We Say Fight Back!

School Workers: What Did Our Unions Do on Our Summer Vacation?

The two school worker unions, the huge National Education Association (NEA) and the smaller American Federation of Teachers (AFT), met in conventions in mid-summer, the NEA over the July 4th weekend, AFT shortly thereafter.

NEA, with about 3 million members, is the nation’s largest union by far. It’s also a $300 million business. AFT claims to be about half NEA’s size, with an inflated assertion of 1.5 million members.

School workers’ dues overwhelming supplies the NEA with most of its income, much of it forced dues income under the “agency shop” (either join the union or pay nearly equivalent fees) provisions.

AFT represents tens of thousands, perhaps 200,000, people outside schools, like health care workers, but like NEA, the money which keeps AFT afloat comes from school workers.

(I use that “school workers” in opposition to “teachers,” as many, many members in schools are not teachers, and to set off the boosterish “professionals,” a deceptive word that is constantly used when bosses want the employees to work 90-hour weeks, buy their own supplies, clean their own rooms and bathrooms, cover lunch rooms, etc. But when it comes to setting wages, hours and working conditions, the professionals immediately become workers again. School workers like to be called pros to set themselves off from other workers–doubling a mistake).

Like the schooling field in general, money is key in what passes for education in the US–that and imperial power–as we shall see.

Money creates a fully segregated, not-so-public, but capitalist, school system in the US. It follows that to “Defend Public Education,” is to defend a myth, and the capitalist state that defines schooling.

Headaches

NEA and AFT top leaders faced serious problems in the summer of 2018.

In the spring, school workers, typically joined by students and parents, led wildcat strikes (opposed by both the employers and the unions) in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma (where wages are the lowest in the US and workers haven’t had a raise in a decade), North Carolina, Colorado, and Arizona. These wildcats were surprisingly popular in states seen as “Trump Country,” demonstrating the old mole of class struggle can undermine many fantasies.  www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/31/school-workers-what-did-our-unions-do-on-our-summer-vacation/

LAUSD Teachers Vote Yes In Strike-Authorization

Los Angeles Unified School District teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if labor negotiations continue to stall, union officials announced Friday evening.

United Teachers Los Angeles says 98 percent of its members who cast ballots voted in favor of a strike.

Members of the union began voting Aug. 23, and ballots were collected through Thursday.

The vote does not automatically mean a walkout will occur. The vote only gives union leadership the right to call a strike depending on the status of labor talks with the district.  www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/LAUSD-Teachers-Union-to-Tabulate-Ballots-from-Strike-Authorization-Vote-492159641.html

Today was supposed to be the first day of the school year for kids in Vancouver, WA. But salary negotiations between teachers and administrators at the Evergreen Public School district have failed, and so the teachers are going on strike. They follow in the footsteps of teachers in states including West Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma earlier this year.

“Given the uncertainty if an agreement is forthcoming today, and the need to let students and families know to make alternate plans, Evergreen Public Schools are not opening school tomorrow,” the district said, according to the Columbian. Several other districts are also reportedly striking.  splinternews.com/washington-teachers-are-striking-on-the-first-day-of-sc-1828644798?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=Splinter_facebook

Teacher strikes are illegal in Washington – but effective (the only illegal strike is a strike that fails)

www.facebook.com/147541496674/videos/1070218879822987/

According to Chris Korsmo, CEO of the League of Education Voters in Seattle, nearly two-thirds of the state’s school districts are currently negotiating teacher salaries as the 2018-2019 school year begins.

Korsmo said this year, more money is available for districts because of the 2012 McCleary decision.

“There’s a lot more money, at least temporarily, on the table for salaries, so it’s high-stakes,” she told KIRO 7.

However, not all of that money is earmarked for teachers.

It’s for all educational needs, which vary from district to district.

The “new money in the system” is causing all school districts across the state to discuss “what is the best and most thoughtful way to invest that money into what makes sense for their students, their families and their communities,” according to Jacob Vela, senior policy analyst at the League of Education Voters.

In many districts, those ongoing discussions include potential teacher strikes, which are illegal in the state of Washington.

