorite movies.
For those not familiar with this movie, it has just 2 characters, both played by actors who did not understand each others language, both in the movie and in real life. The dialogue was almost completely improvised by the actors, Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. The director coached Mifune through a translator, and basically turned Marvin loose, which is why there are so many hilarious scenes.
The writer of the review I read complained the script was crude and not well written. I think this is one of the most realistic war movies I have even seen, and stopped reading that review right there.
I first saw Bad Day at Black Rock on PBS many years ago as one of a series of films that each included introductory and concluding comments by the noted director and film historian Costa-Gavras. I watched that entire series of films over a period of a few months and Bad Day at Black Rock is one of just 2 films from that series that I remember. The other is Hell in the Pacific.
Costa-Gavras said that the Spencer Tracy character of the one-armed war hero , who could throw a helluva punch in a fist fight when absolutely necessary, was an allegory for democracy, and the Robert Ryan character of the murderous villain was an allegorical representation of racism and tyranny.
Most of us have zero idea of how much is at stake and how much trouble we are in. Reasons: lousy public education past 40+ years bc defunded by congresses, cultural history of ignoring civics in education, lousy mainstream coverage of issues and connections between domestic policy and climate and foreign policy. Nobody connects war + drought + famine + drought + migration + economics. Forecast: we lose the House, keep Senate. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/
Our commercial culture of BS does many things, including hiding how much trouble we are in. And so the corporate world is largely in cahoots with knownothingness. But the fact is we've entered the rapids of a new era of change but people assume things will continue much as before. I think we will lose the House, and a little optimistic about the Senate.Things are in play, and that favors Dems a bit, so anything is possible.
Wonder if you came across the article in The Atlantic (July 2019) by Nick Hanauer, "Better Schools Won't Fix America." He sums it up as follows: "Great public schools are the product of a thriving middle class, not the other way around."
I also forecast we'll keep the Senate and lose the House. Upwards of 25 incumbent Democrats in the House are retiring -- a 30 year record. Only twice in the past century has the party holding the White House managed to keep the House during the first mid-terms election. To break that pattern will require lots of motivated young people.
Thomas ; we also have to ignore mainstream media's repeated mantra that this I what will happen, because it has statistically happened, blah blah blah. It's amazing how it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Because it was on TV. Or the internet, or the news. Let's see if we can message that it does not have to be that way. Or we might as well let the GOP take over with their voter fraud.
I totally agree with you. Those predictions are unnecessary and help shape outcomes. It would also be helpful if the mainstream media would stop flashing tRump’s photo, covering his utterances and show something else. Even MSNBC . I just turn it off. It’s all Trump.
I am in total agreement, the trumpster is a small boy in a fat man's body who wants to be noticed, He doesn't care if that notice is negative or positive (like most youngsters) so why is mainstream media, (newspapers and TV) giving him what he wants? Doe he have something brilliant to say? are words of wisdom dripping from those fat lips? Ignore the SOB and let him fade into the obscurity he deserves.
And better yet,what has he done for the planet,the folks,wildlife and all gifts to us from God?He's all about himself,that's no way to govern,oh right ,he doesn't, he's a fricken dictator who more than likely sold us out.
Far more of us! Fox News will be happy with your assessment. Trump needs to be in prison to ease the minds of Democrats. The nail in Trump’s coffin is coming up at the final J6 hearing.
Trump won't see a day in prison. Biden and Garland don't really want to prosecute him. He will walk just like he always does because we have two sets of justice, one for rich and powerful and one for the rest of us.
Fully disagree. They would not use a warrant to search Mari Lago if they did not have evidence beyond s doubt. Way to far in to legal issues for this to go away. There is tremendous caution used because I think this will be a sweep.
Granted, our system is broken & fully unfair. Dark money & rt wing media is creating a very stressful situation. But we’ve watched them push in incompetent judges while still trying to please the idiots. That must be addressed & we must win.
Great public schools are the product of public funding. Public education is the key to informed critical thinking. Every test of voters shows this. And here: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/climate-change-opinion-map/ So what do we think is wrong in Boston public schools where student come out nearly innumerate but teachers are in fact well paid?
There are some good points about education being made here, but there is a very important point that I think is being missed. I think good public schools take a certain amount of progressivism in society, and we simply don't have enough of that lately.
A significant part of society is trying to dominate the rest of us, while most of the rest of us are either just trying to hang onto what they have, or are simply trying to survive. So the problem is that too many people reject progressivism as unnecessary or even dangerous, while the rest of us are too busy trying to get by to be very progressive. To me that simply looks like another divide and conquer scheme, and a very effective one at that.
I'm glad to hear Boston teachers are "well paid," but elsewhere in the U.S. it is mostly not close to as well paid as the average of college-degreed people.
True enough. The point is that if Boston public school teachers get $100,000/year (yes they do) plus very generous retirement packages and the students still come out nearly innumerate, what are the missing elements in educating students?
Every teacher in the Boston School District makes $100,000 per year? or is that the median pay? Does it include administrator's salaries? If you're getting your information from the District or the media, question what it means. I retired from school teaching in 1988 in the Sacramento Area, my income that year was $44,400, slightly above the median pay for the District in which I taught. This was good for the time and the area, but I have a Master's degree, at that time adding about $1000 a year to my pay check. When quoting salary statistics you need all the information. As to the retirement package I don't know about Boston, but in my District I paid 7% of my income into the State Teachers Retirement fund. And I still receive a walloping $1387/month
I retired from teaching in Arizona and after teaching for 25 years with a Masters my last contract was $44,000. I also paid 12% of my salary into my retirement. I am pretty thrilled to get my monthly check of $2,200.
I believe you, Ms. Ture. I don't know why students leave Boston schools "innumerate." Very regrettable. I found a reference for my statement about generally underpaid American teachers. It's "Teachers earn 23.5% less than comparable college graduates" in epi.org, the newsletter of the Economic Policy Institute, for Wed., Aug. 17, 2022. Each state appears on a map with very few states paying teachers at average or above for college grads. (Another goal for politicians.)
“... the average public school teacher salary in Boston was $68,466, according to salary.com, but the range typically falls between $59,766 and $79,057.” Mar 6, 2022
Perhaps we should examine this question: "Is traditional schooling the most effective way to achieve an educated citizenry in the 21st century?" We're in an age where our learning will need to be both communal and self-directed, as it is continuous. Schools WILL play a part, but the days of relying on schools for the kind of education that's needed are long past.
Well I began to like school when I was moved to a Catholic school where lessons were totally interactive. Like law school, the Socratic method. I was bored in public school. That was decades ago. I don’t know how schools teach today
Maggie I'm so happy that you were exposed the the Socratic style of teaching. That is not always possible in public schools where 'approved subject matter' is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, I was fortunate that my degrees are in the physical sciences, so I was able to teach on my own. Most of my colleagues had to comply with the silence is golden and don't confuse the kids with facts method.
Well nothing was controversial. It was middle school: doing math in your head while the teacher added, subtracted, multiplied and divided. And diagramming sentences on the board, which I still do - at least in my head- when I’m writing. The teacher asked questions about the history , etc., which was probably a screwed up text, snd religion. It was more about focusing. Anyway I doubt they do it anywhere in lower grades. I would probably have been diagnosed as ADD. But I learned to focus. And to think.
Thomas, have you visited a classroom lately? Classrooms are challenging and exciting places to be. As well as public schools being “the final meeting place of the community,” where students mix and work side-by-side with their generation’s accountants, health care professionals, hockey players, entertainers, computer engineers, tradespeople, and entrepreneurs--traditional schooling IS self-directed and guided. “The days of education for the kind of education that’s needed are past,” is indication of something personal, but it’s not education.
Prior to the pandemic, and being semi-retired here in Georgia, I had for several years been spending around 12 hours per week as a volunteer in a local elementary school. I was a technical advisor in one of the STEM programs. The "classroom" you are describing might be an inaccurate over-generalization, at least here in Georgia -- which has 159 counties, most of them rural.
Way back in 1960s, when I was in junior high in one of Michigan's best school systems, I came across Thoreau's observation about people leading lives of quiet desperation, and it made me start to think. (The short Alan Watts video "Music and Life" kind of nails it.) Let's face it, most people go through life not even being aware of their unique talents and gifts, far less making use of them to achieve a satisfying life. Formal schooling plays a part in that.
Ken Taylor (your name's same as historic, deceptively low-key, Cdn icon). You seem to throw-baby-out-with-bathwater and see glass-half-full. System I got to experience is as you suggest it should be. Your assessments on how-it-ought-to-be are TRUE because of dedicated teachers. I mean, don't despair, teachers make this work. Your words reflect positivity that rests in the vibrancy of schools based on work that goes on. *Education today is about valuing and enhancing personal experience and personal interest. Schools are places where students' enthusiasm and interest is recognized and embraced. Teachers guide students to enhance and expand foundations with students personal experiences and interests.* A person builds by asking questions and undertaking projects to find out more. PS marks are merely feedback--show me my number (my score) so I can forget about that and get down to the real business of what's interesting and exciting to me. [Funny is the look on competitive kid's face, "What mark would you LIKE to have?" and say, "Okay," to which they stammer, "Well, THAT'S not fair!" Well, if I asked you all the right questions, some that weren't on the exam, and some only managed to confuse you, the fault of a question--so my test wasn't really a reflection of what you would have got if only I had asked you all "YOUR" questions, so let's give you that? Assuring them they mastered foundation material means redirecting competitive impulses in the right direction--which is their interest for leaping-off-point with the material, and not the gold stars. Or limiting marks, instead of 100, use /3, or out of /5--A, B, C+, C, C-.] Yours was how it ought to be meantime teachers HAVE got this one. Re "Everything today is more about passing the educational success wagon to move on to future success rather than real understanding that comes from personal experience and personal interest. Schools need to be a place of guidance that recognize these differences and teachers should be guides that show students how to enhance and expand those experiences and interests." Roger that.
So very true. I lived in a commune, and our school was based on Montessori techniques, at least in the lower grades. Kids grew up to be doctors, writers, international choreographers and many other thins. They learned to learn.
