What The Clinton Shills Don't Get: Few Trust Hillary Clinton

Had some fun on Twitter with a Clinton shill calling me a liar for this post here entitled "Hillary Clinton Vows To Close Every Public School In The Country."

His message was basically the same one that I've seen elsewhere on the Internet as the "Clinton Wants To Destroy Public Education" meme has rolled along and Clinton shills have begun to push back on it - Clinton doesn't want to close all the schools that are rated "below average," as she said wanted to in the Iowa clip, she simply misspoke.

But the thing that Clinton shills and apologists don't get here is this - given Clinton's elasticity with truth and honesty, given her past fondness for school closures, DFER, charter schools, and the Common Core, given the fondness her pals at the Center for American Progress (basically a Clinton administration in exile ready to roll into power as soon as she's elected) have for this same stuff, given her shillery for Walmart in the past and given the fact that she's a Clinton and no one believes a word these people say, it doesn't matter what she really meant.

See, couple the Clinton administration's ed deform policies in the past with the betrayal that many felt when Barack Obama doubled down on the Bush ed deform policies of NCLB with his Race to the Top program and you have an entire generation of teachers out there not going to cut these lying politicians any slack when they "misspeak" or say stuff that sounds kooky (as Clinton did.)

The larger issue here for me, and why I even blogged the thing in the first place (if you notice, it's almost all Cuomo/NY all the time here at Perdido Street School blog these days, so I'm not doing much 2016 presidential race stuff) is that it was the perfect crystallization of the mistrust many teachers have for Democratic politicians in general and Clinton in particular.

That people didn't give her the benefit of the doubt over this "misspeak," that even now she needs the shills to go around defending her, goes to show you just how little trust or affection she has among many rank and file educators these days.

How do you know when a Clinton's lying?

You don't have to try and figure it out because they're ALWAYS lying.

Hillary Clinton Touts Her Education Reformer Credentials In Ads In Iowa, New Hampshire

Tell me again why the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton 16 months before the 2016 presidential election?

Hillary Clinton’s first set of campaign ads will begin airing Tuesday in Iowa and New Hampshire as her campaign tries to get ahead of an anticipated onslaught of Republican attacks come the fall.

...

The ads will air in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa's two largest markets, and in the Boston/Manchester and Burlington, Vt., markets, which together reach all of New Hampshire.

Some content of the ads:

In HRC's 1st ads, narrator says she "fought 4 school reform" in AR & she describes teacher who brought food 4 her mom http://t.co/Gjxt406s2i

— Josh Eidelson (@josheidelson) August 3, 2015

This is Classic Clinton triangulation - "there was this great teacher who brought food for my mom when she was hungry...but I also fought for school reforms that, in large part, blame teachers for the problems in public education."

There's a sketchy PAC out there that appears to be linked to Clinton that is calling itself "Americas Teachers" that bills itself as "pro-union, pro-reform."

Clinton's first campaign ads appear to be following the same script - pro-teacher/union and pro-reform.

To which I say:

@mma718 @KingsParkAE @americateachers @rweingarten @TeacherArthurG @leoniehaimson Pro-union, pro-reform? Pro-jive.

— rbe (@perdidostschool) August 3, 2015

All The Good Walmart Does

Former Bloomberg DOE minion of school closings in NYC, Marc Sternberg, is featured prominently in this morning's NY Times piece on the Walton philanthropy-industrial complex and charter schools:

In 2013, the Walton foundation spent more than $164 million across the country. According to Marc Sternberg, who was appointed director of K-12 education reform at the Walton Family Foundation last September, Walton has given grants to one in every four charter start-ups in the country, for a total of $335 million.

“The Walton Family Foundation has been deeply committed to a theory of change, which is that we have a moral obligation to provide families with high quality choices,” said Mr. Sternberg. “We believe that in providing choices we are also compelling the other schools in an ecosystem to raise their game.”

...

Walton’s Mr. Sternberg, who started his career in Teach for America and founded the Bronx Lab School, a public school in New York City, does not apologize for Walton’s commitment to charter schools and vouchers. “What’s the argument there?” he said during an interview. “Don’t help anybody until you can help everybody?”

