While we should all be deeply concerned about propaganda and disinformation, whether State-sponsored from the criminal Putin or elsewhere, I'm far more concerned about those working to attack and subvert the elections from inside.
From https://electiondeniers.org/, there are 171 members of Congress who are election deniers. Why are they still in Congress? At a minimum they have betrayed their Oath of Office and have betrayed the trust of every citizen of the United States.
Good, George, you prioritize "those working to attack and subvert the elections from inside."
Merrick Garland and DOJ to remedy this? Don't think so. The malignancy goes deeper.
The malignancy comes, I think, George, from the tens of millions who've all so gotten such totally dehumanized educations that, through no fault of their own, they can only reduce life to abstractions, sensationalized (but most simple-minded) scenarios.
America could have good schools. It does not. Thus so many abysmally educated.
The GOP has undermined public education for many years! I might add intentionally to that! Now, book banning, curriculum rewriting & private school vouchers are their goals. Poor kids are left in overcrowded, underfunded & understaffed schools!
Anthony, yes, Trump was just trying to cover for his own inadequacy. He is and was a fool, wasted his education, and it was private, supposedly in good schools. It didn't help Trump one bit, except maybe expose him to the ways very rich people wash each other's hands so they can stay in power, supposedly with clean hands in all the crap they dealt out to everyone they encountered. He knows public education is where he can double down on producing ignorant young people because he believes public schools contain only kids of those lower classes who are only useful when they do what he and his rich friends tell them to do, for whatever pittance they are willing to pay. Why anyone would want that for their kids is beyond comprehension. Or, maybe the more well-off don't think that will happen to THEIR schools.
Ruth, i just read an article about a school librarian in, I think, a small town in LA where she was born and raised. She spoke out against censorship in school libraries in a school board meeting and was then targeted by some state group with the usual death threats and accusations of being a groomer. She has decided to stand up against this and filed a libel suit, but it was thrown out because it just opinions that this group posted. Among other things, she has her grocery delivered because she can't even go to the grocery store. This kind of intimidation goes all over the place. And what exactly are libel laws for.
Ruth, I don’t believe Trump is cognitively intact enough to have and control a master plan for dumbing down the youth - or anything else. When we listen to him or read a transcript of his “press conferences” or rallies, it’s clear that the man is well into dementia. And the stress of his legal situation, the fear of jail, etc is only hastening the downward spiral. He can read a teleprompter, albeit poorly, but as soon as he goes off-script his speech degenerates into tangential thinking, word salad, paranoia and repetition. The idea that he is capable of being the mastermind of an autocratic takeover is laughable.
Which means there are others setting the goals and crafting the strategies. We have to beat the pants off trump at the ballot box (there’s a nasty image for you on a Saturday morning!), because he’s the front man. But the evil that lurks behind him is made up of sociopaths and malignant narcissists, too. They have money and functioning brains. They scare the shite out of me and unless we beat their puppet soundly, they will not crawl back into their closets.
mlbrown, of course Trump loves the poorly educated; he can understand what they are saying because depending on where they were "poorly educated" he would have about the same level of vocabulary.
Francine, I can tell you, as a retired public school teacher of 26 years, in a very disadvantaged school district, the teachers are often amazing and do incredible work with children who often come to school shadowed by the pains of poverty, community neglect, and fear that their lives will never get better. Our Republican governors over the years cut school funding by billions of dollars and the state is struggling to catch up. I received a decent salary, but purchased or found all the materials for my students, made sure they regularly had books of their own, and did other things for them I thought could give them hope in a brighter future. Other teachers in my district did the same. I know there are teachers in some cases who are racist, homo/transphobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic and proudly display that, but I saw very little of that among my colleagues and I served in between 5 and 9 schools each year for 19 years. Maybe extra efforts should be placed on recruiting future educators, high-quality positive training for teachers in our colleges and universities and treating teachers as the professionals they are, more knowledgeable about teaching subjects like reading, math, science, social studies, and the arts than most parents, despite what Republicans would have us all believe. The fact that Tim Walz was a public school teacher and understands the challenges schools and their inhabitants face, should position him and Harris well to work toward improving our public schools for the benefit of all, helping our young people to be the best-educated, most talented, most creative most wonderfully diverse work force we have ever had.
Ruth, I also spent years in education at the public school in a small community that was very Catholic, so we had the private school next door. That was a problem in itself in terms of passing school budgets and up the canyon (North Santiam Canyon) people believed some story that we discriminated against their students. So they didn't vote for the budget either. Now the state pays for most school budgets and local budget votes usually have to do with bond measures. I was the librarian as well as teaching some classes, often individual or small, and I spent my own money and time on the library including buying paint and hiring a student to paint the area where my aides sat. Many of our teachers helped students in many ways including taking them in. We did have all the negative things you mentioned and usually, it resided in what i call the coaching corner. The district hired some teachers because they could coach and the booster club hired the football coach and we had some real doozies there. I saw many student teachers including one who should have never received a teaching certificate because our female students complained about him. But he passed muster anyway and was hired at a nearby district where it didn't take long for him to get in trouble.
Michele, a librarian, Oh how I wish we had a librarian in our district. We have no libraries, minimal art and music programs, a good sports program, and a few after school projects that help. People have no clue that librarians are essential as are the arts, government/civics classes, and personal finance courses. It's just so sad our kids are so poorly regarded. When I hear Republicans claim to love children, I know they are lying through their teeth, unless they mean just their own children and even then, I am not so sure.
You are a hero. Your message is so important. Yes, I have hopes for the Democrats winning the Presidency and Congress and Senate. And I think you are right that having Walz in the administration will be very helpful. I was shocked this year that the Ann Arbor Public Schools are dropping Art and Music. That is shocking to me. It’s a money issue they say. Thank you for all you did is a teacher and for documenting it.
Francine, thank you. I, like so many other teachers, think I had the best students in the world. I like the idea of having a former teacher (OK, once a teacher always a teacher) as VP. I know he cares about kids and equity, two critical elements in our lives.
Thank you so much Ruth. I watched one republican governor after another destroy Special Ed. They cut funding and services. My classroom budget for one year was $80.00, divided into half at the begging of the year and the other $40.00 after Christmas. Guess who bought what was needed.
My husband once said to me at tax time, “it’s a good thing I have a good job, or we couldn’t afford for you to teach”. We both laughed.
