Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/18/17
Latest News and Comment from Education
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The Charter Money Trail - Following public dollars through a traditional school district is, by comparison, straightforward. District budgets are public record. Board meetings are o...8 hours ago
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The Tigers broke new ground pledging $4 million to a 12-year-old - Because this story is going to be misunderstood by 95 percent of people that read it, let’s get the basics out of the way: the Detroit Tigers reached a ...12 hours ago
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Trump's bikers on security. A 'wall of meat' or load of B.S.?
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Trump's bikers on security. A 'wall of meat' or load of B.S.?:
Trump's bikers on security. A 'wall of meat' or load of B.S.?
DT is counting on a right-wing biker battalion to pull security duty at his inauguration. He imagines a horde of thousands of "Bikers for Trump" are rolling into D.C. at this very moment, to save him from what he imagines as an assault from the half-million angry, but peaceful protesters expected at the Women's March on Washington.
Chris Cox, the founder of “Bikers for Trump,” promised “Fox & Friends” on Sunday that the group will attend the inauguration and will form a “wall of meat” if necessary, signaling that biker gangs would try to stop protesters attempting to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony.
It's a neo-fascist wet dream.
This from MediaMatters:
During the Chairman’s Global Dinner pre-inauguration event, President-elect Donald Trump bragged about the “record crowds coming” to celebrate his inauguration, including a group called “bikers for Trump.” Trump regaled his audience with tales of photos showing thousands of bikers purportedly making their way to Washington D.C., a fake news story uncovered by BuzzFeed hours before Trump went on stage.
Trump's bikers on security. A 'wall of meat' or load of B.S.?
Chris Cox, the founder of “Bikers for Trump,” promised “Fox & Friends” on Sunday that the group will attend the inauguration and will form a “wall of meat” if necessary, signaling that biker gangs would try to stop protesters attempting to disrupt the swearing-in ceremony.
It's a neo-fascist wet dream.
This from MediaMatters:
During the Chairman’s Global Dinner pre-inauguration event, President-elect Donald Trump bragged about the “record crowds coming” to celebrate his inauguration, including a group called “bikers for Trump.” Trump regaled his audience with tales of photos showing thousands of bikers purportedly making their way to Washington D.C., a fake news story uncovered by BuzzFeed hours before Trump went on stage.
I saw the bikers for Trump. Boy, they had a scene today. I don't know if I'd want to ride one of those, but Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Trump's bikers on security. A 'wall of meat' or load of B.S.?:
The DeVos Hearing, In Their Own Words : NPR Ed : NPR
The DeVos Hearing, In Their Own Words : NPR Ed : NPR:
The DeVos Hearing, In Their Own Words
The DeVos Hearing, In Their Own Words
After Betsy DeVos' Senate confirmation hearing yesterday — all three hours and change — we know a little more about Donald Trump's pick to be the next education secretary.
Appearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, DeVos faced questions on a range of issues, from private school vouchers and charter school oversight to guns in schools.
We've reported extensively on DeVos' background, her advocacy in Michigan and on the research behind school choice.
Below, we've pulled out some of the highlights from her hearing (with a little context where needed):
Local Control
"President-elect Trump and I know it won't be Washington, D.C., that unlocks our nation's potential, nor a bigger bureaucracy, tougher mandates or a federal agency. The answer is local control and listening to parents, students, and teachers."
This came from DeVos' opening remarks, and succinctly captures her education philosophy: Limit the role of government in America's schools and trust that the free market — and parent choice — will lead to innovation and improvement.
Privatizing Public Schools
DeVos' faith in the free market led to several tense exchanges, including this one with the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington:
Murray: "Can you commit to us tonight that you will not work to privatize public schools or cut a single penny from public education?"
DeVos: "Senator, thanks for that question. I look forward, if confirmed, to working with you to talk about how we address the needs of all parents and all students. And we acknowledge today that not all schools are working for the students that are assigned to them. And I'm hopeful that we can work together to find common ground and ways that we can solve those issues and empower parents to make choices on behalf of their children that are right for them."
