We Say Fight Back!

Kareem Abdul Jabbar: The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race … unless we want the Ferguson atrocity to also be swallowed and become nothing more than an intestinal irritant to history, we have to address the situation not just as another act of systemic racism, but as what else it is: class warfare.

By focusing on just the racial aspect, the discussion becomes about whether Michael Brown’s death—or that of the other three unarmed black men who were killed by police in the U.S. within that month—is about discrimination or about police justification. Then we’ll argue about whether there isn’t just as much black-against-white racism in the U.S. as there is white-against-black. (Yes, there is. But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.)  http://time.com/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/

Armed Teachers “Stop. Drop your weapon. Don’t shoot.”

Kasey Hansen yelled as she pointed her loaded handgun at a target’s chest at a shooting range outside Salt Lake City.

“I want to protect my students,” said Hansen, a special needs teacher in Utah. “I’m going to stand in front of a bullet for any student that is in my protection, and so I want another option to defend us.”

Hansen carries her pink handgun, Lucy, with her every day to each of the 14 schools in which she teaches. The 26-year-old teacher works with elementary, middle and high school students with hearing impairments in the Granite School District.

She is one of an unknown number of armed teachers across the country. In 28 states, adults who legally own guns will be allowed to carry them in public schools this fall, from kindergarten classrooms to high school hallways. Seven of those states specifically cite teachers and other school staff as being allowed to carry guns in their schools.

A News21 examination of open-records laws in those states found that teachers or staff who choose to carry a firearm into their classrooms are not required to tell principals, other teachers or parents. Only five of those states have completely open access to concealed-carry permit information through public records requests. Some state’s laws seal off those records, and others are silent on the issue.  http://www.freep.com/article/20140819/NEWS07/308190079/teachers-guns-in-school

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Poster by Leslie Dwyer http://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/#!poster-art/c23mc

1965 marks the big escalation of the Wars on Vietnam–2o15 teachers will be deluged with bogus material–here are counter-efforts-Full Disclosure toward an honest Commemoration of the War in Vietnam  http://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/#!articles-of-interest/c20as

An Excerpt from the link above, on the Phoenix Program (one of many links) There’s a reason the CIA wanted to prevent the publication of Douglas Valentine’s 1986 book, The Phoenix Program: America’s Use of Terror in Vietnam. This masterwork is more than an exposé of the US pacification program in Vietnam the book is titled after. It is an indictment of a cynical and bloody plan to kill Vietnamese. In his book The Family Jewels, author John Prado wrote, “When a (CIA) Publications Review Board lawyer checked to see whether Phoenix was off-limits …, he was advised to caution interviewees not to talk to Valentine.”

Valentine wrote in an email regarding the CIA’s attempts to stifle his investigation: “There were other form of harassment as well, the kind all investigators of CIA war crimes are subjected to. The midnight calls threatening to kill me or burn my house down. My wife got in the habit of telling the callers to take a number and stand in line. We never took it seriously. Ironically, everything I was doing was legal, and I wasn’t trying to hide anything…. Many of the threats came from former Navy SEALs, who were angry about my portrayal of them as psychopathic killers on a murder spree. A group of former Phoenix advisors, who did not like characterizing them as war criminals for conducting Gestapo style operations against Vietnamese civilians, were also prone to threats and later, after the book came out, slanders on A  mazon and elsewhere. This is the same “Swift Boat” clan that attacked John Kerry during his presidential campaign.”  http://williambowles.info/2014/07/05/the-evil-that-was-the-phoenix-program-by-ron-jacobs/

The Vietnam Wars 1954-1980 and Beyond  a full curriculum   http://www.richgibson.com/vietnam/

California Supreme Court has affirmed that newspapers have a right to know and publish the names of all the UC Davis campus police officers involved in the controversial pepper-spraying of student protesters in 2011.  The state high court this week dismissed an effort by a university police union to overturn a lower court ruling in the case last year. A state appellate court in June 2013 held that the California Public Records Act allows newspapers to obtain the names of UC police who planned, participated in or witnessed the pepper spraying. Those identities had been redacted from a UC-commissioned report that criticized how campus police and administrators handled the incident……            

The names of two police officers long have been publicly revealed: Pike, who was later fired, and campus police chief Annette Spicuzza, who later resigned.