Phyllis, people have no idea what teachers do for their kids, but they sure can support loud-mouthed oafs like Vance and Trump who insult and denigrate teachers. Maybe if they would vote for Democrats who actually care about their kids, better teachers would be recruited and hired and better future teachers would be given aid to attend college. It is most of the red states' schools, often private and religious as well, that suck. Value children and the public schools will improve.
...and let's not forget ALEC, one of the sources for these school voucher programs that have been diverting tax payer funded public school funds to private/religious/home schooling formats. I know because this has been happening in NH and has had little if any oversight as to how much is being diverted. The Commissioned of Education doesn't believe in public education-he's never attended one and attended Hilllsdale College, a private conservative Christian colllege in MI. The potential financial impact is enormous since this format is W-A-Y over the initial budget allocation and has been mushrooming. NH has had a long standing problem for over 30 years regarding the way public schools have been underfunded, aggravated by the core process of the funding of public schools being based on property taxes, despite Court ordered changes being mandated.
Barbara, we face that same situation in PA and also have few controls on "charter schools," which have been set up supposedly to help disadvantaged kids. Private corporations have moved in to control those schools when they were supposed to be fully public schools with a mandate to try new education methods that could be quickly passed to regular public schools if they worked. That never worked out and charters have been sucking up huge amounts of money off the top, so the regular public schools get whatever money is left over after the charters get their brand new schools, tons of resources, and pay enormous salaries to their "CEOs and CFOs." Why they need either is never explained. The students in charters do not do as well as in the regular public schools on the whole and yet, parents send their kids to them, hoping things are better. The schools are newer, so that is a drawing card. Vouchers are doing enormous damage to our state's budget too and there are few controls on those either. It is not clear who is benefiting but I suspect it is religious schools. We need to do better and I am hoping Harris-Walz will make this a priority along with the many other priorities we need addressed.
Any association with Hillsdale and especially its Project 1776 version of history is an automatic dis-qualifier for me for reliable or ethical information.
Their involvement with Project 2025 just makes it worse and deserving of more careful and continued watch for the political pollution they spill on the public.
For some unknown reason, Hillsdale sends me their publications. Last week, I mailed a cease and desist letter stating that I will never agree to their viewpoints.
In Texas Governor Abbott is on a warpath to destroy public education (placing Mike Miles in charge of H(ouston) ISD after ruining D(allas) ISD) and pushing for school vouchers to take away public funding in order to subsidize private schools.
Mark, I honestly don't understand how anyone could vote for someone as hateful and rude as Abbott. He must have something people see that is well, worthy of something. I have not experienced it, just that he is an ignorant ass who cares for no one but himself. He matches Trump, which is probably Texans went for him. Then, there's the criminal Paston in office. Gag!
The General Court (legislature) created an entitlement in the voucher program. It is aimed at appealing to parents who don’t like the public schools where they live, have objections to what is taught in public schools, and/or and generally dissatisfied with public education. Of these, there are more than a few in NH, and so it was intended and understood that this program responded to a popular demand, and would be taken advantage of by many. But the program was sold on the basis of being something of a social experiment, or pilot project that would not cost taxpayers much. Consequently, it was foreseen by many in and out of government that it was underfunded, and would result in a categorical budget deficit. That in turn would naturally lead to pressure to increase spending and has. And that, foreseeably, has been by diverting Department of Education revenues that would otherwise be available to support public schools. This, though the State has a constitutional duty to provide public schools, and is once again being sued for having fallen short in the performance thereof. As has been widely observed, and indeed intended by some, if allowed to exist and grow, this voucher program, given NH’s legendary aversion to public spending at all levels, can not help but to undermine public education and lead to its collapse.
(With exceptions noted for Winnecunet (Hampton), Portsmouth, Durham (Oyster River), Lakes Region, Waterville Valley, Kearsarge Regional, Sunapee, and Dresden (Hanover and Lyme, plus Thetford and Norwich in VT.). Ie, the property rich districts.
Reliance on property taxes is a big part of the problem, but is historic. After VT, NH taxpayers have the second highest relative property tax burden in the nation. Last I heard. And there are wide disparities. And it is understandable that families of limited means with high property tax burdens would be unhappy with public education, in addition to those with no children. A different way of raising revenue for education is needed.
Tyler, another problem is that there is little evidence that the schools parents move their kids to are any better, often worse, but parents don't want to admit it and like the prestige they often get by not having their kids in public schools. What a racket this has become. Let's face it vouchers has been a disaster for states, taxpayers, and particularly for students, but alas, students are usually the last to be considered.
Barbara, property taxes are a horrible way to fund schools. The idea of paying taxes on the size and value of your property made sense in times where properties generated income via crops, livestock, etc. More property made more money so it was roughly aligned with income. No more. The tax is tied to market value and keeps growing without producing income. The tax keeps growing regardless of the owner’s income. People who retire, become disabled, or just can’t find work are taxed at higher and higher levels. I don’t have children but still vote for school levies, but as a retired person living alone my property taxes have increased to be 40% of my Social Security. I do understand why people vote against school levies!
Still have to believe they (his primary sponsors) will, or will try to, rid themselves of him as soon as he is no longer useful to them. I still believe Putin has recently given up on expecting him to be elected, to me by the prisoner swap he did with Biden instead of imagining an advantage of letting Trump get the credit.
Any student, no matter what their economic status, who does not live near a private voucher school ( and there are huge numbers of them) gets hurt when education funds are privatized over public education for all.
Anthony, and Project 2025 would stop federal funding of schools, including Head Start and school lunches. So states and local school systems have to make sure that children aren’t too hungry to learn. Since Texas’ school systems don’t have enough money to hire trained teachers (school systems in Europe pay their teachers as much as they pay engineers), where are they going to find the money for free school breakfasts and lunches?
Mary, that's the point; cruelty is the point. Republicans in Texas and in most other places are OK with keeping poor people poor and children suffering. They can blame them for whatever the issue of the day is: crime, laziness, being takers, and on and on. People who have been well-educated and prepared for the world don't need to harm others which is why I wonder about what is going on in the schools Republicans in power came from and how they didn't learn to be better people.
