Anybody else enjoy the Mulgrew/Cuomo Show the way I do?
It's the best professional wrestling exhibition you'll ever see.
Back in 2011, Governor Cuomo and UFT President Mulgrew used to be pals (even teaming up against Mayor Mike Bloomberg over teacher layoffs Bloomberg was pushing.)
They were still pals in 2012 when Cuomo was pushing teacher evaluations tied to test scores and getting his way - Mulgrew was there when Cuomo declared APPR a "victory for all New Yorkers!"
Then after a few years of Cuomo's bashing teachers and bragging that he planned to"break" the public education monopoly, they became enemies, with the UFT running ads about the governor's agenda and Mulgrew saying all sorts of nasty things about Cuomo publicly.
But behind the scenes, Cuomo and Mulgrew continued to meet even as they feuded publicly.
For example, Bill Mahoney's analysis of Cuomo's meeting schedule showed Mulgrew was number 4 on the all-time Cuomo meeting list.
In fact, also behind the scenes, Mulgrew was making sure the Working Families Party wouldn't endorse a candidate for the general election that would cause Cuomo problems in 2014, threatening the party with fianancial ruin if they did so.
So even while they were publicly at odds, behind the scenes the Mulgrew/Cuomo relationship was much more, uh, nuanced.
But now that Cuomo's spent a year getting beaten up on public education and other issues and seen his poll numbers fall into the 30's (39% in last Siena poll, even lower on the public education issue), he's started to sound like Mulgrew on community schooling and he and Mikey are great friends again publicly, so much so that the UFT is running a pro-Cuomo ad that cost $1.4 million.
Whew - in the UFT universe, just like in pro-wrestling, Governor Cuomo used to be a good guy, but then became a bad guy, but now he's a good guy again!
What a show, huh?
Perdido 03
Monday, January 18, 2016
Cuomo Steals $500 Million From CUNY To Pay For Subways
Nicole Gelinas in the NY Post:
The rest of the costs get shunted off to the future, when Governor Cuomo is long gone from power and people won't blame him for the mess he has made.
As for CUNY, the Post reported yesterday that Cuomo has hatched a secret plan to subsume CUNY into SUNY, in part because he doesn't control CUNY and doesn't like anything he doesn't control and in part because the CUNY board members don't suck up to him the way the SUNY board members do and he hates not having suck-ups on the CUNY board.
So it's all good, you know - for Cuomo, at any rate.
As for the rest of us, the city's university system is on the chopping the block, the transit system is falling into third world status and the "luxury" buildings keep going up without the needed infrastructure to support the increased population numbers going up with them.
Quite an agenda from our governor.
The subways, commuter rails, buses, bridges and tunnels need $29 billion every five years in repairs and upgrades to barely keep up with a growing city. The fares you pay don’t cover this cost — they don’t even cover paying the people who run the trains to come to work.
So where to get the money?
Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio said late last year that, don’t worry, they’d find it. To fill the gap left over after the MTA borrows money and Washington sends us their share, the state would put in $8.3 billion over five years, and the city would put in $2.5 billion.
People wondered last year where Cuomo and de Blasio would get this money, and were told to wait till next year.
Well, it’s next year — and the governor’s new budget makes the answer clear.
The grandchildren of the L-train hipsters will pay. Instead of putting in $8.3 billion, Cuomo has reserved only $1.4 billion over five years — a little less than $300 million a year.
Worse: To pay for this, he’s slashing the state’s funding of the City of University of New York — by about $500 million a year.
The rest of the costs get shunted off to the future, when Governor Cuomo is long gone from power and people won't blame him for the mess he has made.
As for CUNY, the Post reported yesterday that Cuomo has hatched a secret plan to subsume CUNY into SUNY, in part because he doesn't control CUNY and doesn't like anything he doesn't control and in part because the CUNY board members don't suck up to him the way the SUNY board members do and he hates not having suck-ups on the CUNY board.
So it's all good, you know - for Cuomo, at any rate.
As for the rest of us, the city's university system is on the chopping the block, the transit system is falling into third world status and the "luxury" buildings keep going up without the needed infrastructure to support the increased population numbers going up with them.
Quite an agenda from our governor.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Cuomo Wants To Destroy CUNY Because CUNY Board Isn't Nice To Him
So reports the NY Post:
In addition, this apparently hurts him:
We are governed by a child-man.
Seriously.
Gov. Cuomo ultimately wants to take over of the City University of New York and merge it with the state’s public university system, sources told The Post.
Cuomo officials are examining how the State University of New York can incorporate CUNY’s four-year colleges and graduate schools, while slashing administrative costs at both institutions, the sources said.
“It’s a precursor to a merger, but dismantling CUNY won’t be easy,” one political source said.
...
His obsession with CUNY runs deep.
“He just has a thing about CUNY,” said a high-ranking state government source. “This has to do with Andrew not controlling it. What he doesn’t control he likes to destroy.”
Cuomo currently has little control over CUNY because the appointees to the board are largely leftovers from the Pataki and Bloomberg administrations. SUNY’s board, conversely, is littered with Cuomo allies.
A political consultant said Cuomo is rankled that the state pays 46 percent of CUNY’s $3 billion budget yet “they treat him like s–t.”
In addition, this apparently hurts him:
The CUNY faculty union endorsed Bill de Blasio in his mayoral primary but did not endorse Cuomo for governor.
We are governed by a child-man.
Seriously.
Somebody Tell The UFT And NYSUT They're STILL Using Test Scores In Teacher Evaluations
If you see the ads the unions are putting out, you'd think the test scores are gone from teacher evaluations.
They're not, as James Eterno at ICEUFT blog points out in his latest post.
Are the unions heads stupid, do they not know that Regents scores are still being used on teachers, that local tests are going to take the place of state tests for other teachers?
Nahh - the union heads are not stupid.
They think you are.
And they're kinda right.
How it is that teachers don't rise up en masse in the UFT and call Mulgrew on his shit is beyond me.
Same goes with the debt-riddled NYSUT.
How it is that the union heads get to call war peace and peace war in their ads (member dues-paid ads, btw) without the vast majority of the rank and file reacting in outrage is why this the sell-outs keep happening over and over.
I know some people think Friedrichs is going to change all of this, that once the unions lose 35%+ of their membership, they'll become more responsive with the rank and file and stop the lying, the condescension, the deception, the sell-outs.