On Thursday evening, the university system released the full, unredacted report of the task force, which identified 18 or so officers who were on the scene or took part in the planning. Most were interviewed for the study.

Besides Pike and Spicuzza, the report and an allied study by Kroll Inc. security consulting firm, focused on four other officers who were said to be at the center of the case.

The reports sharply criticized then-Lt. Barry Swartwood for “abdicating his duties as incident commander” and for failing to lead the operation effectively.  Swartwood is no longer a lieutenant but remains on the UC Davis police force as an officer, according to a campus spokesman.

The document also identified the other officer who wielded the pepper spray as Alexander Lee.  Lee, who said Pike ordered him to use the chemical, is no longer on the force, according to UC Davis.  http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-ln-uc-pepper-spray-20140821-story.html

Emails obtained by KPCC show Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy personally began meeting with Pearson and Apple to discuss the eventual purchase of their products starting nearly a year before the contract went out to public bid.  Detailed in dozens of emails, the early private talks included everything from prices – about $160 million over five years – to tech support.

“On behalf of those involved in Pearson Common Core System of Courses, I want you to know how much we are looking forward to our partnership with LAUSD,” Pearson staffer Sherry King wrote the head of curriculum for L.A. Unified at the time, Jaime Aquino, in November 2012. “We have begun to work closely with your leadership to help make the transition to the common core smooth for everyone.”

Emails show Deasy met with CEO of Pearson in May 2012 and later told her it led him to have “excited” conversations with his staff upon his return.

After that meeting, Deasy and other high ranking officials exchanged emails about using Pearson as part of its transition to the new Common Core learning standards.

Emails show Deasy also met with Apple officials, in July 2012.  http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/08/22/17193/internal-emails-show-la-school-officials-started-i/

The LA I-Pad Scam Produced by John Deasy of the Fake Degree  the groundbreaking effort to provide an iPad to every Los Angeles student, teacher and school administrator was beset by inadequate planning, a lack of transparency and a flawed bidding process, according to a draft of an internal school district report obtained by The Times.  

The much-anticipated analysis is drawn from public and closed meetings held over 10 months by a committee chaired by school board member Monica Ratliff. That panel, composed of parents, employee representatives and district officials, heard presentations, posed questions and gathered documents from experts and administrators. Ratliff directed that the report remain confidential until committee members could provide input.

The Times obtained it from sources who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to release it.

The committee review stops short of accusing anyone of wrongdoing, but offers a carefully worded rebuke of the $1-billion-plus technology effort in the nation’s second-largest school system.

The bidding process—and events leading up to it—were singled out for particular criticism. The report concludes that the district needlessly limited its options on price and product, and raises questions about whether the process was fair.

• The initial rules for winning the contract appeared to be tailored to the products of the eventual winners—Apple and Pearson—rather than to demonstrated district needs.
• Key changes to the bidding rules were made after most of the competition had been eliminated under the original specifications.
• Past comments or associations with vendors, by top-level district officials, created an appearance of conflict even if no ethics rules were violated.  http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ipad-bidding-20140821-story.html

LA’s $2 million Capitalist  School Board Election (9.5% voted)  school administrator George McKenna took office Friday as the newest member of the Los Angeles Board of Education following a special election that could cost the school system an estimated $2.5 million.

