AFT Discovers Bernie Sanders Two Years Too Late

I'm really astonished by the volume of tweets I see from Pittsburgh quoting Bernie Sanders. Two years ago those of us who supported him were "Bernie Bros," a bunch of thugs who had no regard for the sensible middle. Note that none of us were female, evidently, since "Bernie Sisters" doesn't connote the same threatening aura. That's actually sexism on the part of the group that was stereotyping us. Go figure.

But yes, two years after Donald Trump became President, Bernie Sanders is a mythical figure whose ideas are to be lauded.

Bernie Sanders speaks the truth at @AFTunion Convention #AFT18 @UFTUnity @UFT @nysut @rweingarten @UFT_Elementary @UFTTeamHS @UFTMS_Division pic.twitter.com/QUU24tSLjJ

— UFT Unity (@UFTUnity) July 15, 2018

Bernie was speaking that very same truth back on 2016. He had the same optimism and the same ideas. In fact, Bernie was advocating for Medicare for all back when Hillary Clinton was telling us it would never, ever happen. Hillary was ridiculing Bernie's ideas for free college, saying the Trump children would use it, as though Trump would send his kids to state schools. Fifteen bucks an hour was too much to ask, thought Hillary.

At the time, I thought well, there might be merit to their arguments. They pointed back to 1972, when the Democrats ran George McGovern and got crushed in a landslide. Of course, we now know that everything McGovern said about the Vietnam War was correct, and even Nixon seemed to get on board as he extracted us from that quagmire. More importantly, we now know what a horrible error it was to run a candidate whose strongest calling card was being "not Trump."

There are other things AFT is wrong about. Close to home, UFT is mistaken to exclude every single voice that saw what Sanders was saying was true back in 2016. While it's good that we're now applauding Sanders, every AFT rep in Minnesota was compelled to follow the company line that "Bernie Bros" were bad.

It's nice that Hillary gave a speech, but endorsing her was likely the worst decision our union has ever made. It was done early, and there was talk of a survey. Nonetheless I never saw the survey, I have no idea what it contained, and I don't know a single person who took it. It was supposed to be a smart decision to endorse early. I guess it was supposed to be a smart decision to extract no preconditions for said endorsement.

Yet teachers all over the country were then and are now reeling from the nonsense known as Race to the Top. That's what pushed all this unnecessary, ludicrous and hurtful testing. That's what enabled the junk science ratings taking place all over the country. Now I still like Sanders, and he's still saying things that need to be heard.

"There is nothing more important than quality public education for every child in this country." - @SenSanders #IamAFT

— CTU Special Ed (@CTUSpecialEd) July 15, 2018

But if we are to survive as unionists, we need to open up and pay more than lip service. We need to endorse and encourage politicians who support union and education. We need to stop settling for compromised mediocrity like Hillary Clinton. We need to stop saying this is the best we can do, so let's go with it.

Donald Trump is living proof that this is about the worst philosophy we could have espoused. Going forward, if we're going to embrace candidates, let's embrace those who support what Americans support, like universal health care, affordable college, and a living wage. And for goodness sake let's refrain from endorsing those who lecture us about "public charter schools," whatever they may be, which is precisely what Hillary did in 2016.

In Which I Am Engaged by Another Great Unity Mind

I love when people just hand me a blog fully realized. On Twitter, I saw something about Chelsea Clinton running for office. Someone responded with something like, please, no more Clintons. I tweeted that and someone said, "I'm STILL with her."

I responded by saying I voted for her, but I was pretty mad about the terrible, terrible consequences of her candidacy. Another person, who claims to be the UFT rep for District 30, responded to my retweet with this:

@amiraminiMD @TeacherArthurG Stop pretending to be Democrats. You Bros elected Trump. Go revel in your victory. Take all the Bros with you.

— (((BamUFT))) (@BamUFTNYC) February 26, 2017

Let's examine this. We'll put aside all the actual reasons Hillary lost, because they do not appear to concern this person at all. First of all, the epithet "Bros" is short for "Bernie Bros." It's a stereotype for anyone who supported Sanders. You see, anyone who says anything that doesn't support the Clintons must of course be Sanders supporters. They are, therefore, mindless thugs who just follow the crowd, to be condemned as a group, you know, like Trump does with Mexicans and Muslims, and much of the press does with teachers. I'm a little surprised to be paying this person to publicly indulge in stereotypes, but there's nothing in the Unity loyalty oath that says you can't.

I also love the "Take all the Bros with you" part. Can you think of anyone in the news who wants to just get rid of an entire group of people? I'll give you a hint. He has an orange face, a big yellow thing on top of it, and he is President of the United States. Historically, this whole getting rid of an entire group of people thing has had pretty bad consequences for many. But I digress.

It's odd that the tweeter blames me for the Trump victory, since I voted for Hillary. But what do I know? We Sanders supporters are all alike, and even if we voted for Hillary we didn't. But when I called the person on that, among other things, I got this response:

@TeacherArthurG @amiraminiMD I'm more than comfortable. Was a mistake to allow Sanders to run in the Dem primary. #Spoilers Party candidate.