“It’s not legal for teachers, or any public employee, to strike,” Rob McKenna told KIRO 7 on Wednesday….However, McKenna said state law does not impose any penalty for going out on strike.

www.kiro7.com/news/teacher-strikes-are-illegal-in-washington-but-effective/823345006

www.facebook.com/117075509102/videos/231902237489567/?t=35

 

www.facebook.com/hariprasad.athanickal/videos/1854574197960350/?t=58

India: Students’ solidarity march on EFL University campus protesting the police raid of Prof K Satyanarayana’s quarters. We will fight this out…

It’s Unfortunate, and Odd, that there is so little good video and commentary, but from liberals, about Chicago, ’68. 50 Years on….Good comments below:

 

A letter to my friends who asked about Chicago, 1968 on August 29th:

I wasn’t able to watch Chicago ‘68 videos until I started teaching in my community college about 8 years ago.

I did that because I have vets in my class who, in studying the period, watched the videos and said, “that is very close to warfare.”

I hadn’t thought of it like that.

Fair warning. This got a bit long! Skip if you wish.

I didn’t want to go to Chicago. By then, I was a self-appointed organizer for sds. I had seen plenty of police and military violence (I was in Detroit and at the Pentagon, summer 67).

I knew the Soviets had invaded Prague, using violence. The tension was high–maybe that starts World War III?

Nobody I knew in sds leadership wanted to go to Chicago. We all saw it as a police trap. But SOME people had to go to talk to McCarthy kids, guardsmen (the guard at the Pentagon in 67 had occasionally refused to fight us), etc.

And, “since you are right next to Chicago–you have to go.”

Next to? 300 miles. I think I may have been to Chicago once. I did not know the terrain (know your enemy, know yourself, know the terrain–you will win a thousand battles–Sun Tzu).

So, I went. I didn’t know anyone.

I remember the initial police attack in Lincoln park, which is some distance from town center.

There may have been a thousand people, hippies, yippies, idiots doing karate practice and snake dances, people singing around picnic fires–and at dusk I saw the police surrounding us. I began to ask people, “shouldn’t we leave, drift away?”

One guy who knew Chicago (I had no idea where I was) told us to meet in “Grant Park, tomorrow.”

I think 90 percent of the people in Lincoln park, including me, did not drift away.

As it got darker, the cops attacked. They came in on three wheel motorcycles, on horses, in cars, on foot, shooting gas grenades, spraying gas.

Again, I was in Detroit the summer of 67 and I saw cops shooting, military shooting, but I never saw anything like this. They just beat the crap out of everyone they could grab.

So, I took some body blows and got away. I got in a crowded car with other youth and went to where they thought Grant Park was. We slept on the ground. But not much sleep.

The next day, Grant park filled. I would guess there were 20,000 people there–again the same kinds of folks in Lincoln Park but add some older people as well.

There are two parts to the park, as I remember it.

One part is directly across from the Hilton where the Democratic delegates were.

There is some kind of divider from the other part–maybe a sunken train track.

In any case, I remember clearly that there are bridges connecting the two parts of the park.

Most of us were in the half of the park that’s away from the Hilton.

People were giving speeches—I remember Tom Hayden and Rennie Davis (didn’t like either one much, ever).

Then a person who I believe later turned out to be a cop climbed a flag pole and took down an American flag.

I didn’t recognize that as signal, then, but I think it was.

Cops in formation poured into us, beating the crap out of everyone.

That’s the first time I got hit on the head with a riot baton.

My MP vet in my class said, “They were trying to kill you! We are all taught to only go for the head if we want to kill”–I never knew that until 2017.

I still have the scar on the left side of my head. But I didn’t go down, and it didn’t hurt. There was blood, but not that much. I learned I have a very hard head. Came in handy over the years.

I knew we had to get to the other side of the park, across the bridges–near the delegates. Then I saw military, probably guard, setting up machine gun nests behind sand bags on the bridges. But they were doing it in sequence, so the bridge numbers three and four away were clear.

I grabbed some people. We started running for bridge 3. As I passed bridge 2, a guard in a full gas suit stepped out and stuck what looked like a giant cone in my face–and turned on the gas. I later learned it was CN CS gas. That’s tear gas and a nerve agent. It is also a war crime to deploy it.

I went down in convulsions, vomiting. He kept the gas on. Some people dragged me off and threw me in a fountain.

It took a bit to get clear, but I was furious. I wanted to ice gasman.

But, as I climbed out of the fountain, I heard a moan–like—OOOOOMMMMM, OOOOMMM.

And, WTF?

There was a gnome like guy, crouched down behind a small stick from a tree, OOOOOMMMMing at the machine gun nest.

So, I had to ask, who the hell are you and what are you doing?

“They need calm down. You should calm down too”

Funny!