But watching them pre-Friedrichs, I doubt that's the case.
The leaders running the unions wouldn't know how to run the union honestly, how to deal with the rank and file without condescension or deception, wouldn't be able to think of strategies to deal with management that aren't sell-outs.
These ads from the UFT and NYSUT proclaiming a four year test score moratorium in APPR are an outrage and an insult and just one more example why, when Friedrichs takes away the leadership's ability to take dues from people's paychecks, that many are going to take that opportunity to say goodbye to the unions.
It's a shame, it doesn't have to be this way.
The union heads could actually try and shift the way they run things, become more responsive to member concerns, less deceptive with and condescending to the rank and file, develop strategies that protect members instead of selling them out.
Alas, watching how they're doing things in the months before the Friedrichs decision comes down it's clear that the people in charge do not intend to do that.
They're not, as James Eterno at ICEUFT blog points out in his latest post.
Are the unions heads stupid, do they not know that Regents scores are still being used on teachers, that local tests are going to take the place of state tests for other teachers?
Nahh - the union heads are not stupid.
They think you are.
And they're kinda right.
How it is that teachers don't rise up en masse in the UFT and call Mulgrew on his shit is beyond me.
Same goes with the debt-riddled NYSUT.
How it is that the union heads get to call war peace and peace war in their ads (member dues-paid ads, btw) without the vast majority of the rank and file reacting in outrage is why this the sell-outs keep happening over and over.
I know some people think Friedrichs is going to change all of this, that once the unions lose 35%+ of their membership, they'll become more responsive with the rank and file and stop the lying, the condescension, the deception, the sell-outs.
But watching them pre-Friedrichs, I doubt that's the case.
The leaders running the unions wouldn't know how to run the union honestly, how to deal with the rank and file without condescension or deception, wouldn't be able to think of strategies to deal with management that aren't sell-outs.
These ads from the UFT and NYSUT proclaiming a four year test score moratorium in APPR are an outrage and an insult and just one more example why, when Friedrichs takes away the leadership's ability to take dues from people's paychecks, that many are going to take that opportunity to say goodbye to the unions.
It's a shame, it doesn't have to be this way.
The union heads could actually try and shift the way they run things, become more responsive to member concerns, less deceptive with and condescending to the rank and file, develop strategies that protect members instead of selling them out.
Alas, watching how they're doing things in the months before the Friedrichs decision comes down it's clear that the people in charge do not intend to do that.
Saturday, January 16, 2016
"Technology In The Classroom" Is Marketing-Speak For A Corporatized Classroom
A reader left the following comment on another post on the blog about technology and education:
Nothing to add here except the link to that NY Times story that detailed how many Masters of the Tech Universe in Silicon Valley send their kids to low-tech Waldorf schools and limit their children's use of technology at home.
The "technology" piece was always the juicy center. Its the big nut of the privatization movement, make no mistake.....charters are a middle step for sure....the step beyond that is shedding the physical plants of schools. None if this should be new information. In fact the corporate interests have been quite legible about it. Look at every "disruptive" new business model out there in any sector....shrinking or killing off physical plants is right up there with shrinking or killing off traditional employment models. So that Cuomo and other political mouthpieces of corporate interest and "reform" making strides in this direction is not new, not a thing, and should shock no one. Classrooms managed by IT "professionals" (you know, to make sure the computers are working optimally), and legions of kids not actually in classrooms is the goal. Shrink the demands and needs of physical plants, and take $30-100k teachers out of the loop entirely....then you have room for risk-free, government paid PROFITS. Nothing new here.
As I commented awhile back on Diane Ravitch's blog:
Part of the problem with this manufactured necessity of technology in school is that we, as teachers, often buy into some of the fundamental lies. In our district, teachers clamor for a smartboard, etc etc etc etc under the pretense that it somehow DEEPENS the learning experience for students….a highly questionable notion when subjected to even modest amounts of rigorous thought. Nonetheless, being an earnest, eager, and enthusiastic lot for the most part, teachers, long accustomed to grabbing for any tool or aid, have also lunged for technology….without the requisite thinking. I would argue that a very firm “NO” from teachers on technology would have quite an impact. NO, I don’t want X, Y, or Z. No I will not teach via algorithm. NO, NO, NO. But, too often technology and its myths have become a norm because they were accepted nicely.
Perhaps what is needed is a counter-narrative coming from teachers that is a “return-to-authentic-roots” kind of thing. A return to the idea that with a teacher, some students, and a book, ignorance can be defeated and exposure to the enlightenment possible. A sort of artisanal classroom kind of thing, to appeal to all the Subaru driving parents who long for “authentic” food, clothes, homes, and experience everywhere else in their lives. Why is a Monsanto tomato bad and a Monsanto classroom for little Dylan good? “Technology in the classroom” is marketing-speak for a corporatized classroom, and we need to be the ones aggressively saying that. The problem is that we have to realize it first. We need to begin to understand that we need to create compelling counter-narratives. Certainly there is nobody else doing it for us! This is easy meat though for counter-narratives! Corporate food=bad. Corporate classroom where kids grow=good?? Come on. Too easy.
The entire thing of “technology in the classroom” is an invented need for an invented problem. The most astounding piece of evidence to this is the fact that, somehow, devoid of any technology save for pen, paper, book, art supplies, instruments, lab material, a library. etc, all of us born before 1990 had no technology to speak of and we (well alot of us, myself probably excluded) actually LEARNED. Shocking. We are evidence that technology in the classroom is a sham. However, that sham is only called out and destroyed if we attack its first principles and ideas.
I am not taking a Luddite position here, or a nostalgic one….but simply saying that learning is probably one of those landscapes of the human condition that does not require so much technological aid to participate in.
We, as always, need to look at ourselves as organized(ish) teachers FIRST. Lets assume that privatizers will act like privatizers, their politicians will act always in their corporate interests, and that federal prosecutors will always find less than enough evidence. Its on us on all levels.
Nothing to add here except the link to that NY Times story that detailed how many Masters of the Tech Universe in Silicon Valley send their kids to low-tech Waldorf schools and limit their children's use of technology at home.