— (((BamUFT))) (@BamUFTNYC) February 26, 2017

You see how that works? Why bother with free and fair elections? They just get in the way. That's why the Unity Caucus just changes the rules when they don't like the results. Opposition win a VP spot? Change the rules so the high school teachers don't get to pick their own VP. District Rep isn't Unity? Eliminate elections altogether and just pick any damn person you like.

I just want to remind you that Unity is the same caucus that declined to place Donald Trump's name in a resolution condemning racist acts around the country, among other things. They were loath to offend Donald Trump supporters. Yet this Unity Caucus member has no issue insulting and stereotyping those of us who are passionate about universal health care, a living wage, and affordable college. Evidently our greedy priorities, and not the failure on the part of Hillary to get out the vote, made Trump President.

I love it when Unity folk engage me. I'm here every day. Do your worst.

The Only Thing Worse than a Two-Party System

A two-party system has been problematic for the United States. We were particularly hurt by it this year, and will feel its effects for at least four years to come. I didn't think there was anyone worse than GW Bush, but American ingenuity is and always has been unlimited, and we've managed to find someone.

It was pretty frustrating to see a brilliant candidate like Bernie Sanders fight a David and Goliath battle against a preordained candidate like Hillary Clinton. A big reason was that we'd become accustomed to Democrats who didn't really stand for working people and gave us valuable lip service instead.

Health care for all? A pipe dream. Unionized labor? Not necessarily bad, but we support non-unionized charters and Barack Obama could never find shoes comfortable enough to take a stand in Wisconsin, let alone anywhere else. A living wage? Maybe we'll compromise and give you a higher non-living wage. College education for all? Maybe Donald Trump will send Ivanka to Queens College, so forget it.

So what do we get? Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. With that menu, I chose Hillary Clinton, though I had very strong reservations about her. I don't regret it because I'm proud to be among the near 3-million votes she got over Big Orange. Trump's pathological lies and execrable bigotry put me off big time. His victory put me off even more.

As frustrating as that is, it's just as frustrating facing a union controlled by only UFT Unity. Now it wouldn't be so bad if they were out there fighting for us, but I don't get that feeling at all. We've given in so many times, on so many bad ideas, that I wonder whether leadership knows the difference. It's hard to forget, for example, that the only time I've ever seen Michael Mulgrew fighting mad was when he was defending Common Core and offering to punch all our faces out.  But that's the tip of the iceberg.

The iceberg itself is full of mayoral control, which we endorsed for Mayor Mike both before and after he showed himself as our blood enemy. There are the Green Dot Charters that Randi brought to the Big Apple, partnering UFT with Steve Barr after he snookered LA teachers but good. And who can forget the 2005 contract that not only sent seniority placement the way of the dinosaur, but also gave us the Absent Teacher Reserve, the one with which we're still grappling now.

But they're always right. It doesn't matter what they do. When they win something, it's a victory. When they lose something, it's another victory. When they support Hillary, they tell us how smart they are. In fact, they're still defending that decision, despite the massive and ruinous consequences that will rain upon us in the coming months. They never do anything wrong. They never have and they never will. As long as you're willing to accept that, you can sign an oath and join the team.

Here's the thing, though. The team is losing on a massive scale, The ship is sinking and leadership is still telling us how clever they are. When we ask what on earth we're gonna do about this they tell us there's a new loud and proud campaign--more of the same. It's very hard to tell an entrenched and patronage powered bureaucracy that we need to actually organize in ways that haven't been attempted in decades, ways they've not seen in their professional lives.

But the only thing really worse than a two party system is a one-party system, and as long as the Prime Directive remains perpetuating the system, the smart money is on massive and crushing losses the likes of which we've never known before.

1972 Is Not the Time to Criticize Leadership, and It's Always 1972

At this time, we can't criticize leadership. For goodness sake, Donald Trump is President-elect, and is planning all kinds of bad stuff.

No, at this time, we can't be indulging in what Randi Weingarten and Leo Casey call a "circular firing squad." This is no time to be assigning blame. Now is the time for all good unionists to come together and do whatever the hell we are told. Because in a democratic union, everyone must learn the vital skill of sitting down, shutting up, and swallowing the Unity party line. In fact, UFT's "Team High School,"which includes absolutely no elected representation from high schools, is offering important courses taught by patronage employees who certainly know all the ins and outs of these important rules. I know this because I go to the DA and other patronage employees hand me flyers to distribute.

Because when we're facing an enemy like Donald Trump,  Who Shall Not Be Named, it's time for us to all stand together. We need to give up all those petty partisan battles and simply do whatever it is that leadership says. In these times, we cannot afford to show disunity. We need to get together and contribute to COPE, because if we don't, patronage employees like this one would have to scrap by on a miserable teacher salary. How can we expect her to do such a thing?

It's kind of like another time, when we were heavily involved in the Presidential election. Then it was time we all stood together, because we needed to elect Hillary Clinton President. Those of us who supported Bernie Sanders needed to come to our senses, because everyone remembered what happened when we ran McGovern in 1972. That was a Big Mistake, getting behind someone who opposed the Vietnam War. We learned from that mistakes and made sure to not get behind someone who wanted universal health care, a living wage, a college for all. Too bad no one noticed it wasn't 1972 anymore, but this is no time to criticize leadership.

