Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Creepy Rauner Dems
CREEPY! Rauner Dems"DEMS" FOR RAUNER...Interesting to see who showed up Thursday for Rauner's photo shoot of “Democrats and Independents for Rauner” besides Mrs. Rauner. Only surprise was that Bruce's buddy Rahm's wasn't in this picture, even though everyone knows it should be.Interesting names on the list include:Rahm/Daley pal, billionaire James Crown -- President of Henry Crown and Co
MAR 20
Guzzardi -- “The whole city is watching what we did here. This election didn’t happen in a vacuum.”
In These Times photoA POWERFUL MOVEMENT IN CHICAGO... Dan Mihalopoulos gets it (sorta) in this morning's Sun-Times ("Victories few for Preckwinkle on Election Night") about Toni backing machine candidates on Tuesday. A while back I was chanting "Run Toni, Run." I didn't mean run into arms of Rahm/Madigan.Mihalopoulos writes: Still, you can’t help but contrast the gloom felt Tue
MAR 19
Jay Travis: 'It would be an injustice to concede before every vote is counted'
I just spoke with Jay Travis who was on her way out of the Board of Elections. She's there today asking for a full accounting of every vote taken in the 26th District. As of now she is said to be trailing the incumbent Christian Mitchell by only a few hundred votes.Says Jay, Many were not given a proper ballot in over 15 precincts. In many precincts, including mine, voters were improperly turned a
Ames Middle School Victory despite Marines at polling places
D. McCoy photoWhile pro-Russian troops were surrounding the Crimean naval base, uniformed U.S. Marines were outside of polling places on Chicago's northwest side where voting on whether or not to turn Ames Middle School into a Marine military academy. According to reports, the Marines were trying to persuade voters towards the militarization of Ames.But voters weren't intimidated. Two out of thre
Guzzardi wins in a rout
-- M. Klonsky photoState House - District 39 - Dem PrimaryMarch 18, 2014 - 11:04PM CTIllinois - 91 of 91 Precincts Reporting - 100%Name Votes Vote %Guzzardi, Will 5,245 61%Berrios, Toni (i) 3,402 39%All you had to do was walk into the Logan Square Auditorium on Kedzie last night and take a look around to see why Will Guzzardi won big. The room was packed, not only with a diverse, raucous crowd of
MAR 18
Early (but not too early) and Often
Jay Travis and friends.When progressive 26th Dist. Rep. candidate Jay Travis went to her polling place to vote at 6 a.m. this morning, she and dozens of others, including lots of seniors, were turned away due to alleged "voting machine" problems and told to "come back later". Travis has mounted a fiercely competitive challenge against machine-backed Christian Mitchell.Mitchell
'Let's finish the job'
From Will GuzzzardiMike --Two years ago today, we came within 125 votes of doing what no one thought was possible. When I decided to challenge one of the most powerful political families in Illinois, I knew it wouldn't be easy. But what I didn't know was just how many people across the district -- parents, teachers, progressive leaders, young and old -- would come together to support this campaign
MAR 17
Separate is Never Equal. A great kids book.
I get lots of great books in the mail. I wish I had time to read and review them all. Today I got one of the best. It's called Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family's Fight for Desegregation (Abrams Books for Young Readers). It's actually a kid's book, beautifully written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh.It tells the story of the Mendez family's move to the farm community of West
The Man From ALEC takes union $$$, then pledges to slash Chicago school funding
Punch 62Okay, so what did AFT & IFT leaders get in return for their support for Republican Kirk Dillard? The Man From ALEC is now calling for a billion-dollar cut in Chicago school funding and a "scrubbing of the rolls" for Medicaid, the state's healthcare program for the poor.In the bizarre world of Chicago politics, there's also lots of "liberal" money flowing into the wa
Weekend Quotables
Hoboken Board of Education president Leon Gold“We are creating separate but equal school systems." By capping property taxes and fueling charter expansion, Christie “is increasing the segregatory effect of charter schools, while raiding our budget.” -- SalonJohn HagedornUIC Criminology Prof. John HagedornBut the reasons for Chicago’s medium to high homicide rate are not what police do, but wh
N.Y. hedg-fund 'reformers' spend $3.6M on anti-de Blasio TV ads
Instead of paying their share of rent for co-occupying N.Y.C. public school buildings, Eva Moscowitz and her hedge-fund friends, have spent $3.6 million over the past 3 weeks, for TV ads attacking Mayor de Blasio.According to the Daily News:Families for Excellent Schools — founded by a deep-pocketed group of current and former financiers — has run a series of ads, including a heart-wrenching spot
MAR 19
DFER brags: Our money beat Travis
Mitchell on the make and on the take.School privatizers and charter hustlers from DFER are all over Twitter, taking credit for Christian Mitchell's questionable narrow victory over progressive candidate Jay Travis. The IL branch of the N.Y.-based hedge-fund-started group dropped more than $50,000 into the Mitchell campaign through its newly-activated Chicago school reform PAC.Instead of boasting,
MAR 16
Netflix education: Favoring markets over democracy
What's the No. 1 problem afflicting schools? According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, it's elected school boards...Fickle voters create too much churn. You know, the darn democracy thing. So uncontrollable.-- San Jose Mercury NewsThanks to Diane Ravith for calling out Netflix founder and CEO Rod Hastings as a major player in corporate-style school reform. Hastings, says Ravitch, is on the board of
MAR 15
The privatization of science replaces public good with super-profits
INTEL billionaire Gordon Moore and his new Thirty Meter Telescope which will sit on a Hawaii mountain top.In Washington, budget cuts have left the nation’s research complex reeling. Labs are closing. Scientists are being laid off. Projects are being put on the shelf, especially in the risky, freewheeling realm of basic research. Yet from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, science philanthropy is hot,