Christie, Like His Pal Cuomo, Is Full Of Shit On Common Core
Chris Christie, once a great supporter of Common Core, turned on the standards as he started to gear up for a run for president in a Republican Party where the Core is disdained.
Christie, as on other issues like gun control or Planned Parenthood, likes to muddy the waters on just how much support he has had for the Core in the past and continues to have for the Core now.
For example:
Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey?
Hardly.
Not if 84% of the standards remain in place, with slight revisions to the rest, and the state tests still based upon the Core (and the opt-out option for the test soon to be eliminated.)
The same game is happening in New York, where Christie's Port Authority-pal Andrew Cuomo is playing similar deceptions on New Yorkers, claiming Common Core is going to get a "total reboot" when his Common Core Task Force actually recommended that the "instructional focus" of the Core remain in place.
In short, New York's going to get a similar 16% or so tweaking to the Core, where most of the standards remain in place and the others get minor changes so that Cuomo can say the Core no longer exists in New York State.
Christie and Cuomo are full of shit together on education, full of shit together on Common Core, and full of shit together on a lot of other issues (including the Port Authority.)
Quite frankly, the emblems for both the Christie Presidential campaign and the Cuomo 2018 re-election campaign ought to be two big piles of shit.
And if that's a little too crass, well, so is the shit these two crooks are looking to get away with on a whole host of things - including Common Core.
Christie, as on other issues like gun control or Planned Parenthood, likes to muddy the waters on just how much support he has had for the Core in the past and continues to have for the Core now.
For example:
During Thursday night's Republican debate in South Carolina, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was attacked on several fronts for an allegedly left-leaning past, including his supposed support for Common Core education standards, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Planned Parenthood.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called out his rival for propping up Common Core, the reading and math standards implemented in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia, and widely reviled by conservatives as acts of federal overreach.
"I like Chris Christie, but we can not afford to have a president of the United States that supports Common Core," Rubio said on the main stage.
Christie refuted that: "Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey."
But Christie, who once supported the education standards, has flipped on the issue since last year.
In May, the governor asked New Jersey's department of education to review the implementation of Common Core in the state's school system.
But according to NJ.com, earlier this week, the panel charged with reviewing the standards recommended that 84 percent of them remain in place, with slight revisions to the rest. Common Core, the news site reported, does "still have a place in New Jersey classrooms."
Common Core has been eliminated in New Jersey?
Hardly.
Not if 84% of the standards remain in place, with slight revisions to the rest, and the state tests still based upon the Core (and the opt-out option for the test soon to be eliminated.)
The same game is happening in New York, where Christie's Port Authority-pal Andrew Cuomo is playing similar deceptions on New Yorkers, claiming Common Core is going to get a "total reboot" when his Common Core Task Force actually recommended that the "instructional focus" of the Core remain in place.
In short, New York's going to get a similar 16% or so tweaking to the Core, where most of the standards remain in place and the others get minor changes so that Cuomo can say the Core no longer exists in New York State.
Christie and Cuomo are full of shit together on education, full of shit together on Common Core, and full of shit together on a lot of other issues (including the Port Authority.)
Quite frankly, the emblems for both the Christie Presidential campaign and the Cuomo 2018 re-election campaign ought to be two big piles of shit.
And if that's a little too crass, well, so is the shit these two crooks are looking to get away with on a whole host of things - including Common Core.
Friday, January 15, 2016
NYSED On Lockdown
Interesting story from WNYT:
Kinda emblematic of the contributions NYSED brings to education as a whole.
Also, shame they took the building off lockdown.
Less harm done when it's that way.
Things are back to normal at the state Education Department building in Albany after a brief lockdown Thursday morning.
The Education Department tells us that the lockdown happened after a fight between two employees.
The building was searched and cleared by both the police and security staff.
There is no word yet on what the two were fighting about.
Kinda emblematic of the contributions NYSED brings to education as a whole.
Also, shame they took the building off lockdown.
Less harm done when it's that way.
Cuomo Loses One To De Blasio - For Now
Andrew Cuomo put somewhere between $800 million and $1 billion dollars in state aid cuts for NYC into the state budget in an attempt to further harm his "frenemy" Bill de Blasio - but this time, Cuomo's attack on de Blasio backfired.
Here's the Daily News on that:
Cuomo blamed the "tabloids" for causing trouble:
Oh yeah, the tabloids were causing trouble - because we all know how much trouble it is when the newspapers report that the governor's budget will cost the city between $800 million (reported by the Daily News) and $1 billion (a figure Politico NY reported.)
Cuomo's continuing to screw with de Blasio, it seems to be the only thing that motivates him these days other than that vision he has of himself as the new Robert Moses.
But just as happened with Cuomo's vaunted homeless policy of mandating municipalities take homeless people off the streets at gunpoint when the temperature hits freezing (another doozy aimed at hurting de Blasio that ended up hurting Cuomo instead), Cuomo has had to "backpedal" on the budget proposals that cut so much from NYC.
I would expect that Cuomo will try other ways to stick it to de Blasio (and thus NYC) in this budget before it's all said and done.
The irony is, the only place Cuomo shows any strength in polling is in NYC.
That's why, with headlines blaring that Cuomo was looking to destroy the city with budget cuts, he has no choice but to "backpedal" and say, "Oh, no - we're just starting the negotiation process here."
De Blasio may be weakened politically, but Cuomo's not in much better shape (he's at 39% in the last Siena poll) and if he takes a hit to his NYC approval numbers, he'll be in the mid-twenties before long.
With the NY Times and the other papers taking aim at Cuomo this morning, this doesn't look to be a battle with the city that Cuomo can win.
But we'll see.
Evil is like water - it looks to find a route no matter what.
Here's the Daily News on that:
Andrew Cuomo backs off budget proposal that would have cost NYC an extra $800M after protest from Bill de Blasio
Score one for the mayor.
Hours after Mayor de Blasio vowed Thursday to do whatever it takes to scuttle up to $800 million in costs Gov. Cuomo wanted to force the city to cough up, Cuomo began to backpedal on the costly proposal.
Cuomo presented a budget in his State of the State address Wednesday that called for the de Blasio administration to take on massive CUNY and Medicaid bills now paid by the state — but by the end of Thursday, he was pledging the city would not have to pay a penny.
Calling the cuts “harmful” and “debilitating,” Hizzoner said he’d go all out to sink the plan.
