Yesterday’s post on the Boston Globe’s suggestion of a future state takeover of the Boston Public Schools discussed Domingo Morel’s Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy. Morel’s research shows that state takeovers of school districts usually (not always) bring about the political dis-empowerment of communities of color. Unfortunately we’ve seen several attempts to restrict representation…
Joe Kennedy’s Case is Thin but Probably Sufficient
Last night Senator Markey and Congressman Kennedy faced off in their first televised debate. Three highlights that made this morning’s papers were Kennedy’s criticisms of Markey’s Iraq War vote, his “present” committee vote as a new member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2013 on a resolution to authorize the Obama Administration to use…
The Racial Politics of the Globe’s Proposal for a State Takeover of the Boston Public Schools
On Friday the Boston Globe editorialized in favor of a possible state takeover of the Boston Public Schools, pointing out city-state political obstacles. It isn’t city-state politics at issue though. It’s racial politics. In Takeover: Race, Education, and American Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), Domingo Morel finds that state takeovers of public school…
Congress Needs to Wake Up to the Coronavirus Threat
The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus is one of the most alarming public health emergencies of the twenty-first century. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), called the situation “unprecedented” adding that the CDC is “preparing as if this is the next…
Two and a Half Ways (Maybe 3?) the Waltons (and Charles Koch?) Welcome Themselves into the Democratic Primaries
In the world of dark money, things are never what they seem. So as the Democrats try to pick a presidential nominee is it a surprise that the Waltons and Charles Koch (?) are funding front operations to influence the process, disrupting an Elizabeth Warren speech, forming an anti-union “union”, and trying to nudge the…
The American Electoral System
Have you ever thought about how insane the way we elect our President is? Consider the following: it has been 2 and a half years since the first democratic hopeful—John Delaney—officially announced his candidacy. Since then we have had 18 candidates announce and drop out all before a single vote was cast. We will now…
Got Democracy? National Parents Union Doesn’t
One interesting thing about privatization fronts like the Walton family’s National Parents Union is that of membership and governance. Who gets to be members, what are the powers of members, how is leadership chosen? In the world of privatization organizations these components are rarely, if ever, democratic. National Parents Union is a union, right? It…
National Parents Union, the Anti-union Union
The National Parents Union front for the Walton family’s dive into the Democratic Party’s primaries decided to adopt the name union, though it is not only not a union but is virulently anti-union—a posture that surely satisfies the WalMart heirs. A union is “An organization of workers, formed for the purpose of negotiating with employers…
Waltons Dive into Democratic Primaries Behind National Parents Union
The Walton family, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, are trying to deal themselves in to Democratic primary politics. It isn’t any mystery why. Conservative billionaires feel gravely threatened by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Their vehicle is yet another new privatization front posing as a parents group, National Parents Union. National Parents Union appears to…
It’s Time For Warren to Lead Democrats Away from Bernie’s Rhetoric & Revolution
The ongoing spat between the two most progressive Democratic candidates for president is likely a pre-view of things to come. Bernie Sanders’ campaign playbook is not a “who dun it.” Everyone knows that he will rely on attacking his Democratic opponents with rhetoric that is virtually indistinguishable to that he levels at Republicans. Senator Warren…