In any case, when Hillary won the primary, it was time to give up all that divisive nonsense, jump on the bandwagon, and make phone calls. This was a time for us to stand together. After all, the AFT had done a scientific survey that said we liked Hillary better than Bernie anyway. Sure we never saw the survey, we never had a vote in it, we never had a vote in AFT, and we never knew who was surveyed, but it was best we stood together.

Before that, we faced Governor Cuomo, who was our sworn enemy. Of course we hadn't opposed him in the Working Families Primary, and we hadn't opposed him in the Democratic Primary. In fact, we didn't even oppose him in the general election. Nonetheless, when we face an enemy like that we need to stand together as one. We can't be bickering amongst ourselves. After all, he was going to pass an APPR law based on junk science. Of course UFT President Michael Mulgrew took part in writing it, so we stood together and supported it.

And then when Cuomo said the law wasn't strong enough, we needed to stand together in opposition. Except it turned out that, when it got passed anyway, Michael Mulgrew, for reasons that have always eluded me, thanked the Assembly for doing so. Of course, at that time, we had to come together and not criticize leadership.We can't afford disunity at times like these.

And before Cuomo, there was Bloomberg, who was very bad. We had to stand together against him, because with an adversary like that, we had to stand together with leadership. After we endorsed a number of Democratic primary candidates, Bloomberg won. We failed to oppose him when he ran again, and we failed to oppose him when he defied the twice-voiced will of the people for term limits. But we were under assault and this was no time to speak against union leadership.

And then there was Giuliani, who said teachers "stink" and didn't want to give teachers raises. I wasn't really active in union matters back then, but I assume that was also a bad time to criticize union leadership.

The only problem is, really, that union leadership locks itself up at 52 Broadway, hears nothing but the voices of loyalty oath signers, and sends them out to represent us no matter how outlandishly unqualified they may be.

Is it any wonder we find ourselves on the losing end of so many crucial elections?

A Tale of Two Cartoons

The cartoon on the left is something that Hillary supporters have been posting on Facebook lately. I first saw it a few months back when the nomination was still in question. Evidently, if you're a Sanders supporter, someone who believes in universal health care, college for all, and other such trivial nonsense, you merit personal ridicule.

To me, this is not precisely the most persuasive tactic, and it doesn't really make me want to vote for Hillary. In fact, I don't much like being insulted for my beliefs. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that sentiment.

I still see people who I generally respect referring to us as "Bernie bros." Perhaps they feel by stereotyping us we'll be more likely to jump on the bandwagon. Or perhaps they'll deny this is a stereotype. Who knows? I see "Bernie bro" and I read "sexist thug." And I've read stories implying precisely that--those mindless Bernie bros went out and did this or that, and are therefore not worthy of consideration.

It's odd to be attacked like this, particularly since I've pretty much resigned to vote for Hillary anyway. A much more eloquent case for this position is given by Shaun King in the NY Daily News. Had I not already made my decision I'd perhaps have been persuaded by this one. It's a whole lot more persuasive than the arguments I've heard from Hillary supporters---that I don't understand politics, that I'm unrealistic, that I don't understand high school civics, or whatever nonsense is aimed in my direction this week.

Now cute as the above cartoon may be, it's actually not the original. It's copied, almost certainly without permission, and pirated from the

one on the right. As you can see, the original is simpler, and thus funnier and more effective. There's some irony here too. The original ridicules Wall Street types--you know, the ones whose money Hillary takes hand over fist.

I'm not exactly sure why those of us who want real change, rather than someone better than the awful Donald Trump, merit ridicule and abuse. I'm not sure why Hillary supporters want to be sore winners.

Here's what I do know. Right now Five Thirty Eight gives Donald Trump a 55% chance of winning the election if it were held today.  I don't know about you, but I find that pretty scary.

Some Hillary supporters come to curious conclusions. I'm not a mind reader, so I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps they think that by ridiculing us it will bring us around to their point of view. Actually it has the opposite effect. It makes us angry. No one likes being stereotyped and ridiculed. Maybe they just hate the fact that people see the obvious flaws in candidate Hillary. Maybe some of them are borderline fanatical and cannot tolerate differing points of view. Who knows?

Whatever the reason, if Hillary supporters want their candidate to win, if they really want to Dump the Trump, they're gonna have to start treating Bernie supporters with something akin to common courtesy. If the goal is to Defeat the Donald, that's a necessity. And if the goal is to actually pile on and reject him decisively, it's even more important.

To help Hillary or defeat Trump, this stuff simply needs to stop. But if the goal is to further alienate Sanders supporters, well, keep up the personal insults. Call us thugs. Call us selfish and immature. Try to get us to take out our frustrations with you on Hillary. Maybe you'll succeed. Maybe I'll even change my mind and vote for Jill Stein. And even if you fail to persuade me, you'll surely persuade others.

So if that's what you want, go right ahead. After all, when Trump is President, you can always blame us.

Mediocrity Rules

 Sometimes I think we need to teach our students what logical fallacy is. Lately I think that more and more. I often find myself debating with adults who quickly resort to ad hominem and strawman arguments. I'm really amazed that adults, teachers, and union leaders jump to name calling and nonsense so quickly.