“There’s a phrase from American history, ‘By any means necessary.’ I would invoke that phrase,” de Blasio said when asked how he’d turn back the plan. “We’ll do whatever will work.
“We will fight these cuts. We will ask the assistance of both houses of the Legislature in fighting these cuts. They are unprecedented and they are unfair to this city,” said de Blasio, who has been feuding with Cuomo since summer after he accused him of governing with a vendetta.
Amid the criticism from de Blasio and budget watchdogs, Cuomo changed his tune on the plan — suggesting the point of the proposal was simply to get players to the table to cut costs for CUNY and Medicaid.
“This is the beginning of the budget process. The budget process goes on for months. This is really the beginning of the discussion,” he said on NY1 Thursday afternoon.
“At the end of the day, what you’ll see is it won’t cost New York City a penny,” Cuomo said. “We have to reduce the cost of the bureaucracy at CUNY. We have to reduce the cost of administration for Medicaid.”
Cuomo blamed the "tabloids" for causing trouble:
Taking note of a Daily News front page with the headline “Hey, Blaz, hope you played Powerball!” Cuomo said: “God bless the New York City tabloids. They can try to make trouble in the best of news and that’s what they’re doing here.
Oh yeah, the tabloids were causing trouble - because we all know how much trouble it is when the newspapers report that the governor's budget will cost the city between $800 million (reported by the Daily News) and $1 billion (a figure Politico NY reported.)
Cuomo's continuing to screw with de Blasio, it seems to be the only thing that motivates him these days other than that vision he has of himself as the new Robert Moses.
But just as happened with Cuomo's vaunted homeless policy of mandating municipalities take homeless people off the streets at gunpoint when the temperature hits freezing (another doozy aimed at hurting de Blasio that ended up hurting Cuomo instead), Cuomo has had to "backpedal" on the budget proposals that cut so much from NYC.
I would expect that Cuomo will try other ways to stick it to de Blasio (and thus NYC) in this budget before it's all said and done.
The irony is, the only place Cuomo shows any strength in polling is in NYC.
That's why, with headlines blaring that Cuomo was looking to destroy the city with budget cuts, he has no choice but to "backpedal" and say, "Oh, no - we're just starting the negotiation process here."
De Blasio may be weakened politically, but Cuomo's not in much better shape (he's at 39% in the last Siena poll) and if he takes a hit to his NYC approval numbers, he'll be in the mid-twenties before long.
With the NY Times and the other papers taking aim at Cuomo this morning, this doesn't look to be a battle with the city that Cuomo can win.
But we'll see.
Evil is like water - it looks to find a route no matter what.
Thursday, January 14, 2016
UFT Spends $1.4 Million On Pro-Cuomo Ad
No, seriously:
That ad - which they spent $1.4 million on, btw - functions as a pro-Cuomo ad, talking about the governor's Common Core Task Force and making it sound like Cuomo is doing the right thing on education.
The truth is, he's not.
Test scores are STILL part of APPR teacher evaluations, either local tests or the Regents exams.
The governor himself said it.
So the claim in the ad that Cuomo's doing right is, well, wrong.
The public education system remains as test-centric as ever, nothing's changed post-Cuomo CCSS Task Force.
But you wouldn't know that from this ad.
A while back I blogged how Cuomo's talking up community schools and sounding like Mulgrew in the bargain, coupled with the UFT's refusal to have Cuomo's odious 2015 education law thrown in the garbage where it belongs, was a sign that the UFT and Cuomo had a backroom deal going.
This ad is further confirmation of it - your dues money going to run an ad that helps out Cuomo politically.
That ad - which they spent $1.4 million on, btw - functions as a pro-Cuomo ad, talking about the governor's Common Core Task Force and making it sound like Cuomo is doing the right thing on education.
The truth is, he's not.
Test scores are STILL part of APPR teacher evaluations, either local tests or the Regents exams.
The governor himself said it.
So the claim in the ad that Cuomo's doing right is, well, wrong.
The public education system remains as test-centric as ever, nothing's changed post-Cuomo CCSS Task Force.
But you wouldn't know that from this ad.
A while back I blogged how Cuomo's talking up community schools and sounding like Mulgrew in the bargain, coupled with the UFT's refusal to have Cuomo's odious 2015 education law thrown in the garbage where it belongs, was a sign that the UFT and Cuomo had a backroom deal going.
This ad is further confirmation of it - your dues money going to run an ad that helps out Cuomo politically.
Cuomo Cuts $485 Million From CUNY Budget
He can characterize this any way he wants - they're budget cuts:
Let's see, the state provides $485 million toward CUNY, but starting with this budget, the state will no longer do that.
That's not a "cut"?
Not according to Cuomo:
Streamline? Efficiencies?
Sure - $485 million of them.
It's good to see Cuomo on the defensive for this abomination he calls a budget.
That he needed to defend this on NY1 this morning is a result of 24 hours of negative news coverage about the harm he's doing to NYC - the only place in the state where he's got a decent approval rating.
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed back against news coverage that said his budget proposal hurts New York City, saying that it would be “absurd” to expect increases in funding to address homelessness and expand infrastructure without an offset elsewhere.
Cuomo's proposed $145.3 billion plan includes billions for these capital outlays, but was balanced by $485 million in contributions that Cuomo wants Mayor Bill de Blasio to direct toward CUNY as well as $180 million this fiscal year and $476 million next year in additional Medicaid costs.
“It's an absurd premise that they're making,” Cuomo told Brian Lehrer on WNYC. “You can't say to the state, always pay more for everything. That's an absurd position.”
Let's see, the state provides $485 million toward CUNY, but starting with this budget, the state will no longer do that.
That's not a "cut"?
Not according to Cuomo:
Hours after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to push back against budget proposals that could hurt the city’s bottom line, Gov. Andrew Cuomo in an interview said he wasn’t trying to cut spending, but find “efficiencies.”
Speaking on NY1 on Thursday afternoon, Cuomo was reacting to growing concerns among city officials that his proposed $145 billion budget would force the city to come up with as much as $1 billion in funds for CUNY and Medicaid.
...
Cuomo’s own budget memorandum calls for the city to assume $485 million in costs for CUNY by July 1.
“CUNY, like any institution like the Medicaid management, like the housing authorities—we have to constantly work to streamline,” he said.