Martha, The Boston Herald is a biased news source against unions, against public education, “Overall, we rate the Boston Herald Right-Center biased based on editorial positions that Moderately favor the right and High for factual reporting“, meantime the Boston Herald’s Marie Szaniszlo wrote, March 6, 2022 without naming the source, some “Watchdog: Unions Drive Teacher Salaries. The high wages of teachers in Boston, where nearly 3,000 [of 4,403] are paid six-figure salaries, reflects the strength of their union and suggests that a district plagued by “chronic underperformance” may be more geared toward the adults running it than the children it serves, watchdogs say.”
It seems necessary to explain that “high wages” are [via teacher-contributors on this platform, and Internet sources say the term in this context means] 12% below average of employees with their same education. On average Boston teachers earn $62,130 in 2022, and that “underperforming” means bathroom renovations and late or absent school buses are top of Boston school district’s underperformance list. NOTHING to do with student achievement, which Libertarians nor The Boston Herald commented on.
PS most public school teachers are union members, “According to a recent Economic Policy Institute report, teachers are paid 21.4% less than similarly educated and experienced professionals.” Business Insider, Melanie Weir, Oct 4, 2019
You need a college degree to teach and you only get 62K. That is the median income. Median means half get less and half get more. In Florida I think teachers get about 40K. Schools in Florida were a jungle when I was there. A prison for teenagers. Skipping school was the most fun I ever had in school.
Martha, Did you see some headline and just ran with it? Why are you disrespecting Boston’s public schools? (The link you provided was about climate change). And I thought I would search and find failure of quality of education in Boston, but no--failure to renovate 2 of 29 bathrooms and failure to run school buses on time (and trouble for skipping data about scheduled school buses that failed to arrive at all). Your alarmist comment threw shade on teachers and education within public schools in Boston as if they are bad--but they are good. Libertarians would like to see public schools in Boston closed. Is that the point you are making?
“... a libertarian-leaning think tank based in Boston has endorsed receivership, said that the report confirmed that problems in Boston "are getting worse" and the central office is no longer capable of making needed changes. The group urged elected officials to join together and appoint a receiver who will take control of the city’s schools for the next six years.
[However] Ruby Reyes, director of a nonprofit that works with families at struggling schools, said the report and the push for receivership is by Republican officials who want to control the district because they support putting a private entity in charge of schools.
"It’s a political power play, as opposed to the quality of education that students are receiving across the state," Reyes said. "Where there is a receivership, school districts have not prospered over the long term.” GNH News, Meg Woolhouse, May 23, 2022.
I am not intending to show disrespect of Boston's public schools. The link I provided was about Boston school teachers' pay, not about climate change. But here is the quote: "A Herald analysis of payroll data found that 2,905 teachers earn more than $100,000 annually, compared to the average per capita income of $44,690 in Boston in 2019, the most recent year for which the U.S. Census Bureau has statistics. Mar 6, 2022. " https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/06/bps-teacher-100k-salaries-at-a-glance/ I was quite surprised by the data. This is not alarmism on my part. It's just facts. The problem we need to think about is why are students failing to learn what they need to learn in public schools when one of the factors we usually think about as an issue, teacher compensation, is not an issue. So what are the issues? https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/24/metro/key-takeaways-states-review-boston-public-schools/. Issues: Lack of transportation. Bullying. 37 percent of BPS’ central office leadership — 19 administrators — have left the district since the state conducted its initial review in fall 2019, a pattern that holds back progress. BPS is currently seeking its fifth superintendent since 2013. No specific plan for meeting goals.
Etc.
I personally deplore public funding of private schools. I raised two boys in Contra Costa County and Nevada County, California, and went through their textbooks and homework with them. The crap they were being taught and what they were not being taught made it clear that their classmates were going to graduate high school as dunderheads. My boys, fortunately for them, were raised in a house where learning was a delight. As for bullying, my partner and I were obliged to tell the high school gym teacher in front of the principal and counselor that if we ever heard of his laying hands on another student, we would personally come to the school and beat him to a pulp in front of the students. I raised him from his chair by his necktie to make sure he understood me.
Students in Boston are NOT failing, teachers’ pay is not above average for the work involved and the foundation of education required, The Herald Is not unbiased (would like to discredit public system and go private, i.e. Libertarian-right). So-much-for those “facts.” As for attrition of senior staff or superintendents, a) recent era has been tough for workers, covid implementations doubled teacher work-load (hybrid of online AND in-person models of teaching delivery); b) boomer generation is retiring, predictably en masse. Taking a swing at public education is a punching bag for “less government”-type people who feel children and educators are ignorant, expensive, and undeserving, despite the facts. “If I were king, students would be smarter, know more, and I know of what I speak, I read a book,” or, in this case, the reportedly, reliably right-wing Boston Herald. Widen sources, consider personal motives for taking a position on continuum of editorializing about public education, undertake homework, a field trip to on-ground investigation, ask kids and parents whether schools are failing at things beyond renovating bathrooms and running buses on time. Throwing dirt on hard-working public servants is a pastime, easy targets, by glass-half-fulls, know-naughts of what they speak, committed to do-nothing, from a vantage-point of not seeing personal benefits in a public-good not directed at them. The source is biased to provoke enthusiasm for following entitled wannabe leadership to abandon community support for students and teachers. Apparently they won, one point for Slytherin.
Depends on what you consider well paid, for one thing. For a second thing, are teachers allowed to teach approved subject matter in their own style or must they observe the silence is golden style? And most of all do the teachers have the support of the community or do they have to commit to the beliefs of that community? (A former teacher)
Gov. DeStupid seems to have alot to say about edu. nowadays.(I don't remember a Gov. ever doing that)He gives the University professors a 'political survey every year and it could affect their tenure.Hmm! Then we have 'Don't say gay'stupidity from him,he thinks Dems are 'grooming and sexualizing'children,can't teach CRT ,even though it's part of our history. He is so disgusting,I can't stand the sight of him.Then,has the audacity to call Fla. free.
I'm happy for the letter carrier and I'm nor concerned if they are making a decent wage BUT everyone deserves a decent living - not obscene like the ultra-wealthy but sufficient for a decent home, transportation, nutrition, healthcare and relaxation. I also don't believe that because I have a Master's Degree that somehow makes me better than or more entitled than say an auto mechanic. We both have skills we had to learn and we are both valuable to society.
Hi Ken, thank you for this very responsible reply. Every living animal, including Homo sapiens, learn best and permanently, by building on what they already know. This was the only useful thing I got from all the education classes I took to receive my teaching credential, As you so beautifully pointed out we do not learn from being lectured at. The attention span of adults is 20 minutes, that of children far lesser. Have you ever notice how quickly an infant is distracted from anything except suckling (bottle or breast). Silent classrooms are the goal of administrators and teachers who don't really like children, The best teachers encourage children to ask questions and discuss with each other the lesson of the moment. I confined my explanation of the lesson to no more than 10 minutes. Of course, I did have the advantage of teaching science,. which if taught properly is definitely hands on.
Ken, you imagine you know what modern education is like—your eyes? tell you students sit there? waiting to be told stuff? YOU figure you-alone stumbled on this? “Play is work”—you? Only just realized? Well, hallelujah. Teaching is a 3-5 year degree PLUS 1-2 years of courses and classroom practice WITH a skilled mentor. Courses in curriculum, pedagogy, psychology, history, counselling, administration—apply yourself, do the work, the reading and projects, and 5-years will have one “standing on the shoulders of giants.” The 1-2 YEARS of teacher training is on TOP of a math, English, history, business, music, theatre, fine arts, physical education/ health sciences, of 3-5 years. You cannot “be” a teacher without the credential to prove your value-add in getting educated to learn to educate. Ouch—you learned from somewhere that “play will teach” people what they need to know! School IS play, playing with words, ideas, tools, instruments, creating. I cannot believe people pretend to be so ignorant of contributions public school classroom teachers make. I think some couch-critics believe “they” could do better because … they sat in a classroom and remember what they THOUGHT their role was (just doing-time). Some people engage in life and learning, some wait for the rush to subside so they can see clearly what they might have done if they had taken opportunities that lay in their path, including gifted teachers, instructors, mentors. Sleeping or slouching through years of excitement then shooting down individuals for their perceived ignorance in professional teaching practice.
NO!!!!! Absolutely not. Unless they're in the enlightened minority, that's us of course. Just heard a Rep. offer their idiotic criticism of Joe B./Dems. The Rep. seem to think that all they had to say was "big government." At least in their mind, that was the end of the discussion. My reply to that is if it wasn't for Big Government starting 12/7/1941 we wouldn't be having this conversation in English. We need to counteract the Rep's favorite terms, of which there are more than a few. Here's my start: The scariest eight words in the English language: "I'm a Republican and I'm here to help." I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. Another one: Does capitalism produce goods and services? Of course not. Neither does socialism or an other form of government. All the goodies get produced by human labor, physical or mental. What do I Iike about Joe B. He does his best to act like a human being. He doesn't cave in to the Rep.'s threats, like Clinton and Obama.
Republicans don't have diabetes. Don need baby formula. Don't want to prosecute price fixers, price gougers. Some want to sunset Social Security and Medicare.
Actually the trick is to out register and out vote them.
Ken.....Rick Scott is just a thief like Trump and the rest. Florida is full of people who don't want to pay taxes and stupid rednecks who just want their guns. You drive 30 miles outside of any major city in Florida and you are in the deep south where time has stood still for 100 years. We have millions of retirees who come to Florida and resist paying taxes. They live in the "Villages" in Ocala. Ocala is the armpit of Florida. Almost as bad as "Lake City" in N. Florida.
'I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. '
Roger that. Everyone who's asked this should buy and read: "The Language of the Third Reich: A Philologist's Notebook", published as Lingua Tertii Imperii: Notizbuch eines Philologen (1947) by Victor Klemperer, Professor of Literature at the Dresden University of Technology.
Written throughout the Second World War in Dresden by former university professor Klemperer in secret, it explored Nazi Newspeak. Your suggestion is a curative dictionary of the truth. Go for it!