He said the foundation was focused not on ideology but on results, a word he repeated many times.

Let's focus on the "results" that Walmart, the company, gets so that the Walton Foundation can use some of that money they make to hire Marc Sternberg and other edu-entrepreneurs and reformers and push their pro-charter/pro-voucher agenda.

Sternberg claims the Walton money has clearly made DC a better place:

“D.C. is a better place today than it was 10 years ago because of the reforms that have played out here,” said Mr. Sternberg, who was an official in the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. He pointed to recent increases in scores on national tests by both public and charter school students, saying that neighborhood schools had responded to competition from charters. “And maybe in very small part, because of Walton’s role,” he added.

Let's see all the good Walmart has done in DC:

Mayor Vincent C. Gray vetoed legislation Thursday that would force the District’s largest retailers to pay their workers significantly more, choosing the potential for jobs and development at home over joining a national fight against low-wage work.

Gray’s quandary is playing out in many U.S. cities, where local leaders who generally sympathize with worker causes are also eager to lure jobs and commerce for their constituents. Retailers, most notably Wal-Mart, have placed an increasing focus on urban expansion, while unions and advocates for workers have pushed measures like the District’s “living wage” bill as a valuable hedge against the proliferation of low-paying jobs.

 The veto, which is unlikely to be overridden by the D.C. Council, clears the way for Wal-Mart to continue its entry into the District — plans years in the making that were thrown into question after lawmakers embraced the wage proposal this year.

...

The bill, known as the Large Retailer Accountability Act, would require retailers with corporate sales of $1 billion or more and operating District stores of at least 75,000 square feet to pay their employees a “living wage” — no less than $12.50 an hour in combined wages and benefits. The proposal includes an exception for employers who collectively bargain with their workers. Existing employers would have four years to come into compliance.

The city’s minimum wage is $8.25 an hour. The bill would raise the annual earnings of a full-time employee making the lowest legal wage from about $17,000 to $26,000.

While the bill’s supporters repeatedly said it was not targeted at Wal-Mart, the debate was inextricably tied to the retail giant’s plans, announced in late 2010, to open as many as six stores in the city in the coming months and years.

The union exemption and square-footage requirement rankled Wal-Mart officials, who said those provisions created an uneven playing field — particularly with the unionized grocery chains they plan to compete with in the city.

A day ahead of the bill’s final passage in July, Wal-Mart told council members and the public that it would not pursue three of the six planned stores and would explore options for withdrawing from the others should legislators proceed. The ultimatum changed no votes on the council.

Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo called the veto “good news for D.C. residents,” saying Gray chose “jobs, economic development and common sense over special interests.”

Restivo said the company will move forward with its stores in the District: “We look forward to finishing the work we started in the city almost three years ago.”

While the ultimatum from Walmart may have changed no votes on the council, it did ensure Gray's veto.

In the end, Walmart got exactly what it wanted - a dead living wage bill.

Oh, yeah - just feel all the goodness Walmart and Walton money have brought to DC.

So much goodness that you, well, can't actually pay your bills with it.

Cory Booker Does The Business Of Our Corporate Overlords

The WSJ covers the release of the emails related to Mark Zuckerberg's "gift" of $100 million in Facebook stock to the Newark school district.

Mayor Cory Booker had attempted to keep the emails secret but the ACLU sued to get release.

Via Schools Matter, Glenn Ford of the Black Agenda Report looks at the crimes of Cory Booker, Barack Obama and other black politicians who do the bidding of our corporate overlords.

Ford shows how the attacks on black progressivism and unionism have helped promote the corporate agenda.

It is good to remember that, as Booker's machinations with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and David Einhorn and other hedge fund criminals to sell off the Newark public school system are exposed.

Booker likes to go on Oprah and make like he is trying to improve the lives of citizens of his city.

But most citizens in Newark are not fooled by Booker.

They know Booker is not out to improve public education, public schools or the lives of the citizens in Newark.