Streamline? Efficiencies?
Sure - $485 million of them.
It's good to see Cuomo on the defensive for this abomination he calls a budget.
That he needed to defend this on NY1 this morning is a result of 24 hours of negative news coverage about the harm he's doing to NYC - the only place in the state where he's got a decent approval rating.
Cuomo Proposes More SUNY Tuition Hikes
Five years of SUNY tuition hikes amounting to 30% higher tuition?
That's not enough for Governor Cuomo - more are coming and Cuomo's stealing the money to use for other things:
Everybody at that speech yesterday should have gotten up and screamed at Cuomo the way Charles Barron did.
Of course, it could be worse for SUNY.
Cuomo cut nearly $250 million from CUNY.
That's not enough for Governor Cuomo - more are coming and Cuomo's stealing the money to use for other things:
It’s understandable that listeners might have mistaken Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s enthusiastic pronouncement of a $6.9 billion commitment to the State University of New York and the City University of New York as an increase for SUNY and CUNY. It isn’t. It’s a cut, delivered with all the deceptive enthusiasm of the chocolate ration reduction in George Orwell’s 1984.
Equally disappointing is the governor’s promotion of another “rational tuition plan,” under which students and parents would keep paying more and more while the state pays less.
...
This proposal comes as tuition at schools like the University at Albany rose almost 5 percent this year. That’s on top of four prior years of tuition hikes under the “rational tuition plan,” an idea that sounded like a boon for higher education but has come to feel like a bait-and-switch game.
As we’ve pointed out before, the 2011 rational tuition program – under which tuition would increase $300 a year for five years – has increasingly shifted public higher education costs from the state to SUNY students. With state support staying relatively level as tuition steadily rose, the state’s share of SUNY costs has plunged from 59 percent prior to the Great Recession to 36 percent. Students’ now pay nearly two thirds. And, as we’ve noted in the past, it appears that $400 million of the extra tuition money – half of the $800 million more than students are paying – ended up in the state’s coffers.
That’s nothing but a tax hike, targeted just at SUNY students.
Everybody at that speech yesterday should have gotten up and screamed at Cuomo the way Charles Barron did.
Of course, it could be worse for SUNY.
Cuomo cut nearly $250 million from CUNY.
Cuomo To De Blasio: "F--- You!"
As part of his feud with Bill de Blasio, Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the middle finger to New York City in his proposed budget yesterday:
A Politico NY piece calculated the cost to NYC in Cuomo's proposed budget as a $1 billion dollars.
Cuomo's aiming to harm de Blasio and make him one term mayor by causing budget problems - and he's harming New York City residents in the crossfire.
Alas that Preetmas didn't come earlier in the week.
With Cuomo let off the hook by the US attorney for Moreland tampering, he is free to do all the evil he wants - and he is taking advantage.
ALBANY — The ongoing war between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio is getting costly for the city.
Cuomo in his new $145 billion state budget plan unveiled Wednesday called on the city to pay significantly more toward CUNY and Medicaid.
One source said the city could be on the hook for about $800 million in new costs, which would amount to a large portion of the savings Cuomo has in his budget.
“It’s a big (slap) at the mayor,” the source said of Cuomo’s plan.
“This is a bad budget for New York City,” added a city official.
The changes mean the state is reneging on its pledge to support CUNY and is passing the cost for soaring Medicaid expenses on to city taxpayers.
A Politico NY piece calculated the cost to NYC in Cuomo's proposed budget as a $1 billion dollars.
Cuomo's aiming to harm de Blasio and make him one term mayor by causing budget problems - and he's harming New York City residents in the crossfire.
Alas that Preetmas didn't come earlier in the week.
With Cuomo let off the hook by the US attorney for Moreland tampering, he is free to do all the evil he wants - and he is taking advantage.
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Cuomo Budget Will Cost NYC $1 Billion
The evil man in Albany just keeps going and going, doing more and more damage:
That budget surplus the city had?
Just been wiped away by Cuomo in one fell stroke.
ALBANY — The budget Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled on Wednesday will likely deal serious damage to New York City's bottom line for years to come, budget analysts said.
Cuomo is proposing to shift the way the City University of New York is funded, to end the state’s assumption of the local share of New York City’s Medicaid costs, and to change the way the state handles the city’s STAR Personal Income Tax rebate. Those changes will likely cut close to $1 billion from the city’s budget starting in fiscal year 2017, which begins on April 1.
“For New York City, I think this is one of the worst budgets that it’s seen in a long time,” said Maria Doulis, a budget analyst at the Citizens’ Budget Commission.
That budget surplus the city had?
Just been wiped away by Cuomo in one fell stroke.
Get Ready For More "Personalized" Online Learning
Not much on the education front in today's state of the state/budget address by Cuomo, unlike in previous years when he was slamming teachers for all the ills in society and calling for the "death penalty" for failing schools, but this proposal seems education-related to me:
In order to begin shedding humans in the education system and switching to "personalized" computer learning, they need to ensure "unserved" and "underserved" areas have widespread broadband Internet access.
So the "dramatically expanding and improving access to high-speed Internet" proposal is not specifically about education but it is education-related.
The future is not only online education and testing in schools, it will be online schooling at home.
This will be a disaster for society in the long run of course, but in the short term it will be a boon to the state and municipality coffers when they shed payroll, building costs, et al.
With public sector unions expected to lose large swaths of their membership after the Supreme Court rules on the Friedrichs case, who will be around to stop them when they decide urban and rural areas are going to have "personalized" learning at home?
Sure the suburban parents will make sure this doesn't happen in their communities, but you can bet they're aiming to make it happen elsewhere where the pushback will be minimal.
Just add "dramatically expanded and improved high-speed Internet access" and you're ready to go.
PROPOSAL 10: Dramatically expand and improve access to high-speed Internet in communities statewide. Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul detailed this proposal shortly after the New York State Public Service Commission voted to approve the merger of Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, which will dramatically improve broadband availability for millions of New Yorkers and lead to more than $1 billion in direct investments and consumer benefits.
Additionally, the state issued a $500 million solicitation for private sector partners to join the New NY Broadband Program, which will greatly expand Internet access in all regions of the state, with a focus on unserved and underserved areas.