Murray: "I take that as not being willing to commit to not privatizing public schools or cutting money from education."
DeVos: "I guess I wouldn't characterize it in that way."
Murray: "Well," she said, laughing, "OK."
Ideology Meets Legal Reality
The committee's chairman, Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican and former education secretary himself, asked DeVos whether she would try to push school vouchers onto states even though the federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, does not include or allow it.
"No," she answered. "I would hope I could convince you all of the merit of that in maybe some future legislation, but certainly not any kind of mandate from within the department."
Qualifications
Former senator — and former Democrat — Joe Lieberman introduced DeVos at the hearing. He has worked with her as a board member of her school choice advocacy group, The American Federation for Children. DeVos has never taught in, managed or The DeVos Hearing, In Their Own Words : NPR Ed : NPR:
Betsy DeVos' Secretary of Education Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy
Betsy DeVos' Secretary of Education Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy:
The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy
Who are the real grizzlies?
The Betsy DeVos Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy
Who are the real grizzlies?
WASHINGTON, D.C.—It was not a hearing. It was the mere burlesque of a hearing, rendered meaningless by a preposterously accelerated process that rendered all questioning perfunctory and that left all cheap evasions hanging in the air of the committee room the way cigarette smoke used to canopy the proceedings back in the day. You would not hire a gardener through the process by which Betsy DeVos likely is going to become the Secretary of Education. A public school system wouldn't hire her to work the cafeteria line at lunch. It was appalling. It was unnerving. It was a grotesque of how an evolved democracy should operate. It was business as usual these days and it likely isn't going to matter a damn.
As nearly as I can tell, the nominees for the president-elect's Cabinet fall into several different categories. There are the people you'd pretty much expect from any Republican administration. (James Mattis, Stephen Flynn, Ryan Zinke). There are the people who understand the mission of their departments and have spent their lives undermining it. (Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Rick Perry at Energy, Andrew Puzder at Labor). And there are the people who are fundamentally clueless about the general nature of public service. (Rex Tillerson at State.) On Tuesday night, DeVos demonstrated that she is that rarest of Trump administration fauna: Someone who fits capably into all three categories.
She and her family and the Amway gozillions they control have been a bottomless reservoir for the dark money that is the engine behind a dozen different conservative fetish objects, from right-to-work laws, to gutting campaign finance regulations, to injecting splinter Protestantism into every part of the political commons. So she's pretty much what you'd expect from any Republican administration. She understands the mission of the Department of Education and truly dislikes it. And, as was graphically demonstrated even in the truncated questioning Tuesday night, she doesn't know enough about education policy to feed to your guppies.
This was most clearly demonstrated during an exchange with Senator Al Franken. Franken asked her about the distinction in education between proficiency and growth. Then, this happened.
Franken: This brings me to the issue of proficiency, which the senator cited, versus growth. I would like your views on the relative advantage of assessments and using them to measure proficiency or growth.
DeVos: I think if i am understanding your question correctly around proficiency, I would correlate it to competency and mastery, so each student is measured according to the advancements they are making in each subject area.
Franken: That's growth. That's not proficiency. In other words, the growth they are making isBetsy DeVos' Secretary of Education Hearing Was an Insult to Democracy:
Instant Replay: President Obama holds final press conference | PBS NewsHour
WATCH LIVE: President Obama holds final press conference | PBS NewsHour:
WATCH LIVE: President Obama holds final press conference
WATCH LIVE: President Obama holds final press conference
Watch President Barack Obama’s final press conference at 2:15 p.m. EST Wednesday.
President Barack Obama will conduct today the final press conference of his presidency, scheduled for 2:15 p.m. EST. He is expected to address questions about his decision to commute the sentence of former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of leaking classified information about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to WikiLeaks. WATCH LIVE: President Obama holds final press conference | PBS NewsHour:
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