Yes. And higher education is no longer accessible unless you are very bright, wealthy or willing to expose yourself to predatory lending. And colleges focus less on quality education which actively engages and challenges and more on frills like luxury dorms. Will Bunch, from the Philadelphia Inquire , wrote The Fall of The Ivory Tower which addresses this so well
Gjay, you are right about higher education. My niece was accepted to a school in NYC. She is enormously talented, but she had to take out a 20+ year loan of $43,000 for the first year to do it. She couldn't afford to return because the extreme tuition + $3,000 a month rent was impossible. She wants a job in the performing arts, and would never be able to repay the loan. The loan for the first year is going to take her whole family to help pay it. It is outrageous, but as long as there are enough rich kids to pay those enormous prices, they will continue to be too high for most people.
I am so sorry to hear this about your niece. It does not have to be this way. I know of a young woman who is working in public service as an attorney in order to have some of her college loan forgiven. She had been assigned the most difficult and frustrating cases and yet she feels helpless to move to a better paying position due to her loan agreement. And she in an attorney.
What the Russians know as a fact is what Pres. G.W. Bush said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3/31/2001: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." This fact has been known by American Oligarchs and Right Wing Think Tanks (Heritage Society, Hoover Institute, etc.) since the early 1980's. They've used wedge issues to persuade average Americans to vote for Republicans and against their own best economic interests since Reagan's presidency, when the wealthy commenced the war on America's Middle Class, which it won. Beginning with Reagan's term, Republican administrations and Congresses have given massive tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations, resulting in a $35 trillion national debt and a nation where 806 individuals now have the accumulated wealth equal to that of one-half of the American population (806 vs 163,000,000.) That makes the U.S. an oligarchy where the wealthy control politics (propaganda) and the economy (low taxes, if any at all.) Russia understands the gullibility of some Americans and have jumped in to influence the upcoming Nov. election. What to do? Start teaching critical thinking skills as early as the 6th grade and reform our instruction on government and history. A vote for Trump is a vote for Fascism, a system that Trump's supporters do not know how detrimental to them it will be because they never learned about it. Sadly, Bush was right.
The other entities that have engaged in fooling the people are many parasitic religious institutions, who despite the requirement that they stay out of politics, do so regularly and at the taxpayers' expense,
Might they not be mistakenly described as 'religious' when their only god is the golden calf and/or fascism? The term 'religious' seems too loosely ascribed to many....
I disagree with starting in 6th grade. I would start in preschool. That way, teachers up to 5th grade can focus on imparting knowledge, and 6th grade teachers can focus on ensuring that their students are consistently applying that knowledge.
What's the knowledge? Good question. The knowledge is the moral "treat every other human being the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle.
BTW, the "moral principle" is also the 1st scientific principle. So, then we can get those 6th graders to teach science to grownups who, although they have science degrees, lack that elementary school level understanding of the concept.
Happily, JFK was right. I propose someone make an example of Bush by suspending his elementary school graduation certificate.
Yes! Preschool! Critical thinking is the most important skill as it organizes an open mind, the greatest asset to learning. Some learn the skill from their parents. Others must be taught the skill as early as possible. Maybe liberal arts and sciences can be restored to assist. If Harris’s plans are not killed by Republicans, there is hope.
Fortunately, the moral principle is also the 1st principle of art. I say that based on Seth Godin's definition: "Art is what we call it when what we do might connect us."
And we did art in first grade, wrote rhymes, sang songs, read aloud in groups, and learned to print on lined paper. I began piano lessons in second grade and took Latin and French simultaneously in ninth. All in the poorest smallest school in Eastern Henrico County VA.
The discipline of art (liberal arts education is, after all, an art form) has given me a richer life than a 6-year old knitting squares for WWII soldiers’ afghans, could ever have imagined. My teachers had been to Notmal School or Westhampton College (U of Richmond).
That would be nice, JD, but realistically, we must improve our schools' curricula and start teaching critical thinking skills, history and civics (government systems) as early as the 6th grade, IMO. We have a nation filled with gullible folks.
Apocalypse Now !!! Russian culture has a different understanding of how Time progresses rooted in Russian Orthodox Christianity. Theirs is to see and embodying Time as a non progressivist continuum and eternal returning, not a journey to a final end. The US Puritan Final Days progressivism is a gift for their propaganda teams. Playing upon it is like shooting fish in a barrel.
All of which is designed to reassure people that death is not the end as well as helping people manage life's uncertainties by providing absolutist explanations. Accepting religion means giving up the right to think for oneself.
It was prescient then. It seems quaint now - compared to the MAGA madness. They were drinking Gatorade and watering their crops with it. We drink PFAs and micro plastics and fertilize our fields with the toxins.
I will always defend the First Amendment, even though as an adult, organized religion has never been my thing. That said, so called Christian Nationalism is a dangerous thing because it ignores the fact that while our country was based on religious freedom, the majority of the founders intended for our government to be protected by the idea of separation of church and state. You could look it up. See Thomas Jefferson. Also see Thomas Paine.
I understand that. But those institutions shouldn't be given a blank slate. And these rules were made when religion was accepted as credible by many. When most of us can see the absurdity of giving a superstition this kind of authority, what then? Religion is the only socially sanctioned delusion.
I understand where you're coming from. Blank slate? No. Authority? No. Freedom? Yes. Socially sanctioned? Why not? Delusion? Who's to say? We are mere humans, and our best philosophers cannot solve or agree on the one question that it always comes down to. Does God exist? It seems that you and I have reached different conclusions. Those are personal decisions. However, I would be happy to see an admitted atheist win in a national election. That would be real progress.
Exactly, Phil. In that sense, the ReThuglicans played the long game well: wenn they set out to destroy democracy, they started in the schools, replacing school board members with loyalists and hollowing out the school system from the inside out. Uneducated people are easily brought to fear, anger and hate and are thus easy to control. That’s exactly what the Rump Party wants.
I frequently think of Trump's comment that he "loves the uneducated". No wonder. And with the ridiculous sanitizing of American history and the lack of real Civics teaching in schools that's just going to get worse.
Their education was so flawed, so long ago, I don't know how they can be rehabilitated. As it's said, ignorance is thinking you know and being so certain you won't consider new information .
So we vote. We register the kids. We talk to our neighbors who have tuned out.
Voting will help, right now, by this November, yes, Jen.
But beyond that, the real key is to return to the schools everything that standardized testing destroyed.