It's like junior high school all over again. I thought I was past all the rank out sessions, but I'm not, evidently. As life is short, I cut these conversations as quickly as I possibly can.

But politics is kind of a third rail.I've gotten a lot of flack about my decision not to vote for Hillary. Thus far, no one's really addressed my reasons, but rather I've been accused of supporting Trump via my lack of support for his opponent. That's simply ridiculous, as is Trump. Trump is amoral and reprehensible, for my money absolutely unacceptable. On the other hand, I've long felt a whole lot of GOP pols were pretty much the same as Trump, but found little weasel words to avoid saying outright what Trump does. Trump shouts the bigotry other Republicans know to only hint at.

Were I in Ohio or Florida I'd think twice about it, but if Hillary's NY race is competitive enough that she needs my vote, chances are she's lost anyway. Our Electoral College system is bizarre and undemocratic, and votes in my state are just not worth that much.

I'm a public education advocate, and if you want my vote you'd better either share that priority or be so good on everything else that I'm willing to overlook it (as was Bernie Sanders). I'm sorry that people are so upset about this, and I fully expect UFT to run an all-out, no-holds barred push for Hillary over the next few months. I believe that Hillary will likely not be as awful as Trump, but I fail to understand why we didn't extract significant concessions before going all in.

I voted for Barack Obama in 2008, he broke my heart, and I made a personal decision not to vote for reforminess anymore. When Cuomo ran on a platform promising to go after unions, I voted for Green Howie Hawkins. In 2012, I voted for Green Jill Stein for President, and I expect to do so again in November.

But I'm really shocked at some of the pushback I've gotten lately. A local union President from somewhere or other got on my Facebook page and called me names. That's not argument at all. I mean, if you can show me that Hillary will really work for us, you might persuade me. Personal insults are the province of people bereft of ideas, and we need to do better. You know, we're teachers, role models. Are we raising our children to thoughtlessly insult one another?

That's not the first time I've heard such nonsense, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Though there are a handful of people I really respect in leadership, I'm not seeing that as a rule. I have no problem engaging people, and I respect people's opinions. What amazes me is people approaching me with no argument whatsoever and absolute conviction that they are right. Why are they right? Well, they went to a meeting and someone told them this was right, and that's good enough for them. How can they be like that?

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. ~Upton Sinclair

When people tell me what a threat Trump is I understand. He would be an awful President, full of bluster and baseless ideas. And those who follow him blindly are really dangerous, as they could follow him into some pretty bad places. I found it ironic that someone, in defense of Hillary, would call me a "loser," as that's what Trump calls everyone and anyone who disagrees with him. What does that even mean anymore?

But I wonder how a leader of teachers can skate by with an inability to muster an argument that rises above juvenile name-calling. What does that say about us? I've met a whole lot of chapter leaders who got the job simply because no one else wanted it. I see places where the gig appears to be passed around like a hot potato. That's kind of understandable. Who's crazy enough to argue with the principal?  But someone has to do it.

Why can't we get good people? There are reasons, of course. One is that our system kind of encourages and perpetuates mediocrity. I mean, UFT leadership takes a stand, sort of. They supported mayoral control. When it came up for renewal, they asked for changes, didn't get them, and then supported it anyway. Now Mulgrew says they support it, but not as is. What does that even mean? If they don't support it as is, why the hell did they support it ever?

Leadership sort of sits on the fence on testing. Mulgrew's gonna punch all our faces out if we don't support Common Core, but they complain about the rollout, which is the same nonsense Cuomo rationalizes it with. They're against excessive testing, but when opt-out actually does something about it, they spout the same crap as Reformy John King. When opt-out places fear into the alleged heart of the Cuomo, and inspires him to make a few superficial changes, they declare it a victory (and take credit). But as they declare absolutely everything a victory, that's got kind of a hollow ring.

They attack everyone and anyone who disagrees with them. If they can't think of a good argument, they dredge the bottom of the barrel, and spit out whatever they come up with. Who cares if it's accurate or not? Anyone who's signed a loyalty oath will believe it or lose their free trip to Schenectady next year. Or maybe an after school gig. So they don't contradict it, and just as likely don't even bother to think about it.

What is the quality of representation you get when you hire people who won't and possibly even can't think? What is the quality of representation you get when no one is allowed to question the Great and Powerful Oz, and everyone just runs around pretending how mysterious he is?

Sadly, you get what we've got now. You get some very good people, and a lot of others who blindly do as told and fully expect never to have to explain it. When put in uncomfortable positions, they blurt out whatever nonsense comes into their heads.

If you read this blog I have to assume you know that we, teachers, are under assault. We are the last vestige of vibrant unionism in these United States and as such folks hate us. Some of those folks are Eli Broad and the Walmart family, and they donate heavily to candidate Hillary Clinton. Well, if Hillary is so great for teachers, why the hell are the reformies-in-chief donating to her?

Hey, if you want to vote for Hillary, go right ahead. I won't call you names. But if you want to be a leader, if you aim to persuade, you'd better be prepared to stand up and explain why you do what you do. There are certainly plenty of capable people. But we're not gonna inspire them to work with us if we're represented by those who behave like 12-year-olds.