McKenna, 73, won a hard-fought, expensive campaign last week against 34-year-old Alex Johnson, an aide to L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. According to the most recent campaign filings, money spent to elect McKenna totaled about $527,000, while dollars spent on behalf of Johnson added up to more than $1.4 million.   http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-mckenna-school-board-20140822-story.html

Detroit Teachers to Take ANOTHER 10 percent Pay Cut–24 more schools closing  State education officials have approved a plan by Detroit Public Schools to slash pay 10 percent districtwide to help erase the district’s $127 million deficit.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan announced Wednesday he approved the district’s updated five-year deficit elimination plan for the district to continue receiving state school aid.

The pay cut, which will impact all teachers and administrators starting Oct. 1, came after the district was forced to make budget cuts to offset expected revenue from a failed countywide tax millage. The wage concession for teachers would generate $13.3 million in savings. Districtwide, the savings will be $21.1 million.

The district’s financial plan also calls for the closure of 24 schools or buildings over four years, starting with the 2015-16 academic year.From The Detroit News: www.detroitnews.com/article/20140820/SCHOOLS/308200061#ixzz3B5vuiqKO

San Diego School Workers Vote to Continue to Be Instruments of their own oppression  You’d be forgiven for thinking Lindsay Burningham became the new president of the teachers union because she likes a good tussle.

Near-by Ferguson School Boss Seeks to Silence Discussion about racism and resistance In many ways, the recent chaos in Ferguson is perfect fodder for high school discussions about the judicial system, civil disobedience, racial divides and the role of media.

But in the Edwardsville School District, teachers in the middle and high schools have been told by principals to “change the subject and refocus the students” whenever Ferguson comes up.

The directives have upset some parents who say the events following the police officer shooting of Michael Brown present a wealth of teaching opportunities for their children, many of whom have been watching the situation unfold on television. But school administrators say teachers have been inserting their opinions into the discussions, which is why they’re shutting them down altogether.  “Such comments have caused students and parents to lash out which is not healthy in the District 7 community,” says a memo to staff on Tuesday from Dennis Cramsey, principal at Edwardsville High School.  http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/edwardsville-teachers-told-to-avoid-discussing-ferguson-events-with-students/article_1358925d-3e54-5823-9ce3-2f9938fc4c22.html

Students are Commodities, each a little dollar sign, in capitalist schools: The  University of California system is expected to enroll a record number of out-of-state students this fall — and will receive millions of dollars in return.

More than a fifth of all UC freshmen will come from such places as Texas, Washington, China and India and each will pay an additional $23,000 in tuition, providing the system with an estimated $400 million in extra revenue that officials say helps support the education of Californians…….    Among the freshman classes at the nine UC undergraduate campuses, the highest percentages from out of state are at UCLA, 30.1%; UC Berkeley, 29.8%; and UC San Diego, 28.4%.

Following other states, the UC system began aggressively increasing the numbers of non-California undergraduates five years ago to offset reductions in state support and a freeze on in-state tuition.    www.latimes.com/local/education/la-me-out-of-state-20140818-story.html#page=1

Corrupt San Ysidro School Boss (one in a long line of many) Pleads Guilty, wrist slapped  The former superintendent of San Ysidro schools has entered a guilty plea in federal court to the misdemeanor charge of deprivation of benefits for political contributions. In other words, he admitted to extracting political contributions from a prospective contractor by threatening to withhold work.