The Powell memo in 1971, Jen, organized the billionaires to gin up the far right foundations first to remove humanities from schools. The billionaires hated back then how youth got so much energy from novels, songs, films, and other arts.
The new Heritage Foundation, an enlarged Hoover Institute, and new ALEC got all the states to reduce funding to higher ed -- crippling, changing it irretrievably. They introduced standardized testing so the humanities would disappear and a new fear factor arrive. Everyone needed to learn to think only in terms of the linear, chronological, categorical, and abstracted.
We need to put back the humanities. And essay writing. Kick out the standardized testers. As Finland did to reform their education and make it the best in the world.
See individuals. Complications. The odd, the inconsistent, the surprises and subtle patterns in humanity and nature. Write essays. Quote others as people in the room, people with their human and social issues. Quote, refer to humanities. Reference others in other groups (neighboring nationalities, or sects, or skin colors, anyone?) as if they were individuals, not just units in abstractions.
Hire only the best as teachers and then leave them alone, well enough funded to do their job.
I think that the two go hand in hand, Phil. The machinations of the election subverters are fed, fueled, and funded by the very same people that are feeding the disinformation to those who are susceptible (for a variety of reasons, "standardized and rote" education being one) to believe the utter garbage they are fed.
Yes I agree educating ourselves and our children is vital to democracy. Our parents who came of age before the 1950’s who had little “ formal “ education made the most of what education they had and built on it by reading newspapers papers and being active in their communities. My own father had only an eighth grade education but he and my mother subscribed to four local newspapers and on Sunday picked up two New York newspapers. My father spoke English and Lebanese (my grandparents immigrated from Lebanon) and since he grew up with Italians he spoke their language. Education is vital and to be effective it has to be quality education- actively learning and questioning.
George, Considering Garland’s reticence, despite ample predication, to initiate criminal investigations of Trump and his sycophants for their complicity in the J6 assault on the Capitol, I expect we need to look elsewhere if we’re to preserve our constitutional republic. I would note, while Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias is on the job 24/7, he also has urged all his subscribers to become increasingly more mindful within their respective communities of voter suppression tactics enacted both at the front end (the casting of votes) and at the back end (their tabulation).
Our Secretary of State in Ohio, Frank LaRose, is trying to require proof of citizenship to vote in state elections and to narrow use of drop boxes. He’s also back at his dirty tricks at providing a dishonest summary of our ballot initiative to dismantle Republican gerrymandering of Ohio. He also pulled this trick with his initiative that would make it harder to pass initiatives, and Issue 1 at recognizing state constitutional rights to abortions. The voters weren’t fooled and we voted down LaRose’s attempt to impair initiative passage and passed Issue 1. LaRose was hoping to get the initiative on voting passed in order to defeat Issue 1.
LaRose also tried to get on the ballot as a candidate to run against our current senator Sherrod Brown. LaRose came in third in the primary and the winner was Trump endorsed car salesman Bernie Moreno. The GQP has run Ohio for over 30 years and has helped to wreck the state in the process.
Anne-Louise, You’re right that initiatives either are in place or underway to create sufficient chaos to move the presidential election either to SCOTUS with its 6 conservative justices or to the U.S. House where Republicans control 26 delegations, democrats 23, with each getting 1 vote. Still, I won’t ever count out the will of the American people nor the public servants alongside with whom we fight to preserve our cherished, albeit flawed, American experiment.
I am moving back to Texas this month after a 64-year absence to be close to my remaining siblings (94, 90 and 81.) From the frying pan (Florida) into the fire (Texas.) But, hope springs eternal.
Save travels and I hope you can find a "Blue Oasis" in Texas. I am also drinking my optimistic coffee today and will predict that both states will be purple by the end of the year.
It will be women who drive that change of color. Dobbs did it.
Solar and Batteries, actually even just batteries with or without solar, wind, hydro, or a fossil fuel generator, depending upon where each can be used. Have to start looking myself as the Inverters and surplus batteries from EVs become more realistic.
Friends that bought 20 years ago have had to adapt as old designs are too inefficient and no longer produced, and there seem to be too few solar panel recyclers that can provide used panels of similar types.
More important if at all possible is the defeat off Ted Cruz. I am fairly confident that Harris will win the election even in the Electoral College, but fear the loss of Manchin's seat in West Virginia (virtually assured) and probably Jon Testers seat in Montana will leave us with a 51-49 deficit in the Senate. I actually think Cruz' seat is vulnerable, given how close Beto o'Rourke got 6 years ago and so many people in Texas hate the guy, even Republicans in Texas. Get us THAT win in Texas and the country will be forever grateful to Texas!
Thank you Professor Richardson.
While we should all be deeply concerned about propaganda and disinformation, whether State-sponsored from the criminal Putin or elsewhere, I'm far more concerned about those working to attack and subvert the elections from inside.
In the battleground State of Pennsylvania, there are reports that almost 90 state lawmakers are election deniers: https://penncapital-star.com/government-politics/report-classifies-pennsylvania-lawmakers-as-election-deniers/
From https://electiondeniers.org/, there are 171 members of Congress who are election deniers. Why are they still in Congress? At a minimum they have betrayed their Oath of Office and have betrayed the trust of every citizen of the United States.
https://www.brennancenter.org/series/election-denial-races-election-administration-positions
Paging Merrick Garland. AG Garland? Democracy is waiting for you.
Good, George, you prioritize "those working to attack and subvert the elections from inside."
Merrick Garland and DOJ to remedy this? Don't think so. The malignancy goes deeper.
The malignancy comes, I think, George, from the tens of millions who've all so gotten such totally dehumanized educations that, through no fault of their own, they can only reduce life to abstractions, sensationalized (but most simple-minded) scenarios.
America could have good schools. It does not. Thus so many abysmally educated.
The GOP has undermined public education for many years! I might add intentionally to that! Now, book banning, curriculum rewriting & private school vouchers are their goals. Poor kids are left in overcrowded, underfunded & understaffed schools!
Republicans know that the uneducated are easier to rule. They’ve been starving the public schools for decades.
Trump actually said as much! “I like uneducated people!”