If You Want to Close Schools, You Don't Want My Vote

I have never in my life, before Obama, seen a Democratic President who was anti-public education. Diane Ravitch wrote that he gave GW Bush a third term in education. I'd argue he went well beyond that. To me, it was a Nixon goes to China thing. A Republican could likely not have passed Race to the Top, because the Democrats would have blocked at least some of it. I mean, waving cash in front of broke states so they'd support charter schools and judge teachers by Bill Gates-inspired junk science?

But Obama did it, and every day, without exception, people on my staff tell me how it makes them feel. Honestly, I don't have any issues with my direct supervisor, but I don't know about the reports I get. Actually she gives me good advice, and I generally use it. But what the hell do I do with that piece of paper I get at the end? If it says I'm effective, what the hell do I care why? Should I read how it relates to the Danielson checklist, the one Danielson herself says is simplistic and ridiculous? Or should I stuff it in my bag and forget about it until next time?

By 2008 I was pretty tired of GW Bush. I voted for Hillary over Obama in the primary. I did this because my union leadership had endorsed her, and though I was already wary of their advice, I figured they must have some reason to have done so. Also Obama was already coming out in favor of charters. On the other hand, so was union leadership. I watched a video of Obama telling the NEA he'd do things with them, not to them. He looked a lot better than a highly compromised John McCain and an outright preposterous Sarah Palin, so he got my vote in the general.

And it's pretty simple to me. This is one thing we do right, more or less, unlike health care, unlike elder care, unlike making sure children don't live in poverty. And someone like Obama comes along, fails to stand with working people, as promised, and fails to stand for the Employee Free Choice Act, as promised. Those were the things that got me to vote for him. I give him credit for making a little progress with health care. But I will never again vote for anyone who is not an unequivocal supporter of public education, not for President, and not for dog catcher.

Some people have been getting awfully mad at me for not supporting Hillary Clinton. I've been called a Bernie Bro, a fanatic, and accused of massive ignorance. But when Hillary Clinton stands in public and says she wouldn't keep any school open that isn't above average, it speaks volumes. It says to me she has no understanding whatsoever of what school closings entail. It says she certainly can't be bothered reading Diane Ravitch. Some people blabber nonsense about how it was out of context, but frankly, there is no context under which this makes sense.

I work two miles north of what was once Jamaica High School, and I remember very clearly when it was closed under false stats. James Eterno and I were pretty specific about why that was, and to this date no one has bothered to refute us. It was excruciating to watch Bloomberg's stooges recite false stats and ignore an entire community trying to save their school.

At the time, my school had 4600 students and was bursting at the seams. We worked very hard to reduce the numbers before the building collapsed, either literally or via one of Bloomberg's various school closing squads. It's pretty terrifying thinking someone will close your school and put all of your colleagues into the purgatory that is the ATR for no reason whatsoever. And even now, with alleged hippie commie de Blasio in charge, no one's made much of an effort to put the ATR to work full time.

I've since learned a whole lot more reasons not to vote for Hillary Clinton. But that's the one that really did it for me. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the NY State primary, but honestly he's not perfect in K-12 either. When he talks school closings I'll cross him off my list too. I don't care how you vote, who you vote for, or why. I simply can't support anyone who will close public schools.

Is it Unfair Independents Can't Vote in NY Primary?

Full disclosure--I prefer Bernie Sanders head and shoulders over all other Presidential candidates. Lately I've been hearing and reading from a lot of people who think the NY State primary system is unfair. After all, only Democrats can vote in the Democratic primaries, and only Republicans can vote in the GOP primaries. Is that unfair?

I don't think so, actually. I'm a registered Democrat, but only because it allows me to vote in the primary. There is nothing stopping anyone else who'd like to vote in the primary from registering. It's not like you have to be invited to be a party member. It's not like I'm enjoying any special privileges because of my affiliation.

It's not like the UFT system where you have to be invited and sign a loyalty oath to be a party member. (Hey, that's a little reminiscent of communist societies where parties are elite and members have special privileges, isn't it?)

I distinctly recall Sanders supporters urging people to register as a Democrat so as to be able to vote in the primaries. In fact, I have a Republican friend who changed parties simply so he could vote for Bernie. If you waited until primary day to try to vote, only to find you hadn't registered as a Democrat, that's kind of on you. As long as the rules apply to everyone, they're fair.

I'm more upset with the idea that we have to register to vote. If I'm not mistaken, Bernie thinks everyone should automatically be registered and you ought to have to opt out only if you don't want to vote. I know, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in voting, and they ought to have the right to opt out. But registration ought to be the default.

Hey, if you want to register as a Democrat, go ahead. It doesn't cost anything, and it doesn't oblige you to vote for every Democrat that comes down the pike. When they presented me with Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who ran on a platform of going after unions, I knew he wasn't getting my vote. I discovered Howie Hawkins of the Green Party, for whom I've now twice voted. And after Barack Obama gave GW Bush a third term in education, I discovered Jill Stein of the Green Party. Maybe I'll vote for her again in November.

