Glenn Kirschner – NYT: President Biden says Trump is “a Danger to Democracy” and “Should be Prosecuted”
The Lincoln Project – Genocide
Meidas Touch – Trump’s Fake News Rally FACT-CHECKED in real time!
American Bridge – Ron DeSanits: At War with the LGBTQ Community
Ojeda Live – Republicans and Their Aversion to Education
SNL Cold Open 4/2/22
Beau – Let’s talk about some good climate news….
Yesterday, I made and got confirmed my reservation to see Virgil on April 10 – the first available Sunday, Sunday being the safest day of the week for driving. I also managed to get the recyclable and trash bins out to the curb for pickup tomorrow, which surprised me a little bet, because the previous day I had pushed my mobility limits. While I was doing that, the “neighborhood cat” came around and accepted a few salmon treats. He can be picky, so that was nice. He is definitely not starving, but I still try to figure out his likes and dislikes. Sadly, looking at my iris bed, it doesn’t look like my TomCat iris is coming back this year. In fact, it looks like I’ll only have one stem of Baboon Butt Blood (sorry – when that varietal came out it was named “Baboon Bottom” and I got into a bad habit with it). I may be able to recover the others, or soe of them, by separating and fertilizing, but it’s by no means certain, even if I can muster up the energy to do it, which is also doubtful.
Cartoon
Short Takes –
Mother Jones – We All Know Teachers Are Underpaid. But Who Imagined It Was This Bad?
Quote – Perhaps most jarring of all was the teacher in California who said that, in order to support her family financially, she has become a surrogate mother. Twice. “I’m literally renting out my uterus to make ends meet,” she wrote.
Click through for stats and stories. This may be the most devastating thing Republicams have done to the United States. It may not grab headlines like an insurrection, but its effects are far more widespread and far more long lasting.
The Hill – Biden signs bill making lynching a federal hate crime
Quote – “Hundreds of similar bills have failed to pass. Over the years, several federal hate crime laws were enacted. … But no federal law — no federal law expressly prohibited lynching. None. Until today,” Biden said to applause.Biden noted that civil rights leaders and lawmakers have been working for more than 100 years to pass a bill making lynching a hate crime. The president called lynching a “uniquely American weapon of racial terror.
Click through for story. It’s about time.
Women’s History – Wikipedia – Milunka Savić
Quote – In 1912, her brother received call-up papers for mobilization for the First Balkan War. She chose to go in his place—cutting her hair and donning men’s clothes and joining the Serbian army. She quickly saw combat and received her first medal and was promoted to corporal in the Battle of Bregalnica. Engaged in battle, she sustained wounds and it was only then, when recovering from her injuries in hospital, that her true sex was revealed, much to the surprise of the attending physicians.
Click through. Please. I can’t possibly do justice to this feisty lady in one quote (if I had to try, it ought to be “I will wait.”
Food For Thought:
Glenn Kirschner – A Tale of 2 Americas: First Black Woman Headed to the Supreme Court vs. Trump’s Racism & Misogyny
Meidas Touch – The GOP BLOCKED US on Twitter!! (Congratulations, Broothers!)
No Dem Left Behind – Marjorie “Traitor” Greene wants us to turn our backs on Ukraine and let Putin win!
VoteVets – War Powers
Radio Free Europe – Taking Calls On Ukraine’s Help Line For Russian Military Moms (and dads and sibs) – hanky alert
Brent Terhune – Elon and Grimes’ secret baby
Beau – Let’s talk about HB 800 in Tennessee….
Finally, I want to give a hat tip to a video Lona posted – a stirring prody of “London Calling called “Kyiv Calling. You can click on the link, or scroll back a few posts to see it (with her comments.)
https://youtu.be/9guzUoTNxeE
Yesterday, I had not slept terribly well, and kept nodding off. I did accomplish a little knitting, but not much, and not much else either.
Short Takes –
Rolling Stone – Manchin’s Coal Corruption Is So Much Worse Than You Knew
Quote – At this point in human evolution, burning coal for power is one of the stupidest things humans do. Coal plants are engines of destruction, not progress. Thanks to the rapid evolution of clean energy, there are many better, cheaper, cleaner ways to power our lives. The only reason anyone still burns coal today is because of the enormous political power and inertia that the industry has acquired since the 19th century. In America, that power and inertia is embodied in the cruel and cartoonish character of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who, paradoxically, may have more control over the trajectory of the climate crisis than any other person on the planet right now
Click through for details – lots of details and links to more. But right now we really don’t have a choice. This is why it is SO important to gain a REAL majority in the Senate as soon as possible.