They know he is out to promote a corporate agenda, a privatization agenda, and thus promote himself for higher office.

If he tried to run for re-election in Newark, he probably wouldn't win - he has a reputation for being an "absentee mayor" - a politician more interested in national acclaim over stunts like his trying live on food stamps for a week than the difficult business of actually governing Newark.

But that's okay - he's aiming higher anyway.

He had been mulling running for governor for so long that it seemed a foregone conclusion he would run - until Hurricane Sandy. 

Following the storm,Chris Christie's approval ratings soared and Booker soured on running against Christie.

He will try and run for Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat instead, using the Senate as a launching pad to eventually run for president, just like another great sell-out of progressivism, Barack Obama.

Booker's ruffling some feathers by announcing this bid so far out from the election, but make no mistake, Big Money, Wall Street and the hedge fundies will be behind Cory Booker.

So will Bill Gates, the Broad Foundation and Oprah Winfrey.

Some of the same coalition that helped put Obama in the White House, btw.

Although unlike Obama, who has a lukewarm relationship with his corporate overlords at best, Booker is beloved by the corporate establishment.

Which is why he is so dangerous - he can look like a progressive to people who aren't paying close attention while actually harming progressive ideals and politics a great deal.

Take his food stamp stunt, where Booker lived on food stamps for a week to allegedly expose the problems with the program.

Rather than pulling stunts like that, he ought to be fighting for better paying jobs for people in New Jersey so they don't have to supplement their pay with food stamps to feed their families.

But this guy's too busy defending the private equity predators from attacks and backing Chris Christie up on his charter school proposals and attacks on teachers unions to get around to putting pressure on a company like, say, Walmart to provide a livable wage to its employees before it opens a store in Newark.

He's too busy promoting himself on Twitter, appearing on Oprah and writing opinion pieces in the Star-Ledger about his future plans to think much about the people who need help the most.

That's why the guys in private equity and on Wall Street love this guy - he's all show, and when it comes to policy agendas, Cory Booker can always be counted on to do the right thing - for Wall Street and the corporate state.

And so, as you peruse the Cory Booker/Facebook emails and see the coziness the mayor has with the Broad Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the hedge fund industry, remember that Booker is looking to use those relations to take his thing national.

Just like that other paragon of progressivism, Barack Obama.

Dave Grohl Joins TEACHERS ROCK, The Pro-Privatization/Anti-Teachers Union Show On CBS

I found out Dave Grohl signed onto TEACHERS ROCK, the union-bashing, pro-privatization CBS TV special sponsored by Walmart and the makers of union-busting movie "Won't Back Down," Walden Media, that is masquerading as a "celebration" of teachers.

Many of the other names on the list of performers who are there to" honor" teachers - like Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Garth Brooks, and a couple of American Idol winners - I didn't bat an eye at.

Most of these celebrities probably have no idea who or what is backing this "celebration" of teachers. They're probably thinking this is just a nice way to honor people who teach. They're most likely unaware of the politics behind this.

At least one of these celebrities, Meryl Streep, has publicly supported charter schools in the past (see here and here), so she may perhaps know a little more about the politics of charter vs. public school.

After all, when she chose to donate money to a school in Central Falls, Rhode Island in honor of actress Viola Davis (who coincidentally stars in the movie "Won't Back Down"), she chose a charter school, not a traditional public school.

That's an interesting choice she made and says at least a little something about where she's coming from.

But as I say, most of these people probably have no idea how odious this show is to real working teachers, how insulting it is to raise money for Teach for America, an organization that trains people for five weeks to work a couple of years as teachers before moving on to their "real jobs" and call that a "celebration" of teachers, how awful it makes most teachers feel to see celebrities promoting a movie that pushes for private takeovers of public schools.

I am surprised that Grohl is showing up to this thing.

Perhaps I am giving him more credit than he deserves, but he should know better than to support a "celebration" of teachers sponsored by right wing outfits like Walden Media and Walmart.

He didn't just fall off a turnip truck - he should know anything sponsored by Walmart and Walden Media is going to have an anti-union and/or right wing agenda (Jersey Jazzman connects those dots here.)