In some states, everyone's allowed to vote in the primaries. I recall reading of Republicans voting for Al Sharpton in order to screw with Democrats. I'm not really sure that's a great idea. I don't want to vote just to spite someone, and I don't really want people to vote just to spite me either.

Hey, if you want to register Democrat in New York State, go right ahead. Maybe this election cycle was a learning experience for some independents. And hey, I'd have loved to see Bernie beat Hillary. But we're all grownups here. I know the rules. If you don't, that's not really Hillary's fault. She didn't make the rules.

Maybe independents ought to be able to choose which primary they vote in. I think that's what they do in California. But the time to discuss that, and particularly the time to change the rules, if that's what it takes, is not right after a primary with results that disappointed you. 

I still support Bernie. I don't mind if you don't. After all, it's still nominally a free country. One thing, though--I've had it up to here with being called a "Bernie Bro" for not supporting Hillary. That's stereotypical and ignorant. Anyone who has to resort to ad hominem hasn't got much of an argument.

Of course, if it's true that 125,000 Democratic voters were systematically purged, that's another story altogether. 

Will Obama Sacrifice Labor for a SCOTUS Pick?

I have some friends who support Hillary. Passionately. In fact, some of them support her so passionately that they cannot bear to hear that some of us will not vote for her. The biggest argument is Supreme Court nominees. Evidently, if we don't support Hillary Clinton, Scalia will be infinitely cloned and SCOTUS will continue to make insane, anti-democratic rulings.

Of course I'm just as unhappy as they are with that prospect, and there's no way I'm gonna vote for Donald Trump or any of the GOP gang. But I've pretty much had it with Democrats who don't support working people. Obama enabled the very worst education policies I've ever seen, managing to outdo GW Bush. He failed to enact card check for unions or find the comfortable shoes he said he needed to walk with us. His shoes were so uncomfortable he never set foot in Wisconsin as Walker decimated union.

So I'm understandably wary of Clinton, who seems more of the same. As if that weren't enough, she blurted out the idiotic notion of closing all schools that weren't above average. That means closing half of all schools all the time. She then said we would never, ever get single payer. More recently, she advocated longer hours and school days, emphasizing quantity over quality. If kids aren't happy now, or even if we judge schools via reformy test scores, more of the same isn't gonna make anything better.

Now I read that Obama is considering GOP Governor Brian Sandoval for SCOTUS. Evidently he's aligned on certain issues with the President. However, he's known as anti-labor. Were he to be confirmed, what would that mean for the Friedrichs case? Is President Obama ready to sell public unions down the river in order to confirm a nominee? Or is he just trying to embarrass the Republicans by demonstrating they'd reject one of their own simply to avoid cooperating with him?

Either way, were Obama to nominate someone like this, it means he didn't deserve our votes. This whole triangulation strategy was created by Bill Clinton, and Obama seems to be following in his footsteps. The prime mode of following appears to be throwing teachers and public unions under the bus. I, for one, have had it with this nonsense. I declined to vote for Obama during his second term, and I'm not voting for Hillary this time around. If she beats Bernie I'll probably vote for the Green candidate, or find some other third party candidate who appears not to be insane.

It appears that Obama, who we supported twice, may not even meet the low standard of appointing a Supreme Court justice who shares our values. If that's the case, I expect Hillary is ready to follow in his footsteps, even as she criticizes Bernie Sanders for failing to sufficiently embrace Obama. For the life of me, I can't figure why our leadership supports people who are so eager to stab us in the back. I can't understand why we endorse without asking for anything in return.

But this teacher no longer votes for people who don't support public education. It's time for union leadership to wake up or get out of the way.

Still Not Feeling the Love for Hillary

Lately I've been getting attacked pretty frequently on Facebook by a few people who insist I vote for Hillary Clinton. When they get really upset, they start telling me how stupid I am. I'm unfamiliar with high school civics. I don't understand how things work. What about 1972? Didn't we lose in 1972? Sanders is Ralph Nader. He's a spoiler.

When you tell them that Sanders has pledged to support the Democratic nominee, they are not happy. It doesn't matter. Sometimes they accuse me of supporting the Republicans. If I don't vote for Hillary, I'm supporting Donald Trump. How do I feel about that?

They don't seem to understand the meaning of democracy. If, in fact, I want to vote for Donald Trump, I can. I don't, but still I have reasons not to vote for Hillary. For one thing, I voted for Barack Obama the first time he ran. I was pretty horrified as he enacted the worst education policies I've ever seen. I regretted my vote, and when he ran for re-election chose Jill Stein from the Green Party. So when Hillary said she would close schools that weren't above average, I decided that was enough for me.

But she followed this up by saying we would never, ever get single payer. Evidently those of us who think America should have universal health coverage are wild-eyed dreamers. Now I've been sick, and even with excellent health insurance I recall wading through complicated, virtually incomprehensible bills, and spending hours calling my medical insurance company, and my hospital insurance company, and actually visiting the hospital to try and clear things up. This was a process that took months.

But that's nothing.

Sometimes I play fiddle in bluegrass bands. It's kind of my hobby. One Saturday night, I was playing in a Pennsylvania theater, in a band that opened for someone who was fairly well known in our circles. It was a pretty nice gig. We had a dressing room, and the theater sent us to a nearby restaurant for lunch and dinner.