Anthony, yes, Trump was just trying to cover for his own inadequacy. He is and was a fool, wasted his education, and it was private, supposedly in good schools. It didn't help Trump one bit, except maybe expose him to the ways very rich people wash each other's hands so they can stay in power, supposedly with clean hands in all the crap they dealt out to everyone they encountered. He knows public education is where he can double down on producing ignorant young people because he believes public schools contain only kids of those lower classes who are only useful when they do what he and his rich friends tell them to do, for whatever pittance they are willing to pay. Why anyone would want that for their kids is beyond comprehension. Or, maybe the more well-off don't think that will happen to THEIR schools.
Ruth, i just read an article about a school librarian in, I think, a small town in LA where she was born and raised. She spoke out against censorship in school libraries in a school board meeting and was then targeted by some state group with the usual death threats and accusations of being a groomer. She has decided to stand up against this and filed a libel suit, but it was thrown out because it just opinions that this group posted. Among other things, she has her grocery delivered because she can't even go to the grocery store. This kind of intimidation goes all over the place. And what exactly are libel laws for.
You’re exactly right!
Ruth, I don’t believe Trump is cognitively intact enough to have and control a master plan for dumbing down the youth - or anything else. When we listen to him or read a transcript of his “press conferences” or rallies, it’s clear that the man is well into dementia. And the stress of his legal situation, the fear of jail, etc is only hastening the downward spiral. He can read a teleprompter, albeit poorly, but as soon as he goes off-script his speech degenerates into tangential thinking, word salad, paranoia and repetition. The idea that he is capable of being the mastermind of an autocratic takeover is laughable.
Which means there are others setting the goals and crafting the strategies. We have to beat the pants off trump at the ballot box (there’s a nasty image for you on a Saturday morning!), because he’s the front man. But the evil that lurks behind him is made up of sociopaths and malignant narcissists, too. They have money and functioning brains. They scare the shite out of me and unless we beat their puppet soundly, they will not crawl back into their closets.
At the victory rally on November 23, 2016, what TFG said (reported by Reuters) was this:
"We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated."
mlbrown, of course Trump loves the poorly educated; he can understand what they are saying because depending on where they were "poorly educated" he would have about the same level of vocabulary.
I remember that.
Francine, I can tell you, as a retired public school teacher of 26 years, in a very disadvantaged school district, the teachers are often amazing and do incredible work with children who often come to school shadowed by the pains of poverty, community neglect, and fear that their lives will never get better. Our Republican governors over the years cut school funding by billions of dollars and the state is struggling to catch up. I received a decent salary, but purchased or found all the materials for my students, made sure they regularly had books of their own, and did other things for them I thought could give them hope in a brighter future. Other teachers in my district did the same. I know there are teachers in some cases who are racist, homo/transphobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic and proudly display that, but I saw very little of that among my colleagues and I served in between 5 and 9 schools each year for 19 years. Maybe extra efforts should be placed on recruiting future educators, high-quality positive training for teachers in our colleges and universities and treating teachers as the professionals they are, more knowledgeable about teaching subjects like reading, math, science, social studies, and the arts than most parents, despite what Republicans would have us all believe. The fact that Tim Walz was a public school teacher and understands the challenges schools and their inhabitants face, should position him and Harris well to work toward improving our public schools for the benefit of all, helping our young people to be the best-educated, most talented, most creative most wonderfully diverse work force we have ever had.
Ruth, I also spent years in education at the public school in a small community that was very Catholic, so we had the private school next door. That was a problem in itself in terms of passing school budgets and up the canyon (North Santiam Canyon) people believed some story that we discriminated against their students. So they didn't vote for the budget either. Now the state pays for most school budgets and local budget votes usually have to do with bond measures. I was the librarian as well as teaching some classes, often individual or small, and I spent my own money and time on the library including buying paint and hiring a student to paint the area where my aides sat. Many of our teachers helped students in many ways including taking them in. We did have all the negative things you mentioned and usually, it resided in what i call the coaching corner. The district hired some teachers because they could coach and the booster club hired the football coach and we had some real doozies there. I saw many student teachers including one who should have never received a teaching certificate because our female students complained about him. But he passed muster anyway and was hired at a nearby district where it didn't take long for him to get in trouble.
Michele, a librarian, Oh how I wish we had a librarian in our district. We have no libraries, minimal art and music programs, a good sports program, and a few after school projects that help. People have no clue that librarians are essential as are the arts, government/civics classes, and personal finance courses. It's just so sad our kids are so poorly regarded. When I hear Republicans claim to love children, I know they are lying through their teeth, unless they mean just their own children and even then, I am not so sure.
You are a hero. Your message is so important. Yes, I have hopes for the Democrats winning the Presidency and Congress and Senate. And I think you are right that having Walz in the administration will be very helpful. I was shocked this year that the Ann Arbor Public Schools are dropping Art and Music. That is shocking to me. It’s a money issue they say. Thank you for all you did is a teacher and for documenting it.
Francine, thank you. I, like so many other teachers, think I had the best students in the world. I like the idea of having a former teacher (OK, once a teacher always a teacher) as VP. I know he cares about kids and equity, two critical elements in our lives.
Thank you so much Ruth. I watched one republican governor after another destroy Special Ed. They cut funding and services. My classroom budget for one year was $80.00, divided into half at the begging of the year and the other $40.00 after Christmas. Guess who bought what was needed.
My husband once said to me at tax time, “it’s a good thing I have a good job, or we couldn’t afford for you to teach”. We both laughed.
Phyllis, people have no idea what teachers do for their kids, but they sure can support loud-mouthed oafs like Vance and Trump who insult and denigrate teachers. Maybe if they would vote for Democrats who actually care about their kids, better teachers would be recruited and hired and better future teachers would be given aid to attend college. It is most of the red states' schools, often private and religious as well, that suck. Value children and the public schools will improve.
...and let's not forget ALEC, one of the sources for these school voucher programs that have been diverting tax payer funded public school funds to private/religious/home schooling formats. I know because this has been happening in NH and has had little if any oversight as to how much is being diverted. The Commissioned of Education doesn't believe in public education-he's never attended one and attended Hilllsdale College, a private conservative Christian colllege in MI. The potential financial impact is enormous since this format is W-A-Y over the initial budget allocation and has been mushrooming. NH has had a long standing problem for over 30 years regarding the way public schools have been underfunded, aggravated by the core process of the funding of public schools being based on property taxes, despite Court ordered changes being mandated.