Waiting to have coffee with y'all -- excuse me, I'm from Georgia -- is one of my favorite parts of the week. Thanks to chat rooms on the Internet, I can play it in a room with several like-minded political junkies.
Do we understand the fight we're in? ... I wonder. In my work life, I was employed by a few multinational corporations, and the tone and tenor of what is happening in America now goes back to those companies and how people reacted when faced with "downsizing" and the loss of thousands of jobs. (How we as a society responded to the pandemic is a good indicator. I well recall my first polio shot in the 1950s -- and I can't remember ANYONE questioning the science. )
A successful "long game" in the fight we're in has been conducted by the religious right (Christian nationalists) who insist there is no separation between church and state -- and funded by billionaires who are opposed to any means to more equitably distribute wealth. One of the key fronts in the battle comes in the form of our public schools. Here is what we are up against, make no mistake:
"So let's be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we raise up a generation of people who know there is NO religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a bible based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of G-d."
I remember how glad my paternal grandmother was when her oldest grandson, me, got my first polio shot. During the late 1920s she treated her 2 youngest sons for polio, at home in a farmhouse. They borrowed every flatiron they could and she used those flatirons, well-heated and wrapped in sheets and towels, to keep the body temperatures of those 2 boys as high as possible for 4 days.
That treatment was intended to make the disease progress rapidly with as little tissue damage as possible. This was done on the advice of their doctor, and was the standard treatment for polio in those days. The success rate for this treatment was generally about 50 percent, and this was the result in Grandma's effort, The oldest boy, aged about 4 at the time, survived, went to the South Pacific with the USMC, and then worked at high-lead logging until age 75. The 2-year-old died. My father, then about 6, was sent to an uncle's house on the other side of the river, and so never got polio.
So Grandma was very, very pleased when her grandchildren began to get polio shots in the mid-1950s. As you point out, no one questioned the science of vaccination at the time.
The prevalence of members of law enforcement and military among the mob that stormed the Capitol certainly evokes the specter of fascism. There were several reports that some members of the capitol police knew of the planned Illegal and armed entry of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and even opened doors for them. We now know the Secret Service knew in advance of the planned attacks on Nancy Pelosi and did not warn her. It’s come to light that the inspector general of Homeland Security knew of the deletions of Secret Service phone messages from January 6th and withheld that information, for more than a year, from the Congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
It goes on and on. It’s known now that right-wing legislators in Arizona were willing to reverse the votes of the 2020 election and went so far as to create a slate of “fake” electors to replace the real ones. And so much more around the country.
I’d say we’ve moved into authoritarianism in Florida (with removal of an elected prosecutor; and muzzling of private businesses’ content in their employees’ on-the-job training — actions that have been commonplace, for some time, in Russia and Hungary and Belarus all modeled on authoritarian rule .)
I’d say we need to be very worried, and VERY scared and do EVERYTHING we can to thwart more take-over and subversion of our democracy. It’s no longer just about voting. All of us need to get involved in the making and passing of our laws.
Our elected officials are NOT going to save us. We must save ourselves, our democracy. We must get active now — somehow. Really, our democratic life is being disassembled, brick by brick, right before our eyes.
We need to look at recent state and local laws. Go to city council and county board meetings and attend public hearings of our state legislatures — this is where a lot of this stuff is happening. We need to speak out in these under-the-radar public forums. Participate in democracy!
We the people have the power to save our democracy, to prevent further subversion of our democratic government, to prevent our accelerating slide into authoritarianism — possibly into fascism.
We can do this. And, if we don’t, no one else will. No one can do it for us, nor should they. We CAN DO this.
We must save ourselves with each other. We must have each other’s back, and the back of democracy.
No, DeSantis is a fascist, not a Nazi. That doesn't make him any more acceptable; it's just that I think using accurate terminology is one thing that separates most educated people from Trumpists.
I agree with you Kara, but there is a problem, the City Councils and County Boards of Supervisors meet during the day. The Boards of Education usually meet once a month in the evening. Most working people work during the day, and those with 2 or more jobs work morning. noon, and night, so that conveniently deters the average citizen from "interfering" with elected officials business. Those citizens who do attend generally have an axe to grind. Many of them are either self employed and can take time off, or Seniors. As an instance, in Sacramento City and County districts ( and the county is territorial and population larger) one of the major problems is homelessness. The City mayor favors housing and caring for the homeless, giving them treatment for mental and physical health and addiction, as well as responsible job training. The County just wants the problem to 'disappear'. So, who attends the meetings? The financially well off, well educated citizens, and the retired elderly, who can't see beyond the balance in their checking accounts and think, run the homeless off, end of problem. The mayor is right of course, but the 'involved' citizenry refuse to accept this.
Terrific idea. Sort of like online town hall meetings, Since younger people spend a lot more time on social media, they might consider this as a way to be heard, Which reminds me of something related,. I was thinking of the old Simon and Garfield song 'The Sounds of Silence' and one line in particular, "people hearing without listening". I think that's a problem with some of our MAGA friends they "hear" but they don't listen, While I was teaching we were encouraged to take classes outside of school (the inducement was an increase in pay for every 15 units acquired (:-) One of the classes I took was in listening skills. My biggest takeaway from the class is most of us, including me at the time, don't really listen, We are thinking of how we will respond (or for teenagers something totally unrelated (:-) I was so excited that I taught 10 minutes of listening skills every day. I don't know how many of my students accepted the idea of really listening, not just hearing, but I hope a few got the message. I don't think many of the MAGA folk really listen, they "hear" the trumpster telling them how he 'loves' the flag, or America, or them and they never look or think about his theatrical presentation, they are too busy convincing themselves that, at last, a politician who understands them.
There's a world of difference between "facts" and "truth", and many people don't seem to get that difference. That's part of why Trumpers are so loyal despite all of the appalling things he's said and done. One of those truths is this country's drift towards a fascist orientation, which implies a lack of appreciation of how that change would affect their lives. Some people would lose much of what makes life in a democracy more rich and rewarding: Things like diversity, opportunity to grow both economically and as a person, and access to a rich palette of cultures would diminish under the narrow, intolerant version of government that Trump and the radical Republicans are offering. In a time of rapid change, that may seem comforting and safe to many of those who are losing ground. But it's an illusion to believe that the world they seek is better than the one we're building now. I hope that the candidates who win in 2022 and 2024 do so by offering hope, opportunity and freedom, not dictatorial government, exclusion and prejudice.
Now, now, don't talk bad about my relatives. I have a soft spot in my heart for Neanderthals. They survived for 300,000 years in Ice Age Europe before we got there. We modern humans have Neanderthal DNA being about 2-3% in us. I got the Neanderthal brain. Works very well unless I see a saber toothed cat go by.
I guess if you're defining "racist subconscious" as a distrust of anyone who's not just like you, then you're probably right. Kind of brings back the idea of "The Naked Ape" who's always lurking just below the horizon of consciousness.
The distinctions blur at the genetic level, and in appearance too. Think also about the opposition to Irish, Italian, Eastern European, etc. immigration in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Bias of this sort is primarily cultural, and often political. It can be learned, and it can be unlearned. It's not easy to "deprogram" yourself, but think about what could happen to our society if we don't.
A point of curiosity for me is how quickly humans spread to all the unfrozen continents. It’s like there is a social force of repulsion between peoples who see mutual differences in appearance. The physiognomy of faces changes most rapidly over just a few hundred generations; most other gene-linked elements are much slower. Faces define “us” and “them” and we fear “them.”
I think that, although the Inflation Reduction act was passed with Biden's strong input, we should not promote it as a win for Biden and the Democrats, but as a win for ALL American people, Republican, Independent , and Democrat. And we were successful without a single Republican vote.
I empathize with the sentiments, but I hate to see Progressives get drawn into this constant “fight” mentality. Fighting, othering, posing enemies, dividing-and-conquering and ultimately hating. That's all stuff of modern day Conservatism. So long as we get sucked into playing that game, by those rules, we will always be at a disadvantage because it’s not in Progressive nature to be equally mean-spirited and vicious — nor should it be.
Boxer Muhammed Ali had a technique called “Rope a Dope” wherein he’d protect his vitals and draw the opponent into expending all his energy in landing a barrage of useless blows. When the opponent was then exhausted, Ali could step in for the kill. Let’s not get rope-a-doped by the dark forces of Conservatism.
With atl the knowledge and resources available today, we really *can* have a country that works for the benefit of all. Let’s focus on that and rally the country to a better future -- for everyone.
I believe the election this fall will witness the largest percentage of registered voters in history. The sleepy people have been awakened by the fascists and religious extremists. Choice and democracy are clearly threatened by the reactionary radicals embracing election lies, banning books, restricting women's rights...and now a theft of top secret documents. Talk about motivation.
The frosting on the cake is the positive stuff recently passed and signed.
Oh...and the fiasco around veterans and burn pits? Indefensible.
We'll keep the House barely and we will have 52 Senators. Forward ho.
Thank you Heather for asking, and Bob for explaining both fascism and authoritarianism. Dr Reich, I liked you description of fascism as using racism and nationalism, but as I remember the 1926 to 1945 fascists I think you left out their use of the industrial/military complex, which both Hitler and Mussolini used so successfully. Japan was not fascist it was authoritarianism at its worst. I think of authoritarianism as "Please, Daddy tell me what to think, so I don't have to"
It may be interesting to reflect on the term belief in its context with religion and the great turmoil of the Reformation period. Where many stated that true belief was not a function of understanding, but rather an acceptance of authority and the complete obedience to it. 100% obedience. Authoritarianism is totally dependent on such automatic obedience. Culture wars, Republican dross and much of the duplicitous media are now all in on creating that mindless obedience as the primary road to their authoritarianism. The strategy is not to have a platform, an actual polity or a reasoned leadership, but simply to germinate a 16th century game of pure hatred and divisiveness as a permanent equation to political tyranny. Belief may often be thought of as a sacred thing, but criminally and horrifically constructed as a very undemocratic means…it is anything but. We now fight belief as an orchestrated nuclear first strike. The world has been here before.