The New Yorker (Jill Lepore) – Why the School Wars Still Rage
Quote – A century later, the battle over public education that afflicted the nineteen-twenties has started up again, this time over the teaching of American history. Since 2020, with the murder of George Floyd and the advance of the Black Lives Matter movement, seventeen states have made efforts to expand the teaching of one sort of history, sometimes called anti-racist history, while thirty-six states have made efforts to restrict that very same kind of instruction…. While all this has been happening, I’ve been working on a U.S.-history textbook, so it’s been weird to watch lawmakers try their hands at writing American history, and horrible to see what the ferment is doing to public-school teachers.
Click through for story. Besides the “new” stuff, evolution is still a bone of contention. Teachers in the line of fire are very visible – but my biggest worry is what will happen to America whenit becomes a nation whose citizens know noththing of real history.
Women’s History – Wikipedia – Christine de Pizan
Quote – Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France after the death of her husband. Christine’s patrons included dukes Louis I of Orleans, Philip the Bold of Burgundy, and his son John the Fearless. Considered to be some of the earliest feminist writings, her work includes novels, poetry, and biography, and she also penned literary, historical, philosophical, political, and religious reviews and analysis. Her best known works include The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies, both written when she worked for John the Fearless of Burgundy.
Click through for bio. Not only did she write and get published in her own name … but she made a living doing it. That was a first for a woman, as far as we know.
Food For Thought:
Enjot Betty and Randy – I decided not to hold either one. There’s enough grimness already today.
Glenn Kirschner – Trump Endangers America’s Teachers: When Will DOJ Decide We’ve Reached the Arrest Tipping Point?
Crooks and Liars – Ali Velshi Struggles Through Tears Discussing Slain Ukrainian Family
Rebel HQ – Richard Ojeda Reacts To Trump’s Latest Con Job: Trump Force One
Republican Accountability Project – Republicans are suffering from Partisan Derangement Syndrome
Mrs Betty Bowers – My Intervention with the Gremlin in the Kremlin
Randy Rainbow – GURL, YOU’RE A KAREN
Beau – Let’s talk about Putin banning words and what we can learn….
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Document Destruction; Pence Says “Trump is Wrong” & Republican Party Continues to Implode
CNN – NC elections board says it can disqualify Rep. Cawthorn from running over January 6 .[It appears to me that it is exactly the State Secretaries of State/State Elections Boards who have the sole authority to determine who does and doesn’t go on the ballot. I have wrotten to my Secretary of Stateabout my representative.]
The Lincoln Project – “Legitimate Political Discourse 2
Ring of Fire – First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Says Free Community College Is Off The Table
politicsrus – Legitimate Political Discord
Brent Terhune – ban the books NOW
Beau – Let’s talk about fast food, California, and AB 257….
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
There has been, and has been building, a lot of concern about the future of our nation. Even if democracy survives this round of the fight, how will it fare in the next round, or the one after that, if our nation’s schools are churning out the poorly educated? And how will those students become well educated, even if they want to and have the ability to do so, if they cannot get their hands (and eyes) onto the books which contain the material they need?
This artice is addressed to those of us who have the energy, ability, and inclination to invest in the future by serving on a school board – or even on a library board. If that isn’t you, don’t immediately eliminate the possibility that it might be someone you know.
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Casey D. Cobb, University of Connecticut
When people run for school board these days, they often are motivated to campaign on a controverisial topic. That’s according to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit that tracks political elections in the U.S.
In an analysis of school board elections in 463 school districts in 2021, the organization found elections that were once uncontested had drawn candidates who were “galvanized by one issue or another.”
Three issues came up the most. The most oft-cited issue was race in education, more specifically, the teaching of critical race theory. The second most frequently cited issue was school policies on the pandemic – that is, requirements to wear masks or get vaccinations, or school reopening. The third most-cited was sex and gender in schools, such as gender-specific facilities.
As of January 2022, Ballotpedia discovered 287 school districts in 25 states where candidates took a position on race in education; 199 school districts in 23 states where candidates took a position on responses to the coronavirus pandemic; and 144 school districts in 18 states where candidates took a position on sex and gender in schools.