Barbara, we face that same situation in PA and also have few controls on "charter schools," which have been set up supposedly to help disadvantaged kids. Private corporations have moved in to control those schools when they were supposed to be fully public schools with a mandate to try new education methods that could be quickly passed to regular public schools if they worked. That never worked out and charters have been sucking up huge amounts of money off the top, so the regular public schools get whatever money is left over after the charters get their brand new schools, tons of resources, and pay enormous salaries to their "CEOs and CFOs." Why they need either is never explained. The students in charters do not do as well as in the regular public schools on the whole and yet, parents send their kids to them, hoping things are better. The schools are newer, so that is a drawing card. Vouchers are doing enormous damage to our state's budget too and there are few controls on those either. It is not clear who is benefiting but I suspect it is religious schools. We need to do better and I am hoping Harris-Walz will make this a priority along with the many other priorities we need addressed.
Think of the evil Betsy DeVos.
Any association with Hillsdale and especially its Project 1776 version of history is an automatic dis-qualifier for me for reliable or ethical information.
Their involvement with Project 2025 just makes it worse and deserving of more careful and continued watch for the political pollution they spill on the public.
For some unknown reason, Hillsdale sends me their publications. Last week, I mailed a cease and desist letter stating that I will never agree to their viewpoints.
In Texas Governor Abbott is on a warpath to destroy public education (placing Mike Miles in charge of H(ouston) ISD after ruining D(allas) ISD) and pushing for school vouchers to take away public funding in order to subsidize private schools.
Mark, I honestly don't understand how anyone could vote for someone as hateful and rude as Abbott. He must have something people see that is well, worthy of something. I have not experienced it, just that he is an ignorant ass who cares for no one but himself. He matches Trump, which is probably Texans went for him. Then, there's the criminal Paston in office. Gag!
Same thing has been happening in NC-private schols are not accountable to anyone!
The General Court (legislature) created an entitlement in the voucher program. It is aimed at appealing to parents who don’t like the public schools where they live, have objections to what is taught in public schools, and/or and generally dissatisfied with public education. Of these, there are more than a few in NH, and so it was intended and understood that this program responded to a popular demand, and would be taken advantage of by many. But the program was sold on the basis of being something of a social experiment, or pilot project that would not cost taxpayers much. Consequently, it was foreseen by many in and out of government that it was underfunded, and would result in a categorical budget deficit. That in turn would naturally lead to pressure to increase spending and has. And that, foreseeably, has been by diverting Department of Education revenues that would otherwise be available to support public schools. This, though the State has a constitutional duty to provide public schools, and is once again being sued for having fallen short in the performance thereof. As has been widely observed, and indeed intended by some, if allowed to exist and grow, this voucher program, given NH’s legendary aversion to public spending at all levels, can not help but to undermine public education and lead to its collapse.
(With exceptions noted for Winnecunet (Hampton), Portsmouth, Durham (Oyster River), Lakes Region, Waterville Valley, Kearsarge Regional, Sunapee, and Dresden (Hanover and Lyme, plus Thetford and Norwich in VT.). Ie, the property rich districts.
Reliance on property taxes is a big part of the problem, but is historic. After VT, NH taxpayers have the second highest relative property tax burden in the nation. Last I heard. And there are wide disparities. And it is understandable that families of limited means with high property tax burdens would be unhappy with public education, in addition to those with no children. A different way of raising revenue for education is needed.
Tyler, another problem is that there is little evidence that the schools parents move their kids to are any better, often worse, but parents don't want to admit it and like the prestige they often get by not having their kids in public schools. What a racket this has become. Let's face it vouchers has been a disaster for states, taxpayers, and particularly for students, but alas, students are usually the last to be considered.
Barbara, property taxes are a horrible way to fund schools. The idea of paying taxes on the size and value of your property made sense in times where properties generated income via crops, livestock, etc. More property made more money so it was roughly aligned with income. No more. The tax is tied to market value and keeps growing without producing income. The tax keeps growing regardless of the owner’s income. People who retire, become disabled, or just can’t find work are taxed at higher and higher levels. I don’t have children but still vote for school levies, but as a retired person living alone my property taxes have increased to be 40% of my Social Security. I do understand why people vote against school levies!
Anthony, I would add schools where students' very lives are endangered.
Just so! They knew exactly what they were doing, preparing the people and the system for the coming of the Orange Messiah…
Still have to believe they (his primary sponsors) will, or will try to, rid themselves of him as soon as he is no longer useful to them. I still believe Putin has recently given up on expecting him to be elected, to me by the prisoner swap he did with Biden instead of imagining an advantage of letting Trump get the credit.
Any student, no matter what their economic status, who does not live near a private voucher school ( and there are huge numbers of them) gets hurt when education funds are privatized over public education for all.
Anthony, and Project 2025 would stop federal funding of schools, including Head Start and school lunches. So states and local school systems have to make sure that children aren’t too hungry to learn. Since Texas’ school systems don’t have enough money to hire trained teachers (school systems in Europe pay their teachers as much as they pay engineers), where are they going to find the money for free school breakfasts and lunches?
Mary, that's the point; cruelty is the point. Republicans in Texas and in most other places are OK with keeping poor people poor and children suffering. They can blame them for whatever the issue of the day is: crime, laziness, being takers, and on and on. People who have been well-educated and prepared for the world don't need to harm others which is why I wonder about what is going on in the schools Republicans in power came from and how they didn't learn to be better people.
Yes. And higher education is no longer accessible unless you are very bright, wealthy or willing to expose yourself to predatory lending. And colleges focus less on quality education which actively engages and challenges and more on frills like luxury dorms. Will Bunch, from the Philadelphia Inquire , wrote The Fall of The Ivory Tower which addresses this so well
Gjay, you are right about higher education. My niece was accepted to a school in NYC. She is enormously talented, but she had to take out a 20+ year loan of $43,000 for the first year to do it. She couldn't afford to return because the extreme tuition + $3,000 a month rent was impossible. She wants a job in the performing arts, and would never be able to repay the loan. The loan for the first year is going to take her whole family to help pay it. It is outrageous, but as long as there are enough rich kids to pay those enormous prices, they will continue to be too high for most people.
I am so sorry to hear this about your niece. It does not have to be this way. I know of a young woman who is working in public service as an attorney in order to have some of her college loan forgiven. She had been assigned the most difficult and frustrating cases and yet she feels helpless to move to a better paying position due to her loan agreement. And she in an attorney.