Book the Teacher Wars (again)  In “The Teacher Wars,” her lively account of the history of teaching, Dana Goldstein traces the numerous trends that have shaped “the most controversial profession in America.” Along the way, she demonstrates that almost every idea for reforming education over the past 25 years has been tried before — and failed to make a meaningful difference. Long before Wendy Kopp dreamed up Teach for America to place Ivy Leaguers in public schools, we had the Teacher Corps. Before that, Catharine Beecher — “America’s first media darling school reformer” — was recruiting proper East Coast spinsters to go west to teach the unlettered children of pioneers. Decades before we had digital databases to measure teacher performance, administrators in New York, Tennessee, Michigan and elsewhere were devising merit-pay systems based on similar ideas. And 35 years before the Gates Foundation became the 2,000-pound gorilla in American education, the Ford Foundation was throwing its weight around the classroom chasing a similar goal of closing the achievement gap between rich and poor….By 2011, Goldstein reports, it was becoming clear that we could not elevate the overall quality of American education just by piling on the tests, holding teachers responsible for student scores and then rewarding the good and firing the bad. “Underperforming teachers,” she writes, “were not hiding some sort of amazing skill set they failed to use either because they were too lazy or were disgruntled about low pay.” Nor do efforts to import supposedly higher-caliber people via alternative routes to teaching, like Teach for America, have the heft to make a difference in a profession that adds as many as 200,000 new hires a year. John Dewey was right in 1895, Goldstein observes, when he said, “Education is, and forever will be, in the hands of ordinary men and women.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/books/review/the-teacher-wars-by-dana-goldstein.html?emc=edit_bk_20140822&nl=books&nlid=2254121&_r=0

Tenured Harvard Prof Joins Fight to Abolish k12 Tenure   Students Matter, the organization that has taken the lead in seeking to undo teacher tenure and hiring and firing laws in California, has added one of the nation’s leading – and liberal – constitutional scholars to its legal team: Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe.

The organization, which was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch and has the backing of leading venture capitalists, already has considerable legal firepower at its disposal.  http://edsource.org/2014/legal-superstar-joins-anti-teacher-tenure-effort/66272#.U-5xP_RvArt   Among his distinguished law students and research assistants while on the faculty at Harvard have been Barack Obama (a research assistant for two years),  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Tribe

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

A Former Marine Explains All the Weapons of War Being Used by Police in Ferguson

The police used tear gas unsparingly the past week, and it was perhaps the most disturbing ingredient in the stew. As others have noted, the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 actually bans the gas as a permissible means of warfare. Then again, it is allowed for domestic riot control, and nations like Turkey, Bahrain, Israel and the United States have exploited the loophole to great avail. If you’re interested in the weapon’s mechanics or science, the Internet has your back. In the meantime, I can assure you its effects are far from pleasurable. Every Marine has his or her own story about their time at the “gas chamber,” the place we go to become familiar with our gas masks (so they tell us). Suffice it to say it sucks out your organs, hogs your oxygen and burns you inside and out. Interim blindness and extended coughing fits are common, as well as an overall sense that you are dying or dead. And they’re dispersing this poison in people’s backyards.

More on Fascism in Ferguson here http://www.thenation.com/article/181315/catalog-ferguson-police-weaponry#

After Bush/Obamagogue Demolished Iraq, Libya, Mali, Liberia, Egypt, Afghanistan, Detroit, now it’s back to work on Syria (let’s see, just who is our ally?)  The Obama administration is debating a more robust intervention in Syria, including possible American airstrikes, in a significant escalation of its weeks-long military assault on the Islamic extremist group that has destabilized neighboring Iraq and killed an American journalist, officials said Friday.

While President Obama has long resisted being drawn into Syria’s bloody civil war, officials said recent advances by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had made clear that it represents a threat to the interests of the United States and its allies. The beheading of James Foley, the American journalist, has contributed to what officials called a “new context” for a challenge that has long divided the president’s team.  Officials said the options include speeding up and intensifying limited American efforts to train and arm moderate Syrian rebel forces that have been fighting both ISIS as well as the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Another option would be to bolster other partners on the ground to take on ISIS, including the Syrian Kurds.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/world/middleeast/obama-adviser-says-military-action-possible-against-isis.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Jimmy Carter Redux:  In Raid to Save Foley and Other Hostages, U.S. Found None   A secret nighttime military mission authorized by President Obama to rescue Americans held captive in Syria failed early this summer when a team of two dozen Delta Force commandos raided an oil refinery in the northern part of the country but found after a firefight with Islamic militants that there were no hostages to be saved, administration officials said Wednesday.