I remember I ate with the banjo player from the main band. He ordered a Reuben sandwich, and so did I. I don't remember much of what we talked about. I do remember, though, that he was the only member of the other band who looked under 300 pounds. That's why I was pretty surprised to hear that he dropped dead the following Tuesday.

Evidently he'd been having chest pains and didn't want to go to the ER. After all, an ER visit can cost 3,000 bucks, and that's after the negotiated discounts your insurance company has. This banjo player had none of those discounts, and in case you didn't know, banjo playing is not generally a well-paying job. I'm not even sure if he was the regular banjo player. But banjo players, regular or not, like all Americans, deserve better than this.

.@HillaryClinton If you really believe this, it's time for you to support #FightFor15/hr min wage and #SinglePayer health care. #Talkischeap

— Danielle Muscato (@daniellemuscato) February 17, 2016

My friend's father had to sell his house to pay his wife's medical bills. He moved into the basement of his son's house, where one Christmas Eve he blew his brains out with a gun.

America needs universal health, not excuses from self-serving politicians who care about nothing but winning the election. And for those of you who want to lecture me about the Supreme Court, if Hillary needs my  vote in NY State so desperately it's that pivotal, she is toast anyway.

You vote for who you like. I'm voting for Bernie in the primary, and I'm not voting for a reformy politician who wants to fire me, or any of my brother and sister teachers.

Sexism, Sanders, and Lee

Are you sick of hearing how you're a misogynist because you favor Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton? Tired of being called a "Bernie bro," whatever the hell that is? I am. I read a lot of things like that in social media, and a lot of it comes from Randi Weingarten, who I follow on Facebook and Twitter.

After all, that's kind of a straw man. How does anyone know why we support Bernie, or indeed anyone, unless they ask us? For me, I always liked what Sanders said better than what Clinton did. Sanders seems like a staunch advocate for a middle class and for working people. Hillary takes millions from banks and health care companies. The thing that really pushed me over the edge was when Hillary started talking about closing schools that weren't above average. I've personally decided not to vote for anyone who supports school reforminess anymore. And when Hillary said we were never, ever going to achieve single payer universal health care, that made the choice to support Sanders even easier.

But hey, if it's sexist to support a man over a woman for a political position, I say let's make it work for us. For example, I think Jia Lee ought to be the next President of the United Federation of Teachers. Now a lot of people disagree with me, and favor Michael Mulgrew, who is a guy. Clearly they are a bunch of sexist bastards and ought to be disparaged at each and every opportunity. But the whole "Michael bro" thing doesn't really resonate. The alliteration is completely off.

But there are other similarities, like vested interests. For example, a whole lot of Mulgrew supporters have signed loyalty oaths to make sure they get, you know, free trips and patronage gigs. They run around and say whatever they're told to say. They show the six-minute Mulgrew re-election video that masquerades as information about Friedrichs. And then, most importantly, they go to NYSUT and AFT conventions and vote any damn way Leroy Barr tells them to. And let me point out, in case it's not apparent, that Leroy Barr is also, indisputably, a man. As far as I know, he doesn't even try to hide it.

Me, I'm open minded and free thinking. That's why I support Jia Lee for UFT President. Jia's a leader in the op-out movement, and I absolutely believe this movement is what moved Andrew Cuomo to pretend to want to change his awful Common Core programs. Mulgrew tries to take credit in the latest NY Teacher, but it's like pulling teeth to get him and his Unity BFFs to stand up for opt out.

In any case, maybe it's time for us to take a page from union leadership. Let's start calling Mulgrew supporters Mindless Misogynists for Mulgrew. I don't really believe people support Mulgrew because they hate women, but if that's the tactic they choose to defend Hillary, why not use it? Since we already have the better candidate, why not throw in the kitchen sink?

The answer, of course, is because we have the better candidate, we can focus on the issues. You know, just like Bernie Sanders does.

Megyn Kelly Is Just Another Denizen of the Fox Sewer

All over the news, all over Facebook and Twitter, there's talk of Donald Trump and the much-maligned crusading reporter Megyn Kelly. Didn't she ask the tough questions? Didn't she challenge Donald Trump over his misogynistic rhetoric? Didn't she provoke him into spouting yet further offensive verbiage?

She did challenge him over his remarks about women, and she did get him to say whatever it was about her bleeding. And all over social media, there is outrage. How dare Donald Trump allude to menstruation? On the one hand, he's banned from some big GOP speaking occasion. On the other are people going after Megyn Kelly. How come she went after Donald Trump and went easy on the others? That's an interesting question, but absolutely none of the Fox talking heads asked the most interesting and obvious question. (I'll get to that.)

Another thing Trump said was that he gave to various and sundry candidates. He was challenged because he's donated to Hillary Clinton in the past. But at that point, Trump said something remarkable. He said he was a businessman, and when pols asked him for money, he gave. He said that a few years later he might ask them for a favor. Very Don Corleone, if you ask me. Except Don Corleone was portrayed as helping ordinary people, giving them power society may have unfairly denied them, in return for some unspecified favor in the future. Trump gave money to people who were already among the most powerful in the country.