The struggle we are in is against a system, not a specific political party. While the Republicans are pushing theocracy and xenophobia as their platform, the Democrats has been do as much for corporate America and as little for the people as possible over the past 40 years. In fact, Democrats have pushed austerity, militarism, for-profit health care, mass incarceration, overpolicing and immigrant abuse as much or more than Republicans over this period. Instead of wondering if the Inflation Reduction Act, which the CBO says will do nothing to reduce inflation, has the "sails at Biden's back," we should be wondering how we get such a paltry legislation with so little truly for 99% of us in it. Compromise is not between President Manchin, his VP Sinema and the negotiator-in-chief Biden, it's between Democrats and the lobbyists writing the legislation. Until that is fixed, we will keep playing the game of relativism, being frightened into supporting Democrats because Republicans are so awful while the rug is literally pulled out from under us. We should not have to be protecting and supporting our leaders, they should be protecting and supporting us.
Looking back, it's hard for me to find a more pivotal failure than Barack Obama's breaking of his promise to push the Freedom of Choice Act in his first term -- which would have codified Roe into law. He promised on the campaign trail it would be his highest priority. With that Act signed into law, all of the drama and kabuki dance around Supreme Court nominations would have ground to a halt.
No Mitch McConnell holding out a carrot to evangelicals who formed trump's base.
I am cynical enough to believe that not passing the law and keeping the Roe status quo was done because it was a terrific source of fund raising.
I’m with you and Bernie on this, and Bernie did finally vote in favor of the IRA as the good slightly outweighed the bad. Along with Bernie I’ll keep pressing onwards for more.
I am a new subscriber and love the content. I think that fascism in the 21st century looks different than in the 20th century, as in Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin. Moving towards a fascist state is an incremental process, as illustrated by Orban in Hungary. I do think that the GOP is definitely taking steps to create a White, Christian, nationalist state with an authoritarian leader, similar to China and Russia. The upcoming elections in the USA should prove to be very interesting.
I remain optimistic. All that stuff is good, but we have to grind to achieve victory.
All politics is local. I live in the Fascist state of Florida where we had 7 x the number of COVID deaths per 100,000 than other states (like California) because we were in a failed herd immunity experiment. Civil rights like freedom of assembly and voter rights have been curtailed by DeSantis and a willing state legislature. Republicans fight Mickey Mouse, our largest employer. a Republican candidate says stuff like “Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight, Let freedom ring.” Republicans have been caught in voter fraud schemes.
According to polls, De Santis, our Francisco Franco, if not Fidel Castro, leads. Of course we are still in the midst of a primary election. One poll has Val Demmings up against Little Marco Rubio by 4 points but that is an outlier.
Democrats used to have a large majority, but now are a minority party, partly due to voter preclusion but also because of an influx of voters from out of state. However, the pandemic kept people from voting and many renters had to relocate and were struck from the rolls. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article264584481.html?ac_cid=DM686959&ac_bid=712207332
We have to stop Fascism. DeSantis is a "very dangerous individual' because he has 'already absorbed all the lessons of Trump" but doesn't have any of the baggage. We now have a civilian-law enforcement elections-fraud squad, DeSantis' personal army. We have "Don't Say Gay" and "Stop WOKE Act" to restrict race discussions in Florida but schools must dedicate at least 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.” He made intrusions on academic freedom, and we have a “ballot harvesting” law—eliminating delivering mail-in ballots belonging to anyone except the single voter and immediate family members — a third-degree felony punishable by five years in prison and $5,000 in fines. And those are just examples.
We still have an opportunity. Field Team Six has a database of 770,734 unregistered likely Democratic women. We need help. Please contact Mervis Reissig.
merv4peace@gmail.com
Dan....I live in Tampa. DeSantis is a fascist. What a redneck state we live in these days. It was always bad but now is worse.
I'm also beginning to become a little bit more optimistic about the House. Before the SCOTUS decision on Roe, Democrats were predicted to have a 12% chance of winning the House, now it's 22% and rising steadily. I suspect a lot of people vote gas prices, and if prices continue to fall, and Fox continues to splutter, 50% is in reach.
In contrast to many, I am not deep in despair at the state of the country and the world. It is hard for many to grasp that the overall level of violence and repression in the world is simply far less than 30 years ago, to say nothing of 60 years ago. Wars are far less common and notably less lethal. Authoritarians are regularly pushed out of power, both by public repudiation and even in elections. In the USA, the fact that 20-30% of the population has decided as a matter of tribal perspective to reject the authority of the Federal government is a huge problem, with a cyclical aspect which makes this unsurprising, however. That said, the numerous layers of loyal, institutional, government in every part of the USA at the local, state, and above all Federal level make for a profound soft power against any fascist or even authoritarian initiative. Even if gaining the Presidency, authoritarian or fascist cadres are likely to be unable to impose their will, and were unable to do so during Trump’s tenure. They will ultimately be defeated because the bulk of the population simply will not tolerate their odious initiatives.
By far the largest problem we face in the US is NOT a fascist coup but the utterly toxic dead weight of finance capitalism, which renders the electoral system barely functional, suffocates the economy, has debt enslaved much of the population, and immiserated 80-90+% of us. Capitalism prevents meaningful movement in containing the harms of climate change or implementing a fair and cost effective medical system. And on and on: capitalism is our real problem, especially because the soft middle fo the country continues in its failure to accept the reality of this before all our eyes. Unconstrained finance capitalism which has captured most of the country’s regulatory regime will assuredly kill far, far more of us incidentally than any authoritarian of fascist movement will manage to do deliberately, in my view. I’m still optimistic that their wings will be clipped, but I can’t say when because, y’know, people are dumb and voters are people.
Regarding the midterms, there will be no Red tide. This is certain, from the polls and the results so far in the primaries, to the point that leading Republican figures are cutting funding in some states and openly dialing back expectations. There is a strong probability that the Democrats will actually INCREASE their margin in the Senate, enough so to outflank both Manchin and Sinema. The House is very much uncertain. In any other election with a dicey economy, and a governing party scrambling for traction still after a razor thin general in 2020, the Repugnicants would be expected to score major gains. Rationally, the Repugnicants gaining control in the House by a single digit margin is the betting scenario. That said, the main reason that governing parties in the US have frequently lost heavily in the midterms is that independents and some party voters simply stay home. That is not going to happen in this one, by all indications in the primaries. Turnout has been high, and independents have heavily leaned toward Democrats, with Dobbs as a huge motivating factor in all that. Results thus far have more nearly indicated a _Blue wave scenario_, if not a tsunami. There is a precedent for that in 1998, where grotesque Repugnicant overreach in impeaching Clinton was punished by the voters who increased the Democratic margin in Congress, if not hugely. The unknown factor is, what are the seven-nine million libertarian nativists who never vote usually but showed up in 2020 to vote for Trump going to do. If they show and vote, the polls will be underpredicting Republican totals. If a chunk of them stay home because the Senate is not going their way regardless and Trump is not on the ballot, I’d expect the Democrats to hold the House in this one.
It’s going to be nerve wracking in November therefore, but a triple axel with a backflip to keep Congress Blue and functional is a very real possibility. The silver lining if the Democrats loose the House and can do nothing for the next two years is that Biden and Pelosi are finished, Harris will likely sink with them, and the country can move on to a Democratic leadership who will actually fight for the country and govern with a will. All said, I’m more hopeful than fearful, with the proviso that finance capitalism is going to continue to kill us and the planet both until and unless we do something about it.
Oh, yeah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYpHmM3WK4
Daniel, I appreciate the link, but that said I have a strong resistance to utilizing YouTube for any purpose. Yes, it's quite functional for disseminating information. I loathe who owns it and the agendas involved.
Furthermore, watching video on anything is simply not time-efficient relative to a capsule summary, and also information poor by comparison, on the whole. It's extraordinarily rare that a talking head can express themselves as concisely in real time as can a one paragraph description. Now, images do count. Images can nail a specific description, but rarely convey the corona of content around that main point. Not everyone take in well content via text, and for them the 'Tube is a godsend. There is the further point that the discipline of drawing out summary analysis is essential to deep understanding or any higher analysis, and that discipline will NOT be learned by watching 'Tube vids. It's a learning-by-doing thing, and a generation is busily not learning the skills involved. I'm going to lead them along in that trajectory as little as possible, with the understanding that, for sure, I won't be thanked for that, to put it mildly.
I just generally don't go there.
I don’t favor the term ‘authoritarian’ at all. This is a pseudo-category invented in the 1980s by American journalists, principally for military dictatorships such as Korea, the Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey. Not coincidentally, these were all regimes allied to the US. The good ol’ democratic USA could not credibly be friendly to, in fact funding, dictatorial regimes, so the ‘d’ word was disappeared from reportage for a distortive euphemism.
That said, it is useful to define an intermediate political focus between conservatism and fascism. In my perspective and to put it all simplistically, conservatives generally revere tradition and slightly less so institutions in the form of small government, at least when those favor wealth and ‘the Establishment.’ Conservatives generally favor the rule of law, not least because they believe it will not only work in their favor but that they will enforce it and are indeed its guardians. They speak in terms of obligations, but now more so than in the past leave some room for rights.
Authoritarians or whatever we would call them by a better term do not value the rule of law, political pluralism, or individual rights, and are major proponents of state power and hence Big Government if much undemocratically so. Because they do not favor the rule of law, personal enrichment via institutions and state power tends to be endemic where authoritarians are in power. Their other values trend conservative and traditional, but this is often window dressing, to seemingly validate their self-dealing and one party rule. Authoritarians can function in nominally democratic countries as well as open dictatorships, but their perspective is generally unfair to those not of the inner circle of power, regardless of the origins or even political persuasions of the rest. They're selfish bastards, in a phrase.