The officials — speaking a day after the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria posted a video showing the American journalist James Foley being beheaded — described what they called a “complicated operation” in which the commandos were dropped by helicopter into Syrian territory in an attempt to rescue Mr. Foley and others being held by the Sunni militant group.The Army commandos fought their way to the spot where they believed that ISIS was hiding the hostages, the officials said. But when the team swooped in, the hostages were gone. “We’re not sure why they were moved,” a Defense Department official said.   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/us-commandos-tried-to-rescue-foley-and-other-hostages.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

Tens of Thousands to view Michigan War Show–Pity the A-10! As personnel at Selfridge Air National Guard Base prepare to host tens of thousands of visitors during next month’s annual air show, the future of one of the facility’s staple aircraft remains in doubt.

While Congress decided this spring against an Air Force plan to retire the A-10 fighter jet — including 18 in service at Selfridge — the “Warthog” isn’t entirely safe from the budget ax, lawmakers and military experts say.

The Thunderbolt II aircraft supports 800 jobs at the Macomb County base and are part of a fleet of 283 A-10s nationwide. Retiring the 1970s-era fighters would save an estimated $4.2 billion over five years.

Roman Schweizer, a defense policy analyst and director of Guggenheim Securities, said the A-10 is a useful aircraft but could be vulnerable because it is good at one thing: attacking targets on the ground.

Schweizer said multipurpose aircraft are in greater demand, putting the A-10 at more risk of retirement. “They have to make cuts somewhere,” he said. He added that if the A-10 remains, the Air Force will make reductions elsewhere, which may mean retiring other aircraft.   From The Detroit News: www.detroitnews.com/article/20140822/METRO03/308220040#ixzz3BCChvvVR

The last British soldier-afghan wars.

How Hard it is for the dying Empire to Find another Afghan Puppet, even with election fraud  When the campaign team led by Manawar Shah came under threat on the day of the Afghan presidential runoff, it was not from the Taliban, he said, but from the people who were supposed to be keeping order: an alliance of government officials, security forces and supporters of the candidate Ashraf Ghani.

Beaten and prevented from using their video equipment and cellphones, Mr. Shah’s team members, working for the candidate Abdullah Abdullah in Khost Province, spent June 14 watching fraud but unable to document it. In one polling center, Mr. Shah said, they saw just 500 voters and election officials casting multiple ballots, for a total of 10,531 votes.

That episode and others like it led Mr. Abdullah to level accusations of a conspiracy by Mr. Ghani, election officials and President Hamid Karzai to rig the vote, plunging the country into crisis and creating a new threat of factional violence. After years of Western aid spent building it, the Afghan state is suddenly at risk of collapsing just as American troops are leaving.  The impasse grew so grave that some senior Afghan officials considered imposing an interim government — a move tantamount to a coup, but one that the officials insisted might be needed to head off violence.  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/24/world/asia/in-afghan-election-signs-of-systemic-fraud-cast-doubt-on-many-votes.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Why Obama Wanted Maliki Removed  The Obama administration is pushing for regime change in Iraq on the basis that current prime minister Nouri al Maliki is too sectarian. The fact is, however, that Maliki’s abusive treatment of Sunnis never factored into Washington’s decision to have him removed. Whether he has been “too sectarian” or not is completely irrelevant. The real reason he’s under attack is because he wouldn’t sign the Status of Forces Agreement in 2011. He refused to grant immunity to the tens of thousands of troops the administration wanted to leave in Iraq following the formal withdrawal. That’s what angered Washington. That’s why the administration wants Maliki replaced.

Check out this White House statement of support for new prime minister-designate Haider al-Ibadi (Maliki’s rival) by Vice President Joe Biden just hours after the change (coup?) was announced. The document is titled “Readout of the Vice President’s Call with Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi”.