What the Russians know as a fact is what Pres. G.W. Bush said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3/31/2001: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." This fact has been known by American Oligarchs and Right Wing Think Tanks (Heritage Society, Hoover Institute, etc.) since the early 1980's. They've used wedge issues to persuade average Americans to vote for Republicans and against their own best economic interests since Reagan's presidency, when the wealthy commenced the war on America's Middle Class, which it won. Beginning with Reagan's term, Republican administrations and Congresses have given massive tax breaks to the wealthy and large corporations, resulting in a $35 trillion national debt and a nation where 806 individuals now have the accumulated wealth equal to that of one-half of the American population (806 vs 163,000,000.) That makes the U.S. an oligarchy where the wealthy control politics (propaganda) and the economy (low taxes, if any at all.) Russia understands the gullibility of some Americans and have jumped in to influence the upcoming Nov. election. What to do? Start teaching critical thinking skills as early as the 6th grade and reform our instruction on government and history. A vote for Trump is a vote for Fascism, a system that Trump's supporters do not know how detrimental to them it will be because they never learned about it. Sadly, Bush was right.
The other entities that have engaged in fooling the people are many parasitic religious institutions, who despite the requirement that they stay out of politics, do so regularly and at the taxpayers' expense,
Might they not be mistakenly described as 'religious' when their only god is the golden calf and/or fascism? The term 'religious' seems too loosely ascribed to many....
Amen to that J. Nol.
I disagree with starting in 6th grade. I would start in preschool. That way, teachers up to 5th grade can focus on imparting knowledge, and 6th grade teachers can focus on ensuring that their students are consistently applying that knowledge.
What's the knowledge? Good question. The knowledge is the moral "treat every other human being the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle.
BTW, the "moral principle" is also the 1st scientific principle. So, then we can get those 6th graders to teach science to grownups who, although they have science degrees, lack that elementary school level understanding of the concept.
Happily, JFK was right. I propose someone make an example of Bush by suspending his elementary school graduation certificate.
Start with the parents.
Yes! Preschool! Critical thinking is the most important skill as it organizes an open mind, the greatest asset to learning. Some learn the skill from their parents. Others must be taught the skill as early as possible. Maybe liberal arts and sciences can be restored to assist. If Harris’s plans are not killed by Republicans, there is hope.
Fortunately, the moral principle is also the 1st principle of art. I say that based on Seth Godin's definition: "Art is what we call it when what we do might connect us."
There is hope.
And we did art in first grade, wrote rhymes, sang songs, read aloud in groups, and learned to print on lined paper. I began piano lessons in second grade and took Latin and French simultaneously in ninth. All in the poorest smallest school in Eastern Henrico County VA.
The discipline of art (liberal arts education is, after all, an art form) has given me a richer life than a 6-year old knitting squares for WWII soldiers’ afghans, could ever have imagined. My teachers had been to Notmal School or Westhampton College (U of Richmond).
Well stated, Richard!!
Sadly Phil I must agree. Reality TV and memes are a very poor substitute for an education.
Alexandra's report of the Nashville hotel bookshop with shelves of "Preparing for the Rapture" makes me feel sick.
I wish the rapture would hurry up and swoop these bastards up and spare us their nonsense.
That would be nice, JD, but realistically, we must improve our schools' curricula and start teaching critical thinking skills, history and civics (government systems) as early as the 6th grade, IMO. We have a nation filled with gullible folks.
This has to include completely overhauling how teachers are trained as well.
All around me, immersed in gullible weaponized Imbeciles, sad to say
Apocalypse Now !!! Russian culture has a different understanding of how Time progresses rooted in Russian Orthodox Christianity. Theirs is to see and embodying Time as a non progressivist continuum and eternal returning, not a journey to a final end. The US Puritan Final Days progressivism is a gift for their propaganda teams. Playing upon it is like shooting fish in a barrel.
That's very interesting. Similar to Buddhism?
All of which is designed to reassure people that death is not the end as well as helping people manage life's uncertainties by providing absolutist explanations. Accepting religion means giving up the right to think for oneself.
Then we'd all be happy.
I certainly would, good riddance to fools
Just finished watching on YouTube - interview with Sarah McCammon
author of
'Exvangelicals' - in depth look at both the painful process of leaving those groups and that a great many are doing it...
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=sarah+mccammon+interview+utune&t=iphone&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DPzP5v7v7vzs
They prepare for the "rapture"; we're preparing for any possible "rupture." That's been the real issue in today's political climate.
Watch the movie “Idiocracy”. It went from a silly comedy in 2006 to a harbinger in 2024.
It was prescient then. It seems quaint now - compared to the MAGA madness. They were drinking Gatorade and watering their crops with it. We drink PFAs and micro plastics and fertilize our fields with the toxins.
Let's include religious institutions bent on discouraging critical thinking.
I will always defend the First Amendment, even though as an adult, organized religion has never been my thing. That said, so called Christian Nationalism is a dangerous thing because it ignores the fact that while our country was based on religious freedom, the majority of the founders intended for our government to be protected by the idea of separation of church and state. You could look it up. See Thomas Jefferson. Also see Thomas Paine.
I understand that. But those institutions shouldn't be given a blank slate. And these rules were made when religion was accepted as credible by many. When most of us can see the absurdity of giving a superstition this kind of authority, what then? Religion is the only socially sanctioned delusion.
I understand where you're coming from. Blank slate? No. Authority? No. Freedom? Yes. Socially sanctioned? Why not? Delusion? Who's to say? We are mere humans, and our best philosophers cannot solve or agree on the one question that it always comes down to. Does God exist? It seems that you and I have reached different conclusions. Those are personal decisions. However, I would be happy to see an admitted atheist win in a national election. That would be real progress.
Exactly, Phil. In that sense, the ReThuglicans played the long game well: wenn they set out to destroy democracy, they started in the schools, replacing school board members with loyalists and hollowing out the school system from the inside out. Uneducated people are easily brought to fear, anger and hate and are thus easy to control. That’s exactly what the Rump Party wants.
I frequently think of Trump's comment that he "loves the uneducated". No wonder. And with the ridiculous sanitizing of American history and the lack of real Civics teaching in schools that's just going to get worse.
