Charlie Baker’s decision not to make an unprecedented run for a third consecutive four-year term in the Corner Office was a wise one for many reasons, most of which have been well and thoroughly discussed by thoughtful observers. The complications of his party having been thoroughly trumpified and the various land mines Democrats could detonate…
Trump’s Lawyer Sues Wellesley for Charles Koch’s Phony “Parent” Group
Tuesday the Boston Globe had a story National conservative group files lawsuit against Wellesley public schools and I thought, I could write a headline that is both more clickable and more dead-on balls accurate than that so here it is: Trump’s Lawyer Sues Wellesley for Charles Koch’s Phony “Parent” Group. Do you like it? The…
Of Course Jim Davis is the Issue (and so is Andrew Balson, Reed Hastings, Jim Walton)
One sign that wealthy donor Jim Davis is an issue in the Boston mayor’s race is that Annissa Essaibi George, who was backed in the preliminary by a SuperPAC funded by Davis, keeps explaining to the Boston Globe, Jon Keller of WBZ, and as she told the Dorchester Reporter “This isn’t about Jim Davis.” So…
SuperPAC Thoughts While Awaiting the Michelle Wu-Jim Davis Debate
The preliminaries are over for next mayor of Boston and we’re all eager for a debate between the two big winners on Tuesday, city councilor Michelle Wu and New Balance Chairman Jim Davis. Councilor Annissa Essaibi George may object but there is recent precedent for a Wu-Davis debate. As the Boston Globe’s Shirley Leung smartly…
The Corporate Critical Race Theory Attack: Chaos is the Product
Below is a piece I originally did for Diane Ravitch’s blog, link here. With billionaire driven phony parents groups like Parents Defending Education, Parents United, Students United, and Massachusetts Parents United around, read this for what is really happening here in Massachusetts and across the nation. Btw, verbal and physical attacks on school committee members,…
SuperPACs: Boston Keeps Not Inviting You But You Keep Coming Back
The Boston Globe is doing a pretty good job (I hope the Globe keeps it up) paying attention to SuperPACs in the Boston mayor’s race, the latest example being Danny McDonald’s SuperPAC’s emerge in Boston mayor’s race, with little objection so far. But regular people do object to these vehicles for oligarchic wealth, and they…
The Globe Keeps Missing a Huge Schools Issue. Why is That?
Suppose WalMart swept into Boston and spent millions to acquire Market Basket. The town would go ballistic. It would be covered every day in every media outlet, front page of the Boston Globe. But the Walton Family Foundation of Arkansas—the exact same heartless* mercenaries—spends millions of dollars to take over public schools and it gets…
Ugh. Another AstroTurf Fake Parents Group: Parents United
In a probably misguided and sadly irreversible decision five and a half years ago I started following the money behind AstroTurf education operations play acting as parent groups while fronting for billionaire privatizers. I’ve seen quite a few phony operations and the new right wing entry Parents United (not Massachusetts Parents United!) has a unique…
Beware! Obsessing Creepy Professor!!!
So here I am a quiet, amiable, kindly old gentleman who tries to keep up with those youngs on the Twitter and such when I see Keri Rodrigues, the CEO of two multimillion dollar corporations, say I’m obsessive and creepy! Why that just placed a dark cloud over my retirement alright. Honestly, how’d this quiet,…
A Better Boston for Oligarchs
June 30 Update: The Better Boston for Oligarchs SuperPAC sent in a new filing with OCPF yesterday and boy, is this 2016 and school privatization all over again. here are the salient updates. Ray Stata is in for $25,000. He gave $125,000 to the Great Schools Massachusetts ballot committee in 2016. Hilary Gabrieli is in…