“Vice President Joe Biden called Iraqi Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi to congratulate him on his nomination to form a new government and develop a national program pursuant to Iraq’s constitutional process. The Prime Minister-designate expressed his intent to move expeditiously to form a broad-based, inclusive government capable of countering the threat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and building a better future for Iraqis from all communities. The Vice President relayed President Obama’s congratulations and restated his commitment to fully support a new and inclusive Iraqi government, particularly in its fight against ISIL. The two leaders also discussed practical steps towards fully activating the bilateral Strategic Framework Agreement in all of its fields, including economic, diplomatic, and security cooperation. Prime Minister-designate Abadi thanked Vice President Biden for the call, and they agreed to stay in regular communication as the government formation process proceeds.” (White House)  http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/15/why-obama-want-maliki-removed/

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor

HUNGER IN AMERICA: KEY FINDINGS

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement

Ferguson vs the National Security State (Black Agenda Report) “The domestic counterinsurgency army has been methodically expanded by each successive administration.”

The corporate media, reflecting their owners’ anxiety at the failure of Black people to revert to a state of passivity in Ferguson, Missouri, have arrived at a general consensus on two counts: the need to “demilitarize” the police (fewer bullets, smaller armored vehicles?) and, more immediately, to re-establish some semblance of “calm” (as in comatose) in the neighborhood and beyond. Corporate-attuned Black powerbrokers and politicians deliver essentially the same message, counseling (quiet) introspection and a search for “solutions” (diversions) to the historical oppression in which they are deeply complicit.

But first, tensions must be reduced, to diffuse the confrontation – which, we are told, serves no one’s interests but the “agitators and instigators” (who, apparently, have millions of dollars in derivatives wagers riding on urban chaos). Fortunately, the “street” ignores the misleaders. If Ferguson had remained “calm” in the face of Michael Brown’s murder, nobody outside greater St. Louis would know the place existed.

De-militarize the police? After 50 years of seamlessly integrating the local constabulary into the National Security State and its War on Drugs, War on Terror, myriad and unending foreign wars, and of funneling millions of Black prisoners into the world’s largest system of incarceration, where would the process of demilitarization begin? What, exactly, does it mean to be militarized? Is it defined by the equipment the troops/cops carry? Or, by the mission they are assigned?

If the mission of police forces in the United States is to contain, suppress, hyper-surveil and incarcerate huge numbers of Black people as a matter of policy, then police departments require all the tools the federal government has been giving them since President Lyndon Johnson signed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 – a cornerstone in the construction of a truly national, integrated gendarmerie, which is defined as “a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations.” SWAT teams, first formed in Philadelphia in 1964 and Los Angeles in 1967 as unabashed counter-Black insurgency units, have proliferated to the far corners of the land, and are now standard drill for warrant-serving cops. The domestic counterinsurgency army has been methodically expanded by each successive administration, first through the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and ultimately drawing on the stocks of, not only the Pentagon, but virtually every armed agency of the federal government.

President Obama, to whom idiots appeal to scale back police militarization, is as hawkish as any of his predecessors in about keeping America safe from Black inner city insurgency. The lead sentence in an item in today’s New York Times, blandly titled “Data on Transfer of Military Gear to Police Depatments,” tells the tale, succinctly:

“Since President Obama took office, the Pentagon has transferred to police departments tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.”

Clearly, the U.S. is at war with Black America.  http://blackagendareport.com/node/14372

Copper: “Don’t Want to get hurt? Don’t Challenge me.”  Even though it might sound harsh and impolitic, here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me. Most field stops are complete in minutes. How difficult is it to cooperate for that long?  http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/19/im-a-cop-if-you-dont-want-to-get-hurt-dont-challenge-me/

Solidarity for Never

Eskelsen and vacillating reactionary Ravitch who was given NEA’s top award by then Treasurer Lily