Fascists are, by definition, authoritarian in operation, but they are more than that. They are the revolutionaries of the extreme right. They detest the rule of law, but neither do they actually value tradition or institutions. They are extreme national chauvinists and ethnic bigots, often open racists. These positions are not simply to validate their authority or rule but are deeply believed and definitional. Their perspective is profoundly caste driven: One ethnic group, or class, or section of a society is in the right, and others are simply unworthy, not only of power but even respect. Human rights are derided in favor of caste privileges. Because their view of other sectors of their societies is so profoundly hostile that their perspective of others tends to be dehumanizing. Controlling ‘the other’ is a definitional purpose of fascists which is used to validate their rule. In consequence, they have quite often propagated the ‘stab in the back’ position regarding others in ‘their’ own societies whom they oppose, because the other groups in society are believed to be and presented as insubordinate and treasonous by definition. Denialism and the Big Lie are signature for fascists, since any view which contrasts with theirs must be wrong, by definition, regardless of subject. Fascist parties and propaganda are characterized by extreme falsehoods and a complete disinterest in factual truth. Extreme repression is their stock in trade, because it both validates their putative superiority and is seen as all that is due to unworthy, dehumanized, personages.
By this categorization, Boris Johnson in the UK was a grifter conservative. Rajoy in Spain was a conservative. So too are Nikki Haley, Liz Cheney, Pence, and Hogan in Maryland, as well as Rogers and Barrett on the SCOTUS. Kavanaugh on the SCOTUS strikes me as simply a shitheel, which is why his vote is for sale on some issues. It pains me to say it, but I’d see both Bushes as center right, and Merkel of Germany as well.
By contrast, the military dictatorships mentioned above were authoritarian. So was Malathir in Malaysia, Fujimori in Peru, Erdogan now in Turkey, the PiS party in power in Poland, and the current regimes in Burma, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Rajapaksa expelled from Sri Lanka was authoritarian. Modi in India is an authoritarian who, however, openly panders to entirely fascist factions in his government coalition. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are authoritarian, although those in power seem to be experimenting with fascism as a better deal for themselves. Thatcher was a definitional authoritarian. Reagan was authoritarian, but constrained by the government process of the time. Dick Cheney was an authoritarian who, in different circumstances would have been a fascist, in my view. Gingrich was a grifter authoritarian. Also authoritarian are DeSantis in Florida, Abbott in Texas, and Meadows in Trump’s government, although DeSantis is auditioning to be a fascist if there's a job opening for that. Alito and Scalia on the SCOTUS have both been definitionally authoritarian.
The military juntas in Argentina, Chile, and Brazil were definitionally fascist. Uribe and Duque in Colombia were both fascists---and to no surprise the good ol' USA funded them and backed them to the hilt like those other regimes before them. The Baathists in Iraq and Syria held a middle ground, but it is easiest to characterize them as fascist in my view. There was a Sinhalese fascist movement in Sri Lanka which tried to overthrow the government so it could massacre Tamils, only for the government to slaughter them as a matter of its own survival. Milosevic in Serbia worked himself into a fascist. Putin is very much a fascist. Orbán would love to be a fascist if he could get away with it. Duterte in the Philippines was a fascist. The TPFLA in Ethiopia has descended into fascism, and Afwerki in Eritrea has been there for some time. Zionism as an ideology is definitionally a fascist movement, as is the structure of power in Israel, even if many parties in Israel, even conservative ones, are not necessarily such, and the country as a whole masquerades as a marginal democracy. Dominic Cummings, Svengali to Boris Johnson in the UK, was a frightening fascist, and several other extreme Brexiters fit that profile, too. Steve Bannon, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley are, by their actions, fascist in my book. McCarthy in House and Noemi in South Dakota have descended into fascism. Trump’s denialist horde are functionally fascist, and increasingly openly so. While Thomas on the SCOTUS is hard to categorize, his perspective is functionally fascist. Gorsuch seems to be trending that way.
Trump is too mentally unstable to have an ideology. If he could maintain one, he would certainly be a fascist, by his numerous past actions.
While I broadly agree with your reading of the characters of Trump and Thomas both, I wouldn't call your descriptions ideologies: I'd call them personalities.
By ideology, I mean in this instance a political worldview, within the confines of which actions and statements are located. Hitler had an ideology as well as a highly disturbed personality. I do think that Thomas has an ideology, but he's not enough of an intellect to focus on expressing himself that way. Trump is too chaotic to maintain a perspective. And too sociopathic in the technical sense: he's all about himself, there isn't room for a worldview. That, he likely acquired from his father, a similar if more coherent personality.
A question is raised at the end of this video that's worth considering. Otherwise, it serves as a reminder of ol' Tweety's efforts along the lines the Tweety-tossers claim Garland is doing: https://youtu.be/Jdg9m52C1CM Spoiler alert: ol' Tweety knows what documents he has. Just my two cents in this discussion.
Changing gears: https://youtu.be/RpVWnUcOM6E
What does anyone here know about this organization? Is this true?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackRock
Anyone ever see the movie Bad Day at Black Rock, with Spencer Tracy as a one-armed war hero, Robert Ryan as the main villain, and a very young Lee Marvin as a tough guy?
This excellent film, directed by John Sturges and generally considered a neo-Western, was intended as a criticism of the racism and McCarthyism that was so prominent in the US during the 1950s.
An irrelevant coincidence, probably, but interesting I think.
And art can explain history too, but some people just don't get that. As an example, yesterday I read part of a review of Hell in the Pacific on Amazon, which is another of my all time favorite movies.
For those not familiar with this movie, it has just 2 characters, both played by actors who did not understand each others language, both in the movie and in real life. The dialogue was almost completely improvised by the actors, Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. The director coached Mifune through a translator, and basically turned Marvin loose, which is why there are so many hilarious scenes.
The writer of the review I read complained the script was crude and not well written. I think this is one of the most realistic war movies I have even seen, and stopped reading that review right there.
Thanks. They're >certainly< not among the first brought up in any of these discussions. Just sayin'.
I first saw Bad Day at Black Rock on PBS many years ago as one of a series of films that each included introductory and concluding comments by the noted director and film historian Costa-Gavras. I watched that entire series of films over a period of a few months and Bad Day at Black Rock is one of just 2 films from that series that I remember. The other is Hell in the Pacific.
Costa-Gavras said that the Spencer Tracy character of the one-armed war hero , who could throw a helluva punch in a fist fight when absolutely necessary, was an allegory for democracy, and the Robert Ryan character of the murderous villain was an allegorical representation of racism and tyranny.
That is scary! And I thought Arizona was bad.
DeSantis is a son of a bitch. That sums it up.
Most of us have zero idea of how much is at stake and how much trouble we are in. Reasons: lousy public education past 40+ years bc defunded by congresses, cultural history of ignoring civics in education, lousy mainstream coverage of issues and connections between domestic policy and climate and foreign policy. Nobody connects war + drought + famine + drought + migration + economics. Forecast: we lose the House, keep Senate. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2022-election-forecast/
Our commercial culture of BS does many things, including hiding how much trouble we are in. And so the corporate world is largely in cahoots with knownothingness. But the fact is we've entered the rapids of a new era of change but people assume things will continue much as before. I think we will lose the House, and a little optimistic about the Senate.Things are in play, and that favors Dems a bit, so anything is possible.
READ MY LIPS<WE ARE NOT GIVING IT UP!
Wonder if you came across the article in The Atlantic (July 2019) by Nick Hanauer, "Better Schools Won't Fix America." He sums it up as follows: "Great public schools are the product of a thriving middle class, not the other way around."
I also forecast we'll keep the Senate and lose the House. Upwards of 25 incumbent Democrats in the House are retiring -- a 30 year record. Only twice in the past century has the party holding the White House managed to keep the House during the first mid-terms election. To break that pattern will require lots of motivated young people.
Thomas ; we also have to ignore mainstream media's repeated mantra that this I what will happen, because it has statistically happened, blah blah blah. It's amazing how it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Because it was on TV. Or the internet, or the news. Let's see if we can message that it does not have to be that way. Or we might as well let the GOP take over with their voter fraud.
I totally agree with you. Those predictions are unnecessary and help shape outcomes. It would also be helpful if the mainstream media would stop flashing tRump’s photo, covering his utterances and show something else. Even MSNBC . I just turn it off. It’s all Trump.
I am in total agreement, the trumpster is a small boy in a fat man's body who wants to be noticed, He doesn't care if that notice is negative or positive (like most youngsters) so why is mainstream media, (newspapers and TV) giving him what he wants? Doe he have something brilliant to say? are words of wisdom dripping from those fat lips? Ignore the SOB and let him fade into the obscurity he deserves.
And better yet,what has he done for the planet,the folks,wildlife and all gifts to us from God?He's all about himself,that's no way to govern,oh right ,he doesn't, he's a fricken dictator who more than likely sold us out.
Absolutely!
Yes, I agree. Who needs to see him? The mainstream media feeds the beast!
Laurie....you are right again.
Laurie....it is propaganda and brainwashing.
Yes ; those who want to control us and sway us own the media,;, at least a share of it.
Thank you Laurie! Fully agree!
Yep. It is so if you think so.
Thomas We’ve never had a psychopathic deadly seditionist attack our country from the White House. The End.
And tens of millions cheering him on.
Far more of us! Fox News will be happy with your assessment. Trump needs to be in prison to ease the minds of Democrats. The nail in Trump’s coffin is coming up at the final J6 hearing.
Trump won't see a day in prison. Biden and Garland don't really want to prosecute him. He will walk just like he always does because we have two sets of justice, one for rich and powerful and one for the rest of us.
Fully disagree. They would not use a warrant to search Mari Lago if they did not have evidence beyond s doubt. Way to far in to legal issues for this to go away. There is tremendous caution used because I think this will be a sweep.
Granted, our system is broken & fully unfair. Dark money & rt wing media is creating a very stressful situation. But we’ve watched them push in incompetent judges while still trying to please the idiots. That must be addressed & we must win.
Great public schools are the product of public funding. Public education is the key to informed critical thinking. Every test of voters shows this. And here: https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/climate-change-opinion-map/ So what do we think is wrong in Boston public schools where student come out nearly innumerate but teachers are in fact well paid?
There are some good points about education being made here, but there is a very important point that I think is being missed. I think good public schools take a certain amount of progressivism in society, and we simply don't have enough of that lately.
A significant part of society is trying to dominate the rest of us, while most of the rest of us are either just trying to hang onto what they have, or are simply trying to survive. So the problem is that too many people reject progressivism as unnecessary or even dangerous, while the rest of us are too busy trying to get by to be very progressive. To me that simply looks like another divide and conquer scheme, and a very effective one at that.