In the clip I saw, Trump said he gave money to most of the people on the stage. One of them said no, while a few of the others asked him to give them money. They probably couldn't help it. Politicians in the United States spend so much time asking for campaign money it's a wonder they have time to do their jobs at all. And it's no wonder that so little gets done in the name of We, the People.

Then Trump said something truly remarkable. He said the system was broken. Sure, it's pay for play. Sure, he plays the game. Sure, he uses the rules as they are laid out. But Trump's utterance, and others like that, are the real reason GOP bigshots don't like having him around. He isn't supposed to say things like that. None of the other hopefuls wander around telling the truth. They all pretend to represent us, while Trump's right out there, in front of God and everybody, saying the system is for sale to the highest bidder.

So why am I attacking poor Megyn Kelly? It's because neither she nor any of her allegedly pro colleagues, as far as I know, followed up on that statement. Wouldn't it be appropriate to say, "If the system is broken, how can we fix it?" Wouldn't it be appropriate to ask that of not only Trump, but of every person standing on that stage? Isn't basic fundamental democracy something worth protecting?

Not to the talking heads of Fox News, and not anyone in MSM of whom I'm aware. As far as I know, the only candidate talking about Citizens United, which empowers the Koch Brothers to create and empower anti-union slime like Scott Walker, is Bernie Sanders. As far as I can tell, the great minds at Fox don't even think it merits a second thought.

The larger problem is that the rest of the media, like the NY Times, which is supposed to be better than Fox, is still harping on Trump and Kelly and whether this will be the thing that finally stops Trump's momentum. So far, just about every odious thing he says gives him a bump in the polls. Can Fox stop Trump from wandering around telling saying his unedited opinions, which sometimes turn out to be true?

Time will tell. Thus far, they've been pretty good about steering the national conversation to places that continually move working people backward. Thank goodness Ronald Reagan got rid of that inconvenient fairness doctrine that said issues actually had to be discussed from both sides. I remember the club owner in the Blues Brothers saying, "We have both kinds of music, country and western."

Sometimes, in these United States, I feel like we get both sides of the issue--right and ultra right. Make no mistake, I like Donald Trump about as much as I'd like some loathsome reptile I found crawling under my bed. But Fox likes him even less, because they simply can't afford to have him running around telling the truth, and focusing on issues that We, the People are simply supposed to ignore.

Note to UFT/ NYSUT/ AFT--Endorse Bernie Sanders

I'm friendly with a few people in UFT Unity. I certainly don't agree with their party platform, but I don't take that personally. These days, I don't make it personal here unless one of them does first. I was speaking a Unity member the other day, bemoaning the rather miserable state of things, and that person asked me, "What would you do?"

I mentioned things from the past, like failing to oppose Cuomo when he was running, like Weingarten's back door endorsement via Hochul, like failure to stand up when Eva Moskowitz eviscerated what was supposed to be mayoral control by forcing us to pay for charters whether or not we wanted them. But the question, of course, is what would I do now?

Right now, if I had any influence whatsoever in leading my union, I would endorse Bernie Sanders for President. I know there is some history with AFT President Randi Weingarten and Hillary Clinton. I know we endorsed Hillary when Randi was UFT President. In fact, I voted for Hillary in the primary against Barack Obama and given his education record, I don't regret that at all. But, while I doubt she could be much worse, I'm not entirely persuaded Hillary would have been better.

Bernie Sanders just told the world he would dump No Child Left Behind. He opposes for-profit prisons and I don't see him jumping up and down demanding for-profit schools either. He's a strong supporter of unions. He believes in women's rights and universal health care. In short, he supports working people. In fact, he goes so far as to say that the wealthy should pay their fair share, and I'm not sure I've heard that sort of talk, or believed it at least, in decades.

If the union wants to let us know they've changed, they need to dump the same old, same old of endorsing corporate sweethearts and making costly mistakes. Hillary's popularity was at its highest point when hubby Bill left the Oval Office. Since then it's been going steadily downhill. She even managed to lose the presidential nomination to relatively unknown Barack Obama, something most of us deemed impossible. I signed a petition to get him on the NY primary ballot, and told the person who gave it to me he had no chance. Here in NY, he really didn't.

It's time for us to stop endorsing people like Bill Thompson, who publicly told the Daily News the city couldn't afford to give teachers the raise it gave everyone else. It's time for us to stop endorsing people with corporate ties the likes of which Hillary Clinton has.  It's time for us to stand with working people, people like ourselves, people like the students for whom we hope to leave a route to middle class.

Bernie Sanders is step one. 

Bernie Sanders on Social Security

It's refreshing to see someone who will stand up for our middle class. As President Obama places Social Security and Medicare "on the table," we really need someone to champion us. As Sanders points out, candidate Obama ran promising not to cut it, and now appears to be reversing several key promises he made to us in his campaign.

I've heard Republicans say that everything is on the table except taxes. That's insane. We are in trouble because GW cut off our tax base to make things easier for billionaires. It's time they started paying their fair share. It's time we stopped cutting seniors, working people, and our children so that we could ease the all-important tax bill of Steve Forbes. And it's time we started voting in candidates like Bernie Sanders, who speak the truth and work for us.







Thanks to RP.