In order to begin shedding humans in the education system and switching to "personalized" computer learning, they need to ensure "unserved" and "underserved" areas have widespread broadband Internet access.
So the "dramatically expanding and improving access to high-speed Internet" proposal is not specifically about education but it is education-related.
The future is not only online education and testing in schools, it will be online schooling at home.
This will be a disaster for society in the long run of course, but in the short term it will be a boon to the state and municipality coffers when they shed payroll, building costs, et al.
With public sector unions expected to lose large swaths of their membership after the Supreme Court rules on the Friedrichs case, who will be around to stop them when they decide urban and rural areas are going to have "personalized" learning at home?
Sure the suburban parents will make sure this doesn't happen in their communities, but you can bet they're aiming to make it happen elsewhere where the pushback will be minimal.
Just add "dramatically expanded and improved high-speed Internet access" and you're ready to go.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Monday, January 11, 2016
Cuomo Off The Hook For Tampering With Moreland Commission (UPDATED - 4:35 PM)
Capitol Confidential:
Two investigations continue.
The first is, as the US attorney said in the statement, they "continue to have active investigations related to substantive inquiries that were being conducted by the Moreland Commission at the time of its closure.”
The second is into the Buffalo Billion Project - Cuomo's donors and state entities involved in the bidding process were subpoenaed in that investigation.
But Cuomo walks for the Moreland tampering - no "federal" laws were broken.
Rob Astorino, Cuomo's 2014 opponent, has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the case, pointing out that while federal laws may not have been broken in the shutdown, state laws may have been.
But the chances of that happening are slim to none.
The announcement today, coming two days before Cuomo's state of the state/budget address, cetainly should provide some tail winds to Cuomo as he starts his 2016 legislative push.
As Politico NY put it:
I always thought the Buffalo Billion Project investigation was the bigger problem for the Cuomo administration, but while today's announcement does not relate in any way to that investigation, it does give you pause for what Bharara might (or might not) have.
My gut tells me, if Preet's announcing this Moreland thing now, two days before the state of the state/budget address, he's probably not nailing the governor on that either. Maybe the SUNY Poly guy, but probably not Cuomo.
I hope my gut is wrong.
But the announcement today on the Moreland investigation, coming when it did, doesn't make me hopeful.
UPDATE - 4:35 PM: The NY Times adds the following to the end of their piece about the Bharara announcement:
I'm pretty sure Bharara's got something in the Buffalo investigation (i.e., Alain Kaloyeros), but does it rise as high as Cuomo?
As I wrote above, today's announcement from Bharara, just kinda dropped into the news, doesn't make me hopeful that he does.
But I've been wrong about politics plenty of times before and I know I'll be wrong again.
Here's hoping this is one of them.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced Monday that his office has not found sufficient evidence to prove a federal crime was committed in connection with interference with and the closing of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption.
“After a thorough investigation of interference with the operation of the Moreland Commission and its premature closing, this Office has concluded that, absent any additional proof that may develop, there is insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime,” Bharara said in a statement. “We continue to have active investigations related to substantive inquiries that were being conducted by the Moreland Commission at the time of its closure.”
“We were always confident there was no illegality here, and we appreciate the US Attorney clarifying this for the public record,” said Elkan Abramowitz, the attorney who has represented the governor’s office amid Bharara’s probe.
Two investigations continue.
The first is, as the US attorney said in the statement, they "continue to have active investigations related to substantive inquiries that were being conducted by the Moreland Commission at the time of its closure.”
The second is into the Buffalo Billion Project - Cuomo's donors and state entities involved in the bidding process were subpoenaed in that investigation.
But Cuomo walks for the Moreland tampering - no "federal" laws were broken.
Rob Astorino, Cuomo's 2014 opponent, has called for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the case, pointing out that while federal laws may not have been broken in the shutdown, state laws may have been.
But the chances of that happening are slim to none.
The announcement today, coming two days before Cuomo's state of the state/budget address, cetainly should provide some tail winds to Cuomo as he starts his 2016 legislative push.
As Politico NY put it:
The announcement, coming on the heels of a high-profile visit to discuss corruption issues with Kentucky lawmakers and the recent convictions of two of the state’s top legislative leaders, came seemingly without warning from Bharara’s office. The news effectively blows away a cloud of suspicion hanging over the state Capitol since Bharara’s office announced it was investigating the shutdown of the Moreland Commission in July, 2014.
I always thought the Buffalo Billion Project investigation was the bigger problem for the Cuomo administration, but while today's announcement does not relate in any way to that investigation, it does give you pause for what Bharara might (or might not) have.
My gut tells me, if Preet's announcing this Moreland thing now, two days before the state of the state/budget address, he's probably not nailing the governor on that either. Maybe the SUNY Poly guy, but probably not Cuomo.
I hope my gut is wrong.
But the announcement today on the Moreland investigation, coming when it did, doesn't make me hopeful.
UPDATE - 4:35 PM: The NY Times adds the following to the end of their piece about the Bharara announcement:
Federal prosecutors are also investigating one of Mr. Cuomo’s signature upstate programs aimed at revitalizing Buffalo’s economy. That investigation, led by Mr. Bharara, has been looking at how these government-funded projects were awarded, according to a subpoena reviewed by The New York Times. It is also looking at whether state elected officials played a role in choosing who would benefit from the infusion of government funds.The statement on Monday did not mention the Buffalo investigation.
I'm pretty sure Bharara's got something in the Buffalo investigation (i.e., Alain Kaloyeros), but does it rise as high as Cuomo?
As I wrote above, today's announcement from Bharara, just kinda dropped into the news, doesn't make me hopeful that he does.
But I've been wrong about politics plenty of times before and I know I'll be wrong again.
Here's hoping this is one of them.
Micromanaging Our Way To The Top
Kate Taylor in the NY Times on the principals union hammering de Blasio for micromanaging renewal schools:
Hey, it's not just at renewal schools and it's not just de Blasio doing the micromanaging.
Cuomo's doing it with the 2015 education reform law.
SED is doing it with APPR.
The NYCDOE is doing it with Danielson.
Everything is micromanaged these days, everything overly controlled.
The more things "change" in education, the less they actually change.
Whether it's Bloomberg, de Blasio, Bush, Obama, Clinton, Paterson, or Cuomo - it's the same educrats running stuff.
The control freaks are in control.