I'm glad to hear Boston teachers are "well paid," but elsewhere in the U.S. it is mostly not close to as well paid as the average of college-degreed people.
True enough. The point is that if Boston public school teachers get $100,000/year (yes they do) plus very generous retirement packages and the students still come out nearly innumerate, what are the missing elements in educating students?
Every teacher in the Boston School District makes $100,000 per year? or is that the median pay? Does it include administrator's salaries? If you're getting your information from the District or the media, question what it means. I retired from school teaching in 1988 in the Sacramento Area, my income that year was $44,400, slightly above the median pay for the District in which I taught. This was good for the time and the area, but I have a Master's degree, at that time adding about $1000 a year to my pay check. When quoting salary statistics you need all the information. As to the retirement package I don't know about Boston, but in my District I paid 7% of my income into the State Teachers Retirement fund. And I still receive a walloping $1387/month
I retired from teaching in Arizona and after teaching for 25 years with a Masters my last contract was $44,000. I also paid 12% of my salary into my retirement. I am pretty thrilled to get my monthly check of $2,200.
I believe you, Ms. Ture. I don't know why students leave Boston schools "innumerate." Very regrettable. I found a reference for my statement about generally underpaid American teachers. It's "Teachers earn 23.5% less than comparable college graduates" in epi.org, the newsletter of the Economic Policy Institute, for Wed., Aug. 17, 2022. Each state appears on a map with very few states paying teachers at average or above for college grads. (Another goal for politicians.)
“... the average public school teacher salary in Boston was $68,466, according to salary.com, but the range typically falls between $59,766 and $79,057.” Mar 6, 2022
Perhaps we should examine this question: "Is traditional schooling the most effective way to achieve an educated citizenry in the 21st century?" We're in an age where our learning will need to be both communal and self-directed, as it is continuous. Schools WILL play a part, but the days of relying on schools for the kind of education that's needed are long past.
Well I began to like school when I was moved to a Catholic school where lessons were totally interactive. Like law school, the Socratic method. I was bored in public school. That was decades ago. I don’t know how schools teach today
Maggie I'm so happy that you were exposed the the Socratic style of teaching. That is not always possible in public schools where 'approved subject matter' is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator, I was fortunate that my degrees are in the physical sciences, so I was able to teach on my own. Most of my colleagues had to comply with the silence is golden and don't confuse the kids with facts method.
Well nothing was controversial. It was middle school: doing math in your head while the teacher added, subtracted, multiplied and divided. And diagramming sentences on the board, which I still do - at least in my head- when I’m writing. The teacher asked questions about the history , etc., which was probably a screwed up text, snd religion. It was more about focusing. Anyway I doubt they do it anywhere in lower grades. I would probably have been diagnosed as ADD. But I learned to focus. And to think.
Thomas, have you visited a classroom lately? Classrooms are challenging and exciting places to be. As well as public schools being “the final meeting place of the community,” where students mix and work side-by-side with their generation’s accountants, health care professionals, hockey players, entertainers, computer engineers, tradespeople, and entrepreneurs--traditional schooling IS self-directed and guided. “The days of education for the kind of education that’s needed are past,” is indication of something personal, but it’s not education.
Prior to the pandemic, and being semi-retired here in Georgia, I had for several years been spending around 12 hours per week as a volunteer in a local elementary school. I was a technical advisor in one of the STEM programs. The "classroom" you are describing might be an inaccurate over-generalization, at least here in Georgia -- which has 159 counties, most of them rural.
Way back in 1960s, when I was in junior high in one of Michigan's best school systems, I came across Thoreau's observation about people leading lives of quiet desperation, and it made me start to think. (The short Alan Watts video "Music and Life" kind of nails it.) Let's face it, most people go through life not even being aware of their unique talents and gifts, far less making use of them to achieve a satisfying life. Formal schooling plays a part in that.
You get to mix with tomorrows criminals.
I done graduated the fifth grade. I is a good little student. What, me worry?
Ken Taylor (your name's same as historic, deceptively low-key, Cdn icon). You seem to throw-baby-out-with-bathwater and see glass-half-full. System I got to experience is as you suggest it should be. Your assessments on how-it-ought-to-be are TRUE because of dedicated teachers. I mean, don't despair, teachers make this work. Your words reflect positivity that rests in the vibrancy of schools based on work that goes on. *Education today is about valuing and enhancing personal experience and personal interest. Schools are places where students' enthusiasm and interest is recognized and embraced. Teachers guide students to enhance and expand foundations with students personal experiences and interests.* A person builds by asking questions and undertaking projects to find out more. PS marks are merely feedback--show me my number (my score) so I can forget about that and get down to the real business of what's interesting and exciting to me. [Funny is the look on competitive kid's face, "What mark would you LIKE to have?" and say, "Okay," to which they stammer, "Well, THAT'S not fair!" Well, if I asked you all the right questions, some that weren't on the exam, and some only managed to confuse you, the fault of a question--so my test wasn't really a reflection of what you would have got if only I had asked you all "YOUR" questions, so let's give you that? Assuring them they mastered foundation material means redirecting competitive impulses in the right direction--which is their interest for leaping-off-point with the material, and not the gold stars. Or limiting marks, instead of 100, use /3, or out of /5--A, B, C+, C, C-.] Yours was how it ought to be meantime teachers HAVE got this one. Re "Everything today is more about passing the educational success wagon to move on to future success rather than real understanding that comes from personal experience and personal interest. Schools need to be a place of guidance that recognize these differences and teachers should be guides that show students how to enhance and expand those experiences and interests." Roger that.
So very true. I lived in a commune, and our school was based on Montessori techniques, at least in the lower grades. Kids grew up to be doctors, writers, international choreographers and many other thins. They learned to learn.
Martha, The Boston Herald is a biased news source against unions, against public education, “Overall, we rate the Boston Herald Right-Center biased based on editorial positions that Moderately favor the right and High for factual reporting“, meantime the Boston Herald’s Marie Szaniszlo wrote, March 6, 2022 without naming the source, some “Watchdog: Unions Drive Teacher Salaries. The high wages of teachers in Boston, where nearly 3,000 [of 4,403] are paid six-figure salaries, reflects the strength of their union and suggests that a district plagued by “chronic underperformance” may be more geared toward the adults running it than the children it serves, watchdogs say.”
It seems necessary to explain that “high wages” are [via teacher-contributors on this platform, and Internet sources say the term in this context means] 12% below average of employees with their same education. On average Boston teachers earn $62,130 in 2022, and that “underperforming” means bathroom renovations and late or absent school buses are top of Boston school district’s underperformance list. NOTHING to do with student achievement, which Libertarians nor The Boston Herald commented on.
PS most public school teachers are union members, “According to a recent Economic Policy Institute report, teachers are paid 21.4% less than similarly educated and experienced professionals.” Business Insider, Melanie Weir, Oct 4, 2019
You need a college degree to teach and you only get 62K. That is the median income. Median means half get less and half get more. In Florida I think teachers get about 40K. Schools in Florida were a jungle when I was there. A prison for teenagers. Skipping school was the most fun I ever had in school.
Martha, Did you see some headline and just ran with it? Why are you disrespecting Boston’s public schools? (The link you provided was about climate change). And I thought I would search and find failure of quality of education in Boston, but no--failure to renovate 2 of 29 bathrooms and failure to run school buses on time (and trouble for skipping data about scheduled school buses that failed to arrive at all). Your alarmist comment threw shade on teachers and education within public schools in Boston as if they are bad--but they are good. Libertarians would like to see public schools in Boston closed. Is that the point you are making?
“... a libertarian-leaning think tank based in Boston has endorsed receivership, said that the report confirmed that problems in Boston "are getting worse" and the central office is no longer capable of making needed changes. The group urged elected officials to join together and appoint a receiver who will take control of the city’s schools for the next six years.
[However] Ruby Reyes, director of a nonprofit that works with families at struggling schools, said the report and the push for receivership is by Republican officials who want to control the district because they support putting a private entity in charge of schools.
"It’s a political power play, as opposed to the quality of education that students are receiving across the state," Reyes said. "Where there is a receivership, school districts have not prospered over the long term.” GNH News, Meg Woolhouse, May 23, 2022.
I am not intending to show disrespect of Boston's public schools. The link I provided was about Boston school teachers' pay, not about climate change. But here is the quote: "A Herald analysis of payroll data found that 2,905 teachers earn more than $100,000 annually, compared to the average per capita income of $44,690 in Boston in 2019, the most recent year for which the U.S. Census Bureau has statistics. Mar 6, 2022. " https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/06/bps-teacher-100k-salaries-at-a-glance/ I was quite surprised by the data. This is not alarmism on my part. It's just facts. The problem we need to think about is why are students failing to learn what they need to learn in public schools when one of the factors we usually think about as an issue, teacher compensation, is not an issue. So what are the issues? https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/05/24/metro/key-takeaways-states-review-boston-public-schools/. Issues: Lack of transportation. Bullying. 37 percent of BPS’ central office leadership — 19 administrators — have left the district since the state conducted its initial review in fall 2019, a pattern that holds back progress. BPS is currently seeking its fifth superintendent since 2013. No specific plan for meeting goals.
Etc.
I personally deplore public funding of private schools. I raised two boys in Contra Costa County and Nevada County, California, and went through their textbooks and homework with them. The crap they were being taught and what they were not being taught made it clear that their classmates were going to graduate high school as dunderheads. My boys, fortunately for them, were raised in a house where learning was a delight. As for bullying, my partner and I were obliged to tell the high school gym teacher in front of the principal and counselor that if we ever heard of his laying hands on another student, we would personally come to the school and beat him to a pulp in front of the students. I raised him from his chair by his necktie to make sure he understood me.
Oh, yeah!