For Profit Media Hug Fest for NEA’s New $479 thousand a year Quisling “I was a fabulous teacher,” Eskelsen Garcia told me Wednesday, on a back-to-school swing through California as the incoming leader of the National Education Assn. “I did everything the opposite of what corporate school reformers would say teachers are supposed to do.”…Every morning included a lesson on current events. Students presented and led discussions. Classmates got one jellybean from the teacher for a good answer — and two for a good question. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0823-banks-teacher-leader-20140823-column.html

Police agents of UFT Join Snitch Sharpton to call a fake anti-racist demonstration and pro-cop teachers are mad :

The teachers union is pitting its members against cops — by sponsoring and promoting the Rev. Al Sharpton’s anti-police rally in Staten Island next week, The Post has learned.

The United Federation of Teachers sent an “action alert” e-mail that even promised free transportation to Sharpton’s Aug. 23 demonstration that is billed as a march for justice for “victims of police brutality.”

Some teachers were furious that the union would take such a prominent role in the event.

“What a disgrace. What is going on with the leadership of the UFT thinking it’s OK to protest against rank-and-file cops?” asked one teacher. “Would we want cops protesting in front our schools over low test scores?”    http://nypost.com/2014/08/16/teachers-union-backing-sharptons-planned-rally-against-police/

Spy versus Spy

Lack of Intelligence a Problem for US in Syria (and worldwide) senior U.S. intelligence and military officials — speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive operations — said American spy agencies have not yet assembled the capabilities that would be needed to target Islamic State leaders and provide reliable-enough intelligence to sustain a campaign of strikes.   http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-strikes-in-syria-against-islamic-state-would-be-hindered-by-intelligence-gaps/2014/08/23/70f6595e-2a30-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html

above, police agent Lambert

New Yorker: “The Spy Who Did Me”  Bob Robinson was Jacqui’s first love and the father of her eldest child. He had disappeared from their lives in 1987, when their son was two. (To protect her son’s privacy, Jacqui asked me not to use her last name.) Over the years, Jacqui had tried many times to track Bob down, but she had never been able to find him. Neither had any of the government agencies she had enlisted to help in the search. Bob had seemingly vaporized. Now there he was, staring back at her from the pages of a tabloid.

Jacqui tried to focus. “An undercover policeman planted a bomb in a department store to prove his commitment to animal rights extremists, an MP claimed yesterday,” the article that the picture accompanied began. “Bob Lambert is accused of leaving an incendiary device in a Debenhams in London—one of three set off in a coordinated attack in 1987.”   http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/25/the-spy-who-loved-me-2

The Magical Mystery Tour

Barbarism Rising: Obamagogue–“My God is better than your God”  Yes, Barack Obama – before he headed back to the golf links – informed the world that “No just God would stand for what they [Isis] did yesterday, and for what they do every single day.” So there you have it: Obama turned the “caliphate’s” savagery into an inter-religious battle of rival Gods, “ours” [ie the West’s] against “theirs” [the Muslim God, of course]. This was the nearest Obama has yet come in rivalling George W Bush’s gormless reaction to 9/11 in which he said that “we” are going to go on a “Crusade”.  http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/air-strikes-talk-of-god-barack-obama-is-following-the-jihadists-script-after-james-foley-beheading-9684480.html

Sunnis Quit Iraq Government After 73 Murdered   Sunni lawmakers quit talks on forming a new Iraqi government after gunmen killed scores of worshipers at a Sunni mosque in a province neighboring Baghdad, sending sectarian tensions soaring.

The discussions in Baghdad sought to build an administration representing Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups after years of Shiite dominance, with a goal of sapping support among some Sunnis for Islamist State extremists who have seized swaths of the country’s north.

While Kurdish and Iraqi forces backed by U.S. airstrikes have regained some territory lost to the jihadists, President Barack Obama has made more extensive U.S. military aid conditional on creation of such an “inclusive” central government in Baghdad.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-22/dozens-killed-as-iraqi-militia-gunmen-attack-sunni-mosque-1-.html

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