Mr. Logan says he — and by extension, the 6,000 members of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators — has lost confidence in the de Blasio administration. In a column to be published in the union’s newsletter this month, Mr. Logan writes of the Education Department, “Sadly, in the timeworn tradition of the D.O.E., there are so many cooks running around in the kitchen, the chefs don’t know what kind of dish they’re concocting.” So many different mandates have been thrown at these schools, he writes, that “all we have is a recipe for disaster.”
...
In an interview last week, Mr. Logan said of the school-turnaround effort, “This became a political mess, because the mayor made this his political thing.”He added, “They’ve lost their focus on kids.”Mr. Logan said principals in the 94 schools were being overwhelmed with paperwork and meetings and micromanaged to the point that they could not do what they thought was best for their schools. He said he believed the mayor’s approach was destined to fail if the city did not change its strategy.
Hey, it's not just at renewal schools and it's not just de Blasio doing the micromanaging.
Cuomo's doing it with the 2015 education reform law.
SED is doing it with APPR.
The NYCDOE is doing it with Danielson.
Everything is micromanaged these days, everything overly controlled.
The more things "change" in education, the less they actually change.
Whether it's Bloomberg, de Blasio, Bush, Obama, Clinton, Paterson, or Cuomo - it's the same educrats running stuff.
The control freaks are in control.
David Bowie
His latest album released Friday on his 69th birthday - dead on Sunday from cancer:
He had released two albums in the last year or so after not releasing anything for a long time, but did no publicity work around them, no shows, no interviews.
It seemed odd, but Bowie was an odd fellow (and I mean that in a good way) so I just thought maybe that was how he wanted to do things.
Alas with the cancer, it seems that may have been how he had to do things.
I am very saddened to hear this news.
So many good memories with Bowie's music - here's one, with Bowie and Ronson:
Rock-and-roll legend David Bowie died Sunday after a secret battle against cancer, his publicist confirmed early Monday.
He had turned 69 on Friday.
The singer-songwriter, whose decades of hits redefined rock music and whose gender-bending alter ego, Ziggy Stardust, became a pop-culture icon, passed away at his London home, his loved ones at his bedside.
“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer,” read a statement on his Web site.
“While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief.”
Bowie had just released an album, “Blackstar,” and was in New York last month for the opening of an Off-Broadway show based on his music, “Lazarus.”
He had released two albums in the last year or so after not releasing anything for a long time, but did no publicity work around them, no shows, no interviews.
It seemed odd, but Bowie was an odd fellow (and I mean that in a good way) so I just thought maybe that was how he wanted to do things.
Alas with the cancer, it seems that may have been how he had to do things.
I am very saddened to hear this news.
So many good memories with Bowie's music - here's one, with Bowie and Ronson:
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Cuomo Sounds Like Mulgrew On Community Schools
Tom Precious in the Buffalo News:
What to make of all this?
Why is Cuomo "softening" his tone on so-called "failing" schools and calling for the community school model to solve the problems.
Well, I have a theory:
Remember all those meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo (he's # 4 on the all-time meeting list) and the July lunch date he had with the governor and his secretary, Bill Mulrow, in New York?
Remember when Mulgrew told the DA that there's not much they expect to get done this legislative session?
Looks like some kind of deal was worked out between Mulgrew and Cuomo.
Here's what I bet happened:
Cuomo wants the law to remain on the books so he doesn't look like a complete schmuck, having the thing dismantled one year after spending so much time, energy and political capital getting it through.
The unions want community schools to be the model for fixing "failing" schools.
I bet Mulgrew and the unions agreed they wouldn't push against Cuomo's odious 2015 education reform law that imposed receivership and 50% test scores in teacher evaluations in return for Cuomo supporting Mugrew (and Randi"s) beloved community school model.
I've seen a lot of teachers on social media wondering why the unions aren't pushing to have the 2015 education law changed.
It makes no sense, what with the governor under 40% in job approval and running scared that he's going to be charged by the US attorney for corruption, that the unions wouldn't seek to dismantle last year's law.
In addition, it's an election year - when would you ever have more leverage on pols in Albany than in an election year?
But they're not working to dismantle Cuomo's education reform law at all - instead they're tamping down expectations, saying nothing can get done this year because the politicians are busy and don't want to talk to them.
Seems odd but look no further than the way Cuomo's talking about community schools to get an indication for why.
A deal appears to have been worked out, with the unions selling teachers down the river on test scores/APPR and schools on receivership in return for Cuomo pushing community schools.
Just theorizing, of course, but given the history of UFT/NYSUT sellouts and given all the meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo,idle theorizing it isn't.
It makes no sense that the unions wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail to have that 2015 law dismantled unless they got something back from Cuomo in order to sit on their hands and do nothing.
And you know how Mulgrew (and Randi) love community schools.
There we have it - another vaunted UFT sellout.
Your union leadership at work, selling you out, one meeting at a time.
In his speech Sunday, Cuomo also appeared to soften his rhetoric substantially from last year on the causes of public schools that are deemed to be “failing” as learning centers for their students. A year ago, Cuomo released a report showing 109,000 children across the state go to school in 178 persistently failing schools – marked by high dropout rates, low test scores and other factors. At the time, he was pushing a plan to allow for outside takeover of failing schools and making it harder for teachers to get tenure.
On Sunday, he criticized “the bureaucracy” that resists change in the education system, but he talked of “community” school-type settings as the solution. “We want to take those failing schools and say, ‘Look, the problem isn’t just education,’ ” he said.
Cuomo said that if people think that the problems in such failing schools are teachers and the education system, “then you’re missing the point, because the kids in those schools need a lot more than a teacher and normal education.”
The Cuomo budget plan to be released Wednesday will call for $100 million to expand an array of services offered at failing schools. A precise breakdown by school was not available Sunday, but he suggested it will offer more money for nutrition, mentoring, afterschool, counseling and other programs in the failing schools. “Don’t call it a school. Call it a community school,” he said.
A Cuomo spokesman noted that community schools were added “as an eventual product of the process” involving failing schools. “This is consistent with that,” the spokesman said.
What to make of all this?
Why is Cuomo "softening" his tone on so-called "failing" schools and calling for the community school model to solve the problems.