Students in Boston are NOT failing, teachers’ pay is not above average for the work involved and the foundation of education required, The Herald Is not unbiased (would like to discredit public system and go private, i.e. Libertarian-right). So-much-for those “facts.” As for attrition of senior staff or superintendents, a) recent era has been tough for workers, covid implementations doubled teacher work-load (hybrid of online AND in-person models of teaching delivery); b) boomer generation is retiring, predictably en masse. Taking a swing at public education is a punching bag for “less government”-type people who feel children and educators are ignorant, expensive, and undeserving, despite the facts. “If I were king, students would be smarter, know more, and I know of what I speak, I read a book,” or, in this case, the reportedly, reliably right-wing Boston Herald. Widen sources, consider personal motives for taking a position on continuum of editorializing about public education, undertake homework, a field trip to on-ground investigation, ask kids and parents whether schools are failing at things beyond renovating bathrooms and running buses on time. Throwing dirt on hard-working public servants is a pastime, easy targets, by glass-half-fulls, know-naughts of what they speak, committed to do-nothing, from a vantage-point of not seeing personal benefits in a public-good not directed at them. The source is biased to provoke enthusiasm for following entitled wannabe leadership to abandon community support for students and teachers. Apparently they won, one point for Slytherin.
ok, you go ahead and argue against the facts. I'm busy.
Depends on what you consider well paid, for one thing. For a second thing, are teachers allowed to teach approved subject matter in their own style or must they observe the silence is golden style? And most of all do the teachers have the support of the community or do they have to commit to the beliefs of that community? (A former teacher)
Gov. DeStupid seems to have alot to say about edu. nowadays.(I don't remember a Gov. ever doing that)He gives the University professors a 'political survey every year and it could affect their tenure.Hmm! Then we have 'Don't say gay'stupidity from him,he thinks Dems are 'grooming and sexualizing'children,can't teach CRT ,even though it's part of our history. He is so disgusting,I can't stand the sight of him.Then,has the audacity to call Fla. free.
DeSantis is an ass. He knows that he is spreading lies. He wants to be president. He talks about Woke this and Woke that. He is such a Nazi.
All this makes me very glad I have never been to Florida, and even more determined to never go there.
A letter carrier in Florida makes more than a teacher and has better benefits and retirement.
I'm happy for the letter carrier and I'm nor concerned if they are making a decent wage BUT everyone deserves a decent living - not obscene like the ultra-wealthy but sufficient for a decent home, transportation, nutrition, healthcare and relaxation. I also don't believe that because I have a Master's Degree that somehow makes me better than or more entitled than say an auto mechanic. We both have skills we had to learn and we are both valuable to society.
https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/03/06/watchdog-unions-drive-bostons-roster-of-100k-teacher-salaries/#:~:text=A%20Herald%20analysis%20of%20payroll,U.S.%20Census%20Bureau%20has%20statistics.
Hi Ken, thank you for this very responsible reply. Every living animal, including Homo sapiens, learn best and permanently, by building on what they already know. This was the only useful thing I got from all the education classes I took to receive my teaching credential, As you so beautifully pointed out we do not learn from being lectured at. The attention span of adults is 20 minutes, that of children far lesser. Have you ever notice how quickly an infant is distracted from anything except suckling (bottle or breast). Silent classrooms are the goal of administrators and teachers who don't really like children, The best teachers encourage children to ask questions and discuss with each other the lesson of the moment. I confined my explanation of the lesson to no more than 10 minutes. Of course, I did have the advantage of teaching science,. which if taught properly is definitely hands on.
I want to put in a plug for Neanderthal man. They were stronger, faster and better looking than us.
Ken, you imagine you know what modern education is like—your eyes? tell you students sit there? waiting to be told stuff? YOU figure you-alone stumbled on this? “Play is work”—you? Only just realized? Well, hallelujah. Teaching is a 3-5 year degree PLUS 1-2 years of courses and classroom practice WITH a skilled mentor. Courses in curriculum, pedagogy, psychology, history, counselling, administration—apply yourself, do the work, the reading and projects, and 5-years will have one “standing on the shoulders of giants.” The 1-2 YEARS of teacher training is on TOP of a math, English, history, business, music, theatre, fine arts, physical education/ health sciences, of 3-5 years. You cannot “be” a teacher without the credential to prove your value-add in getting educated to learn to educate. Ouch—you learned from somewhere that “play will teach” people what they need to know! School IS play, playing with words, ideas, tools, instruments, creating. I cannot believe people pretend to be so ignorant of contributions public school classroom teachers make. I think some couch-critics believe “they” could do better because … they sat in a classroom and remember what they THOUGHT their role was (just doing-time). Some people engage in life and learning, some wait for the rush to subside so they can see clearly what they might have done if they had taken opportunities that lay in their path, including gifted teachers, instructors, mentors. Sleeping or slouching through years of excitement then shooting down individuals for their perceived ignorance in professional teaching practice.
Public schools are torture chambers for teenagers. I hated school. I went on to get graduate degree later in life. What can I say? I liked college.
I have one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel so it is up to the young.
Sadly, I agree with your assessment. I have no idea how the elections will turn out. Three months is a long time in American politics nowadays.
NO!!!!! Absolutely not. Unless they're in the enlightened minority, that's us of course. Just heard a Rep. offer their idiotic criticism of Joe B./Dems. The Rep. seem to think that all they had to say was "big government." At least in their mind, that was the end of the discussion. My reply to that is if it wasn't for Big Government starting 12/7/1941 we wouldn't be having this conversation in English. We need to counteract the Rep's favorite terms, of which there are more than a few. Here's my start: The scariest eight words in the English language: "I'm a Republican and I'm here to help." I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. Another one: Does capitalism produce goods and services? Of course not. Neither does socialism or an other form of government. All the goodies get produced by human labor, physical or mental. What do I Iike about Joe B. He does his best to act like a human being. He doesn't cave in to the Rep.'s threats, like Clinton and Obama.
Republicans don't have diabetes. Don need baby formula. Don't want to prosecute price fixers, price gougers. Some want to sunset Social Security and Medicare.
Actually the trick is to out register and out vote them.
Dan.....the are mothers aren't they?
Yep.
Ken.....Rick Scott is just a thief like Trump and the rest. Florida is full of people who don't want to pay taxes and stupid rednecks who just want their guns. You drive 30 miles outside of any major city in Florida and you are in the deep south where time has stood still for 100 years. We have millions of retirees who come to Florida and resist paying taxes. They live in the "Villages" in Ocala. Ocala is the armpit of Florida. Almost as bad as "Lake City" in N. Florida.
'I'd love to see a list, a small dictionary, of new terms. '
Roger that. Everyone who's asked this should buy and read: "The Language of the Third Reich: A Philologist's Notebook", published as Lingua Tertii Imperii: Notizbuch eines Philologen (1947) by Victor Klemperer, Professor of Literature at the Dresden University of Technology.
Written throughout the Second World War in Dresden by former university professor Klemperer in secret, it explored Nazi Newspeak. Your suggestion is a curative dictionary of the truth. Go for it!
Power to the people.
Jeff....human beings create value as K. Marx said and others. The labor theory of value is not young.
That's for sure. Next time I'll remind folks.
You put that so well Jeffrey.
Waiting to have coffee with y'all -- excuse me, I'm from Georgia -- is one of my favorite parts of the week. Thanks to chat rooms on the Internet, I can play it in a room with several like-minded political junkies.
Do we understand the fight we're in? ... I wonder. In my work life, I was employed by a few multinational corporations, and the tone and tenor of what is happening in America now goes back to those companies and how people reacted when faced with "downsizing" and the loss of thousands of jobs. (How we as a society responded to the pandemic is a good indicator. I well recall my first polio shot in the 1950s -- and I can't remember ANYONE questioning the science. )
A successful "long game" in the fight we're in has been conducted by the religious right (Christian nationalists) who insist there is no separation between church and state -- and funded by billionaires who are opposed to any means to more equitably distribute wealth. One of the key fronts in the battle comes in the form of our public schools. Here is what we are up against, make no mistake:
"So let's be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we raise up a generation of people who know there is NO religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a bible based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of G-d."
Jimmy Carter had the antidote.
We need to evangelize them.
We need to euthanize them.
Christian nationalist doesn't work,Christ doesn't harm,discriminate or oppress!
I remember how glad my paternal grandmother was when her oldest grandson, me, got my first polio shot. During the late 1920s she treated her 2 youngest sons for polio, at home in a farmhouse. They borrowed every flatiron they could and she used those flatirons, well-heated and wrapped in sheets and towels, to keep the body temperatures of those 2 boys as high as possible for 4 days.
That treatment was intended to make the disease progress rapidly with as little tissue damage as possible. This was done on the advice of their doctor, and was the standard treatment for polio in those days. The success rate for this treatment was generally about 50 percent, and this was the result in Grandma's effort, The oldest boy, aged about 4 at the time, survived, went to the South Pacific with the USMC, and then worked at high-lead logging until age 75. The 2-year-old died. My father, then about 6, was sent to an uncle's house on the other side of the river, and so never got polio.
So Grandma was very, very pleased when her grandchildren began to get polio shots in the mid-1950s. As you point out, no one questioned the science of vaccination at the time.
The prevalence of members of law enforcement and military among the mob that stormed the Capitol certainly evokes the specter of fascism. There were several reports that some members of the capitol police knew of the planned Illegal and armed entry of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and even opened doors for them. We now know the Secret Service knew in advance of the planned attacks on Nancy Pelosi and did not warn her. It’s come to light that the inspector general of Homeland Security knew of the deletions of Secret Service phone messages from January 6th and withheld that information, for more than a year, from the Congressional committee investigating the January 6th insurrection.
It goes on and on. It’s known now that right-wing legislators in Arizona were willing to reverse the votes of the 2020 election and went so far as to create a slate of “fake” electors to replace the real ones. And so much more around the country.
I’d say we’ve moved into authoritarianism in Florida (with removal of an elected prosecutor; and muzzling of private businesses’ content in their employees’ on-the-job training — actions that have been commonplace, for some time, in Russia and Hungary and Belarus all modeled on authoritarian rule .)
I’d say we need to be very worried, and VERY scared and do EVERYTHING we can to thwart more take-over and subversion of our democracy. It’s no longer just about voting. All of us need to get involved in the making and passing of our laws.
Our elected officials are NOT going to save us. We must save ourselves, our democracy. We must get active now — somehow. Really, our democratic life is being disassembled, brick by brick, right before our eyes.