But since he's signed on to appear at TEACHERS ROCK, it's possible he doesn't.

You can register here at the Foo Fighters forum to express your displeasure with Grohl's decision to appear on a teachers union bashing show masking itself as an appreciation of teachers.

You can also call his manager here: 323-856-8222

Perhaps he is unaware of the politics underlying this "celebration" of teachers that it is meant to highlight TFA, charter school teachers, school choice, and public school privatization in the form of parent trigger laws.

Or perhaps he is totally aware of this and supports these things.

Either way, time to let him know how you feel about it.

Grohl is known as the "nicest guy in rock" - but there's nothing nice about lending his voice to a sham celebration of teachers that is really meant to publicize Walden Media's anti-union, pro-privatization movie.

Obama Administration Embraces Walmart

Another outrage from the Change We Can Believe In people:

In an unusual endorsement, Michelle Obama appeared with Walmart executives at a community center on Thursday as the discount giant announced long-term plans to encourage healthy eating, including cutting prices of fresh fruits and vegetables and working with suppliers to reduce the content of sugar, fat and sodium in the products on its shelves.

The first lady – whose signature cause is reducing childhood obesity and promoting nutrition and exercise, particularly among low-income families – praised Wal-Mart as a retail giant with “the potential to transform the marketplace and let Americans put healthier foods on their table.”

Their plans “show us that, yes, we can improve how we make and sell food in this country,” the first lady said. “It’s a huge victory for folks all across this country. It’s a victory for parents. It’s a victory for families. But most of all, it’s a victory for our children.”

As part of the program, Walmart plans to overhaul thousands of packaged food items by 2015 to reduce salt and sugar content as well as eliminate unhealthy ingredients such as trans-fats. In addition, the chain would help create a seal to be placed on packages which would help consumers identify healthy products.

The initiative dovetails with Walmart’s plans to open more stores in urban neighborhoods, including the Washington metropolitan area. District officials had resisted allowing Walmart to open stores in the city because activists opposed its anti-union practices.

So Michelle Obama is cheerleading the opening of Walmart stores in urban areas because they are claiming they will provide access to "healthy food."

Of course they will be putting lots of local stores out of business and further corporatizing America.

And of course no one should trust Walmart to actually sell "healthy food." Their idea of "organic" is to sell food sprinkled with pesticides as opposed to doused in them.

Remember, with Walmart, it is ALWAYS about low prices - for them.

But so what - this is about Michelle Obama and what an awesome FLOTUS she is!

Screw small business owners.

Screw truth.

Yayyyy to the feudal lords!

Yayyyy Walmart!

Yayyy Michelle Obama!

Makes me long for the days of Nancy Reagan, god help me.

At least she was upfront about her feudal lord allegiances.

Walmart Comes To New York

Gee, where was the Walmart T-Rex during the Bloomberg Blizzard of 2010?

We could have used that fire power to melt the snow.

Silly, RBE - Walmart only uses that fire power against small merchants and minimum wage Walmart workers...

Walmart: Always Gouging Prices

It's Christmas time at Walmart - time to squeeze the customers!

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, raised prices on hundreds of toys this month, squeezing more out of sales during the biggest shopping period of the year.

Wal-Mart managers in the U.S. received instructions to mark up an average of 1,800 types of toys per store, according to a company e-mail dated Nov. 30 obtained by Bloomberg News. The e- mail didn’t disclose specific increases. The prices were changed “to better enable your store and the company to have a successful financial month,” according to the e-mail.

The directive from Wal-Mart, which has about 3,800 U.S. stores, told managers to do the markups as soon as possible. The move may help Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke fulfill his October prediction that sales in U.S. stores open at least a year will be positive this quarter, after six straight drops.

No wonder Mayor Bloomberg wants a Walmart to open in NYC.

He's in favor of price gouging too.

Just ask the fire victims who get charged by Bloomberg after the FDNY responds to a fire.