I agree, but what do we do?
Their education was so flawed, so long ago, I don't know how they can be rehabilitated. As it's said, ignorance is thinking you know and being so certain you won't consider new information .
So we vote. We register the kids. We talk to our neighbors who have tuned out.
You can't fix stupid. But you can out-vote it.
Spot on Jen!!!!
Voting will help, right now, by this November, yes, Jen.
But beyond that, the real key is to return to the schools everything that standardized testing destroyed.
The Powell memo in 1971, Jen, organized the billionaires to gin up the far right foundations first to remove humanities from schools. The billionaires hated back then how youth got so much energy from novels, songs, films, and other arts.
The new Heritage Foundation, an enlarged Hoover Institute, and new ALEC got all the states to reduce funding to higher ed -- crippling, changing it irretrievably. They introduced standardized testing so the humanities would disappear and a new fear factor arrive. Everyone needed to learn to think only in terms of the linear, chronological, categorical, and abstracted.
We need to put back the humanities. And essay writing. Kick out the standardized testers. As Finland did to reform their education and make it the best in the world.
See individuals. Complications. The odd, the inconsistent, the surprises and subtle patterns in humanity and nature. Write essays. Quote others as people in the room, people with their human and social issues. Quote, refer to humanities. Reference others in other groups (neighboring nationalities, or sects, or skin colors, anyone?) as if they were individuals, not just units in abstractions.
Hire only the best as teachers and then leave them alone, well enough funded to do their job.
More: www.EssayingDifferences.com .
If we had an educated public the Republicans as the exist today would never get elected.
I think that the two go hand in hand, Phil. The machinations of the election subverters are fed, fueled, and funded by the very same people that are feeding the disinformation to those who are susceptible (for a variety of reasons, "standardized and rote" education being one) to believe the utter garbage they are fed.
Sad but oh so true.
Yes I agree educating ourselves and our children is vital to democracy. Our parents who came of age before the 1950’s who had little “ formal “ education made the most of what education they had and built on it by reading newspapers papers and being active in their communities. My own father had only an eighth grade education but he and my mother subscribed to four local newspapers and on Sunday picked up two New York newspapers. My father spoke English and Lebanese (my grandparents immigrated from Lebanon) and since he grew up with Italians he spoke their language. Education is vital and to be effective it has to be quality education- actively learning and questioning.
If we had an educated public the Republicans would never get elected as the existing today.
AI ?
Rachel, in my mind AI is the doomsday machine.
Once upon a time there was an Orange Useful Idiot. Now there is a growing party of Useful Idiots, formerly known as the Republican Party/MAGA Branch.
😞😡
George, Considering Garland’s reticence, despite ample predication, to initiate criminal investigations of Trump and his sycophants for their complicity in the J6 assault on the Capitol, I expect we need to look elsewhere if we’re to preserve our constitutional republic. I would note, while Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias is on the job 24/7, he also has urged all his subscribers to become increasingly more mindful within their respective communities of voter suppression tactics enacted both at the front end (the casting of votes) and at the back end (their tabulation).
It seems to me the voter suppression machination is a very clear and present danger.
Our Secretary of State in Ohio, Frank LaRose, is trying to require proof of citizenship to vote in state elections and to narrow use of drop boxes. He’s also back at his dirty tricks at providing a dishonest summary of our ballot initiative to dismantle Republican gerrymandering of Ohio. He also pulled this trick with his initiative that would make it harder to pass initiatives, and Issue 1 at recognizing state constitutional rights to abortions. The voters weren’t fooled and we voted down LaRose’s attempt to impair initiative passage and passed Issue 1. LaRose was hoping to get the initiative on voting passed in order to defeat Issue 1.
LaRose also tried to get on the ballot as a candidate to run against our current senator Sherrod Brown. LaRose came in third in the primary and the winner was Trump endorsed car salesman Bernie Moreno. The GQP has run Ohio for over 30 years and has helped to wreck the state in the process.
It's maddening, and heartbreaking.
Anne-Louise, You’re right that initiatives either are in place or underway to create sufficient chaos to move the presidential election either to SCOTUS with its 6 conservative justices or to the U.S. House where Republicans control 26 delegations, democrats 23, with each getting 1 vote. Still, I won’t ever count out the will of the American people nor the public servants alongside with whom we fight to preserve our cherished, albeit flawed, American experiment.
In Texas it’s a given
I am moving back to Texas this month after a 64-year absence to be close to my remaining siblings (94, 90 and 81.) From the frying pan (Florida) into the fire (Texas.) But, hope springs eternal.
Save travels and I hope you can find a "Blue Oasis" in Texas. I am also drinking my optimistic coffee today and will predict that both states will be purple by the end of the year.
It will be women who drive that change of color. Dobbs did it.
Wherever you go to live, Richard, make sure you have a back-up generator!
And are well versed in warming/cooling techniques that don't rely on power...
Solar and Batteries, actually even just batteries with or without solar, wind, hydro, or a fossil fuel generator, depending upon where each can be used. Have to start looking myself as the Inverters and surplus batteries from EVs become more realistic.
Friends that bought 20 years ago have had to adapt as old designs are too inefficient and no longer produced, and there seem to be too few solar panel recyclers that can provide used panels of similar types.
Richard, best wishes!
Depends on where you live. Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio are blue; rural & exurbia are red; suburbs are in play.
We split 12m votes in 2020 52% Trump and 47% Biden, a difference of 600,000 in a state of 18 million voters!
Register by Oct 7th. Educate, Support, VOTE!
https://vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp
Fill out online, PRINT, SIGN, MAIL.
https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqabbm.shtml - you probably qualify for vote by mail, if not VOTE EARLY...
More important if at all possible is the defeat off Ted Cruz. I am fairly confident that Harris will win the election even in the Electoral College, but fear the loss of Manchin's seat in West Virginia (virtually assured) and probably Jon Testers seat in Montana will leave us with a 51-49 deficit in the Senate. I actually think Cruz' seat is vulnerable, given how close Beto o'Rourke got 6 years ago and so many people in Texas hate the guy, even Republicans in Texas. Get us THAT win in Texas and the country will be forever grateful to Texas!
I recommend Austin. Any city with the motto “keep Austin weird” has a lot to live up to!
Where in Texas, there are pockets of sanity.