We need to look at recent state and local laws. Go to city council and county board meetings and attend public hearings of our state legislatures — this is where a lot of this stuff is happening. We need to speak out in these under-the-radar public forums. Participate in democracy!
We the people have the power to save our democracy, to prevent further subversion of our democratic government, to prevent our accelerating slide into authoritarianism — possibly into fascism.
We can do this. And, if we don’t, no one else will. No one can do it for us, nor should they. We CAN DO this.
We must save ourselves with each other. We must have each other’s back, and the back of democracy.
We must keep paying attention.
Everything is moving very fast.
But, we can do this: save our democracy.
That prick DeSantis. He is a Nazi.
No, DeSantis is a fascist, not a Nazi. That doesn't make him any more acceptable; it's just that I think using accurate terminology is one thing that separates most educated people from Trumpists.
You make some very good points, thanks.
I agree with you Kara, but there is a problem, the City Councils and County Boards of Supervisors meet during the day. The Boards of Education usually meet once a month in the evening. Most working people work during the day, and those with 2 or more jobs work morning. noon, and night, so that conveniently deters the average citizen from "interfering" with elected officials business. Those citizens who do attend generally have an axe to grind. Many of them are either self employed and can take time off, or Seniors. As an instance, in Sacramento City and County districts ( and the county is territorial and population larger) one of the major problems is homelessness. The City mayor favors housing and caring for the homeless, giving them treatment for mental and physical health and addiction, as well as responsible job training. The County just wants the problem to 'disappear'. So, who attends the meetings? The financially well off, well educated citizens, and the retired elderly, who can't see beyond the balance in their checking accounts and think, run the homeless off, end of problem. The mayor is right of course, but the 'involved' citizenry refuse to accept this.
Terrific idea. Sort of like online town hall meetings, Since younger people spend a lot more time on social media, they might consider this as a way to be heard, Which reminds me of something related,. I was thinking of the old Simon and Garfield song 'The Sounds of Silence' and one line in particular, "people hearing without listening". I think that's a problem with some of our MAGA friends they "hear" but they don't listen, While I was teaching we were encouraged to take classes outside of school (the inducement was an increase in pay for every 15 units acquired (:-) One of the classes I took was in listening skills. My biggest takeaway from the class is most of us, including me at the time, don't really listen, We are thinking of how we will respond (or for teenagers something totally unrelated (:-) I was so excited that I taught 10 minutes of listening skills every day. I don't know how many of my students accepted the idea of really listening, not just hearing, but I hope a few got the message. I don't think many of the MAGA folk really listen, they "hear" the trumpster telling them how he 'loves' the flag, or America, or them and they never look or think about his theatrical presentation, they are too busy convincing themselves that, at last, a politician who understands them.
Souls to the polls!
There's a world of difference between "facts" and "truth", and many people don't seem to get that difference. That's part of why Trumpers are so loyal despite all of the appalling things he's said and done. One of those truths is this country's drift towards a fascist orientation, which implies a lack of appreciation of how that change would affect their lives. Some people would lose much of what makes life in a democracy more rich and rewarding: Things like diversity, opportunity to grow both economically and as a person, and access to a rich palette of cultures would diminish under the narrow, intolerant version of government that Trump and the radical Republicans are offering. In a time of rapid change, that may seem comforting and safe to many of those who are losing ground. But it's an illusion to believe that the world they seek is better than the one we're building now. I hope that the candidates who win in 2022 and 2024 do so by offering hope, opportunity and freedom, not dictatorial government, exclusion and prejudice.
Its the racist collective subconscious. [That was a period.]
I think it goes beyond that, all the way back to when Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals struggled for dominance in the stone age.
Now, now, don't talk bad about my relatives. I have a soft spot in my heart for Neanderthals. They survived for 300,000 years in Ice Age Europe before we got there. We modern humans have Neanderthal DNA being about 2-3% in us. I got the Neanderthal brain. Works very well unless I see a saber toothed cat go by.
I think our ancestors took care of those kitties for us. Still have to worry about pumas, though.
Both had a racist subconscious.
I guess if you're defining "racist subconscious" as a distrust of anyone who's not just like you, then you're probably right. Kind of brings back the idea of "The Naked Ape" who's always lurking just below the horizon of consciousness.
Jung.
Change ‘races’ to ‘faces’ and think about it. Everyone can tell ‘us’ from ‘them.’
The distinctions blur at the genetic level, and in appearance too. Think also about the opposition to Irish, Italian, Eastern European, etc. immigration in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Bias of this sort is primarily cultural, and often political. It can be learned, and it can be unlearned. It's not easy to "deprogram" yourself, but think about what could happen to our society if we don't.
A point of curiosity for me is how quickly humans spread to all the unfrozen continents. It’s like there is a social force of repulsion between peoples who see mutual differences in appearance. The physiognomy of faces changes most rapidly over just a few hundred generations; most other gene-linked elements are much slower. Faces define “us” and “them” and we fear “them.”
DNA.
I think that, although the Inflation Reduction act was passed with Biden's strong input, we should not promote it as a win for Biden and the Democrats, but as a win for ALL American people, Republican, Independent , and Democrat. And we were successful without a single Republican vote.
I empathize with the sentiments, but I hate to see Progressives get drawn into this constant “fight” mentality. Fighting, othering, posing enemies, dividing-and-conquering and ultimately hating. That's all stuff of modern day Conservatism. So long as we get sucked into playing that game, by those rules, we will always be at a disadvantage because it’s not in Progressive nature to be equally mean-spirited and vicious — nor should it be.
Boxer Muhammed Ali had a technique called “Rope a Dope” wherein he’d protect his vitals and draw the opponent into expending all his energy in landing a barrage of useless blows. When the opponent was then exhausted, Ali could step in for the kill. Let’s not get rope-a-doped by the dark forces of Conservatism.
With atl the knowledge and resources available today, we really *can* have a country that works for the benefit of all. Let’s focus on that and rally the country to a better future -- for everyone.
Very good point. Otherwise, it will continue to become increasingly difficult to tell the 2 sides apart.
I believe the election this fall will witness the largest percentage of registered voters in history. The sleepy people have been awakened by the fascists and religious extremists. Choice and democracy are clearly threatened by the reactionary radicals embracing election lies, banning books, restricting women's rights...and now a theft of top secret documents. Talk about motivation.
The frosting on the cake is the positive stuff recently passed and signed.
Oh...and the fiasco around veterans and burn pits? Indefensible.
We'll keep the House barely and we will have 52 Senators. Forward ho.
Hope you're right.
Field Team Six has a database of unregistered likely Democratic women. We need help. Please contact Mervis Reissig.
merv4peace@gmail.com
Have a wonderful vacation!
I'm determined to be optimistic.
From a language nerd in Paris. Instead of Trumper, how about saying Trumplican?
Thank you Heather for asking, and Bob for explaining both fascism and authoritarianism. Dr Reich, I liked you description of fascism as using racism and nationalism, but as I remember the 1926 to 1945 fascists I think you left out their use of the industrial/military complex, which both Hitler and Mussolini used so successfully. Japan was not fascist it was authoritarianism at its worst. I think of authoritarianism as "Please, Daddy tell me what to think, so I don't have to"
It may be interesting to reflect on the term belief in its context with religion and the great turmoil of the Reformation period. Where many stated that true belief was not a function of understanding, but rather an acceptance of authority and the complete obedience to it. 100% obedience. Authoritarianism is totally dependent on such automatic obedience. Culture wars, Republican dross and much of the duplicitous media are now all in on creating that mindless obedience as the primary road to their authoritarianism. The strategy is not to have a platform, an actual polity or a reasoned leadership, but simply to germinate a 16th century game of pure hatred and divisiveness as a permanent equation to political tyranny. Belief may often be thought of as a sacred thing, but criminally and horrifically constructed as a very undemocratic means…it is anything but. We now fight belief as an orchestrated nuclear first strike. The world has been here before.
The struggle we are in is against a system, not a specific political party. While the Republicans are pushing theocracy and xenophobia as their platform, the Democrats has been do as much for corporate America and as little for the people as possible over the past 40 years. In fact, Democrats have pushed austerity, militarism, for-profit health care, mass incarceration, overpolicing and immigrant abuse as much or more than Republicans over this period. Instead of wondering if the Inflation Reduction Act, which the CBO says will do nothing to reduce inflation, has the "sails at Biden's back," we should be wondering how we get such a paltry legislation with so little truly for 99% of us in it. Compromise is not between President Manchin, his VP Sinema and the negotiator-in-chief Biden, it's between Democrats and the lobbyists writing the legislation. Until that is fixed, we will keep playing the game of relativism, being frightened into supporting Democrats because Republicans are so awful while the rug is literally pulled out from under us. We should not have to be protecting and supporting our leaders, they should be protecting and supporting us.
Looking back, it's hard for me to find a more pivotal failure than Barack Obama's breaking of his promise to push the Freedom of Choice Act in his first term -- which would have codified Roe into law. He promised on the campaign trail it would be his highest priority. With that Act signed into law, all of the drama and kabuki dance around Supreme Court nominations would have ground to a halt.
No Mitch McConnell holding out a carrot to evangelicals who formed trump's base.
I am cynical enough to believe that not passing the law and keeping the Roe status quo was done because it was a terrific source of fund raising.
I’m with you and Bernie on this, and Bernie did finally vote in favor of the IRA as the good slightly outweighed the bad. Along with Bernie I’ll keep pressing onwards for more.
I am a new subscriber and love the content. I think that fascism in the 21st century looks different than in the 20th century, as in Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin. Moving towards a fascist state is an incremental process, as illustrated by Orban in Hungary. I do think that the GOP is definitely taking steps to create a White, Christian, nationalist state with an authoritarian leader, similar to China and Russia. The upcoming elections in the USA should prove to be very interesting.
Nah. Just like Franco. Trujillo. Peron. Dos Castros.
Agreed.
I agree, except Stalin was not a fascist. That is why he ended up on the allies side.
Viktor Orban was in Cal. recently,why???
If our asses were not on the line it would be interesting.