As a former school board member – and as a researcher who studies educational leadership and policy – I find it worrisome when polarizing issues generate so much attention from candidates. The reason I worry is that I know from firsthand experience that being an effective school board member is never just about taking a stance on a few hot-button topics. Rather, it’s about much broader issues, such as meeting the educational needs of all students in the school district.
Too often, support for candidates hinges on the positions they take on the most controversial issues. For instance, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaking on behalf of his state’s Republican Party, pledged to withhold support from “any Republican candidate for school board who supports critical race theory in all 67 counties or supports mandatory masking of schoolchildren.”
As impassioned as people may be about issues like mask requirements, keeping schools open or confronting issues of race in the curriculum, running a school district is about much more than any one of those single issues. With that in mind, here are three actions that future school board candidates should be prepared to take.
A primary function of the school board is to develop, review and approve district policy. These policies can include implementing state mandates – such as establishing high school graduation requirements – or formulating a plan to evaluate teachers.
Some policies take on broad issues that affect all students. For instance, a policy might express a goal to make sure all students have access to the internet at home. Other policies might deal with smaller matters, such as whether home-schooled students can participate in extracurricular activities at the local public school.
One of the most difficult tasks that school board members must do is decide how to spend the school district’s limited revenue.
The vast majority of a district’s budget – about 80% to 85% – goes to personnel costs, such as salaries and benefits for school staff. Paying for these employee expenditures is becoming more challenging because of the rising cost of health insurance.
To stay within budget, school board members may have to cut positions or programs. It’s usually a matter of assessing tradeoffs: Do we cut our gifted and talented program to keep our school safety officer? Do we cut teaching positions to make the budget, and if so, which ones?
Each decision comes with consequences. For instance, cutting a gifted and talented program would make some families upset. Continued funding of a night school program might require a series of budget reductions in other areas, such as field trips or late buses.
A tough budget choice I remember facing as a school board member was deciding whether to renovate an outdated and undersized school theater. The board members all agreed the theater was in desperate need of an upgrade but decided to put off the theater upgrade to deal with other needs. The high school would soon need a new roof and boiler that ultimately took priority.
Selecting a district leader is critically important. So is deciding whether to keep or get rid of one. A good superintendent can make or break a district. The superintendent is the face of the school community and the district’s instructional leader.
Superintendents work with the school board to set the vision and goals for the district and then make sure they are achieved. They also hire and manage principals and other district leaders. Superintendents are expected to provide for the safety of children and staff and be good stewards of district finances.
Finding a good superintendent involves looking for leaders who have a proven track record in the areas of importance. Do they have a history of improving student achievement? Have they created a positive school climate and culture? Are they effective communicators?
If a school board chooses an ineffective superintendent, it usually sets a district back and the board ends up having to spend time and money to replace them.
A key distinction of American democracy is that candidates can develop platforms as they see fit, and it’s up to voters to decide if a particular candidate will represent their concerns. But when it comes to running a school system, it’s important to keep in mind that it involves much more than taking a stance on a few controversial issues. It’s also about making sound financial decisions and implementing policies that ensure all students get the education they deserve.
[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]
Casey D. Cobb, Neag Professor of Educational Policy, University of Connecticut
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, I’m not sharing this article to be discouraging. I truly believe that any progressive, even if they need to learn in the trenches, would do a far superior job of setting policy, balancing budgets, and hiring superintendants that RWNJs, even though the latter might be more experienced. Even if only because the goals of progressives, and the directions in which they want to go, are healthier and wiser than anything RWNJs can even imagine. But all three areas are definitely something to think about. And the time to start thinking about them is, yes, before starting a campaign. Not only the district, but the campaign itself, will profit from that thought.
The Furies and I will be back.
Glenn Kirschner – Trump Pushes Protests, Promises Pardons During Texas Rally: Reveals his Fear Indictments are Near
American Bridge – Co-Chair Cecile Richards: Biden making historic SCOTUS pick
Meidas Touch – Nikki Fried BLASTS Ron DeSantis for HIDING TESTS as Omicron surged
The Lincoln Project – Vote While It Counts
politicsrus – Our Future Needs Strong Public Schools
Radio DJ Drives An Hour Every Day For Months To Gain This Wild Pittie’s Trust
Beau – Let’s talk about fake electors and real subpoenas….