Bloomberg Chearleads For Walmart In NYC

Yeah, he cares about middle and working class people, all right:

Wal-Mart, an inescapable part of the retail landscape just about everywhere except in New York City, twice retreated on efforts to open stores in the city after fierce community opposition.

Now it is back, and mounting an aggressive campaign to crack the country’s largest urban market. Wal-Mart is looking at properties in each of the five boroughs and has hired Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s former campaign manager, Bradley Tusk, to help coordinate its lobbying efforts.

Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, predicted, “They’re not going to find it easy to get serious public support.”

“As you reap,” Mr. de Blasio added, “so shall you sow, and they’ve had a really bad history. You can talk to people across the spectrum and they’ve all heard something about the problems of Wal-Mart.”

Actually Mayor Bloomberg is one person who thinks Walmart is just swell:

Mr. Bloomberg, who invested major political capital in trying to win support for the Kingsbridge Armory proposal, told reporters recently that he “would love to see Wal-Mart open here,” noting that many New Yorkers travel to Nassau County or New Jersey to shop at Wal-Mart.

“You’re not going to stop, and nor should you stop, people from having the opportunity to shop where they want to shop,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “The city should not be in the business of picking and choosing who is there.”

Yeah, gotta love bringing in a big box retailer with a well-deserved reputation for destroying local businesses, driving down wages and engaging in all kinds of discrimination.

No, actually I don't have to love that idea.

Even if Mayor Moneybags, beholden only to the money, does love it.

Michelle Rhee Becomes A Lobbyist For Ed Deform

Not a surprise here - she's going to carry the ed deform message and cash in at the same time:

Former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee on Monday launched a national educational reform group that, she said, will be her full-time job to lead, tamping down speculation that she is considering a position as Florida’s schools commissioner or another city- or state-based role.

...

With a Monday appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and a column in Newsweek, Rhee announced the creation of Students First, a 501(c)4 group that will donate to reform-minded politicians regardless of party and “advocate for what’s in the best interest of kids,” she said.

...

“As CEO of Students First, I’ll be working to influence policy at the state level, the municipal level,” Rhee said. “This is not about one person going into one city or one state – it’s about fundamentally changing the dynamics of our schools.”

Rhee said Students First “will lay out a legislative agenda with the kinds of laws that states and local jurisdictions should adopt so that real reform can take place” but largely stay out of federal education policy, including the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is expected to be a priority in 2011 for the U.S. Department of Education and the House and Senate education committees. “I don’t see a lot of our time and money going into the reauthorization of ESEA – that’s not where our focus will be,” she said.

In the next year, the group is aiming to attract 1 million members and to raise $1 billion. Rhee said fundraising will come from a mix of membership dues, small donations of $100 or $200, and grants from foundations and corporations.

Oh, yeah I'm sure lots of money will come from small donations of $100 or $200 from Americans committed to education reform.

And Cathie Black has a Ph.D in education.

Let's be honest, this is a lobbying group put together by the billionaire boys club and they wanted Rhee as the national face of it because they knew they could get appearances on Oprah and covers on Newsweek if Rhee was the face of their organization.

Rhee says the education reform environment is very lopsided and this new group will counter the all-powerful teachers unions.

That's a joke.

Three of the richest men in the world are funding education reform efforts and propaganda all across this country - Bill Gates, Eli Broad,, and Michael Bloomberg.

The Walton family - owners of Walmart - are also throwing in hundreds of millions of dollars.

The money that the unions use to fight the billionaire boys club is a drop in the bucket from what Gates, Broad, Bloomberg, Walmart and other Wall Street/corporate funders of education reform spend.

Just look at how much exposure the ed deform docudrama/reality show Waiting for Superman got through the efforts of Bill Gates and others in the ed deform world.

Can you imagine the Real Reformers getting that kind of exposure?

Uh, uh - not unless they changed to a corporate-friendly message, of course.

So for Rhee to play like she's the underdog in the ed deform fight is just jive.

But the media - the corporate ones, at any rate - will be happy to sell that message.

As Newsweek and Oprah already have.

More zombie Ayn Rand ideas to kill.