Well, I have a theory:
Remember all those meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo (he's # 4 on the all-time meeting list) and the July lunch date he had with the governor and his secretary, Bill Mulrow, in New York?
Remember when Mulgrew told the DA that there's not much they expect to get done this legislative session?
Looks like some kind of deal was worked out between Mulgrew and Cuomo.
Here's what I bet happened:
Cuomo wants the law to remain on the books so he doesn't look like a complete schmuck, having the thing dismantled one year after spending so much time, energy and political capital getting it through.
The unions want community schools to be the model for fixing "failing" schools.
I bet Mulgrew and the unions agreed they wouldn't push against Cuomo's odious 2015 education reform law that imposed receivership and 50% test scores in teacher evaluations in return for Cuomo supporting Mugrew (and Randi"s) beloved community school model.
I've seen a lot of teachers on social media wondering why the unions aren't pushing to have the 2015 education law changed.
It makes no sense, what with the governor under 40% in job approval and running scared that he's going to be charged by the US attorney for corruption, that the unions wouldn't seek to dismantle last year's law.
In addition, it's an election year - when would you ever have more leverage on pols in Albany than in an election year?
But they're not working to dismantle Cuomo's education reform law at all - instead they're tamping down expectations, saying nothing can get done this year because the politicians are busy and don't want to talk to them.
Seems odd but look no further than the way Cuomo's talking about community schools to get an indication for why.
A deal appears to have been worked out, with the unions selling teachers down the river on test scores/APPR and schools on receivership in return for Cuomo pushing community schools.
Just theorizing, of course, but given the history of UFT/NYSUT sellouts and given all the meetings Mulgrew has had with Cuomo,idle theorizing it isn't.
It makes no sense that the unions wouldn't be fighting tooth and nail to have that 2015 law dismantled unless they got something back from Cuomo in order to sit on their hands and do nothing.
And you know how Mulgrew (and Randi) love community schools.
There we have it - another vaunted UFT sellout.
Your union leadership at work, selling you out, one meeting at a time.
What The Cuomo Administration And El Chapo Have In Common
El Chapo used the same communications method as the Cuomo administration pic.twitter.com/gTlHQQsc9v
— Bill Mahoney (@mahoneyw) January 10, 2016
Despite the untraceable communications he used, El Chapo was brought down by arrogance, with authorities tracing him post-prison breakout after the drug lord began holding talks to have a movie based upon his life made.
Similarly, Cuomo may be brought down by arrogance despite the untraceable communications and other games he and his administration have used to avoid scrutiny of their inner doings.
Pro Publica summed up all the shenanigans Cuomo has played here - they include not only using untraceable Blackberry PIN messaging to communicate with aides, but also redacting FOILed documents so heavily as to render them unreadable, a policy that purged emails after 90 days, Cuomo aides using personal accounts to conduct government business (and thus avoiding FOIL issues), and ignoring FOIL requests they don't like (such as around Cuomo's fundraising and donors.)
Despite Cuomo administration attempts to avoid scrutiny of inner administration doings, there are two reported federal investigations related to the governor going on.
The first has the feds reportedly investigating the Cuomo administration for tampering into the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption, including Cuomo administration officials putting the kibosh on subpoenas to or investigations of the governor's donors during the commission's work.
The second has the feds investigating Cuomo's signature Buffalo Billion Project economic development program, with subpoenas having gone out to Cuomo donors and state entities involved in the bidding process.
In addition, US Attorney Preet Bharara, who has taken down both former Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and former Majority Leader Dean Skelos on corruption convictions, has refused to let Cuomo off the hook publicly, repeatedly refusing to say whether he's targeting Cuomo for corruption.
Don't think Cuomo's not aware he's got trouble - this Buffalo News piece with a "state official" who sounds suspiciously like Cuomo himself providing hours of interview time and dozens of documents to News reporter Tom Precious in order to defend himself and his administration against charges of a corrupt bidding process (see more here and here) suggests otherwise.
It's also easy to see Cuomo's frenetic January activity, with multiple daily announcements about his 2016 agenda occurring in different parts of the state, as Cuomo looking to distract from the federal investigations into his administration and his donors, as Baruch College political science professor Douglas Muzzio noted on social media:
Cuomo's Moses-like agenda = laying markers in face of Preet threat?
— Douglas Muzzio (@musingmuttering) January 9, 2016
Our friend in Buffalo Sean Crowley had similar thoughts after Cuomo announced multiple gazillion dollar transit projects (if you're scoring at home, Cuomo has proposed $65 billion in transit and transportation projects):
It really does look like this guy is feverishly flailing to establish some good guy cred any and everywhere before Preet drops the hammer on him. Maybe if he hadn't spent the last 3 decades or so as a belligerent prick he wouldn't be playing such a furious game of catch up now. It is fun to watch.
Indeed, it is fun to watch.
For a long, long time he has thought himself untouchable, the Sheriff of Albany who could claim to be cleaning up all the capital corruption while actually residing at the center of it all, sucking up millions in LLC loophole donations and paying back donors with development projects and millions in tax breaks.
But suddenly, after the Silver and Skelos convictions, those activities go from "business as usual" in Albany to perhaps a very big legal problem for the governor.
Thus all this vigorous agenda activity, with Cuomo everywhere and anywhere to announce another goodie for another constituency?
It sure seems like it.
Here was Cuomo yesterday, on yet another imploding the old bandstand at the state fairgrounds, while also announcing $200 million for upstate airports:
Bam. Great use of Vine by @NYGovCuomo for implosion at state fairgrounds in SYR. https://t.co/4OqICIuWvW #PR
— Dave Armon (@daveyarmon) January 9, 2016
If the US attorney follows the pattern with Cuomo that he's used on Silver and Skelos in the past (leak, leak, leak...criminal charges) that video will be a fantastic emblem for the Cuomo administration and Cuomo's political career.
It's hard to say whether Bharara really will take Cuomo down or whether he's just screwing with him, dangling him out there to twist slowly in the wind.
But given the frenetic pre-2016 state of the state/budget address activity Cuomo's engaging in and the $65 billion (yup - that's "billion" with a "b") in transportation and transit projects he's proposing for the state, something weird seems to be going on behind those beady eyes and that glassy stare he's got.
Might it be that soon he and his fellow Blackbery Messenger user, El Chapo, will have more in common than just communication methods?
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