Alan Ginsburg. Gad.

I did calm down, made it to the part of the park right across from the Hilton. He may have saved my life.

Things are sort of blurry after that. No sleep. Trapped–those who tried to leave got grabbed, thrown into paddy wagons, and you could hear the screams.

Gassed all the time. We begged people not to walk around as the gas was thick in the grass–it would kick up and people would be puking, and we had to live in that.

I remember “my tree,” where I huddled most of the time. It is still there. I have visited it several times.

Cops would come into the crowd in V formation grab some people, drag them off and beat hell out of them

We tried to march out of the park to, I think, the south side (poor people) once, behind Dr Spock, Dave Dillinger and other dignitaries.

Jean Genet, William Burroughs, Ginsburg in Chicago

We walked down some long street that had no cross streets, like walking into one of the old cowboy blind canyons.

We came to a part of the street that had a bridge over it, maybe an L bridge.

Under the bridge blocking the road were jeeps, with barbed wire in rolls attached to the front.

Next to them were guardsmen with gas grenade launchers fixed on rifles.

And behind them were cherry picker trucks with cone-like gas launchers attached.

Spock and the Dignitaries in the front line submitted to peaceful arrest.

I was in line 2. I knew bad things were coming. I wanted to run but all the kids started shouting, “Sit, Sit, Sit.”

So I sat, like an idiot.

I saw a guardsman lower his rife and point it. He fired, right into the chest of the guy next to me.

I looked away and didn’t get the full impact of the gas. He got hit point blank and later told me he looked at the exploding gas.

He went unconscious.

The jeeps were coming. The cherry pickers’ gas was flowing.

I dragged him down the street trying to keep up with other fleeing people.

Found a small courtyard with a fountain.

Started to clean him up but saw the cops coming and people bouncing inside the barbed wire on the jeeps.

There were people in the building looking at us through a mostly glass entrance door.

I shouted and begged them to let us in, protect us, shelter!

No.

Then they relented.

The people retreated, I assume to their apartments.

We stayed in the foyer until nightfall, then staggered back trying to find Grant Park.

It took awhile, but we got in.

I only remember a few more things.

I remember Peter Paul and Mary (maybe just two of them)came out one night, stood on some trash cans, and sang, choking from the gas. That took great courage, and it was lovely.

Other singers came out-I don’t remember who. Earlier, I know the Detroit MC5 was there and sang, probably the anthem, “Kick out the Jams!” I missed that.

Other than that, I think a cop using the front tip of a club hit me in the forehead. Amber says I still have a dent.

Of course, I remember the Poor Peoples March coming through, and the huge police attack that followed.

“The whole word is watching.” A not so fond memory.

It was just gas, beatings, lots of very brave young people, McCarthy kids, a handful of sds, the yippies stuck it out. I wanted to fight back but kids convinced me that was “Custeristic”

They were right.

I think this went on for five days, with the last day the cops and guards backing off and us trickling away. I have no idea how I got back to Detroit.

I went home in a fury that rises up from time to time. Not healthy.

I had seen barbarism before. TC and I witnessed a police riot in New Orleans and I had seen Detroit. The Pentagon was a cakewalk compared to Chicago. But Chicago drove home to me what the empire will do, even to its own.

I’ve read notes from people, now confirmed liberals, who were there: “We were the children of the Democratic Party.” These are the people who are usually interviewed by the press.

Well, a lot of us were not children of Democrats. By the Pentagon, ‘67, many of us were enemies of the state.

Chicago made me more committed than ever–to learn above all, and to act when necessary.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPJgeg6hpA

I am so glad I did not go to that stinking war when I got drafted.

My vet students swear to me I would have probably been killed in boot camp. Went to jail instead.

I was a bit of a hot head by the time they really made an effort to draft me.

If I had gone, and encountered one of the bully drill sergeants screaming at me, I am sure I would have said, “Who the f do you think you are? You’re noting but an asshole with a uniform.” That, my vets say, would have led to a one way helicopter ride.

I did go to my draft physical: bizarre. They took our clothes, then gave us, maybe 100 guys, a mental test. Naked testing?

I turned in my test. After and hour or so of sitting naked and bsing with the fellas, two what had to be Lts passed out the results. But they made a special effort to come to me.

“You got a zero on this test!”

“Yes, I know.”

“A zero!”

“Right”

“But you went to Cranbrook!”

Not good. They know me.

“Yes.”

I could see the light go on for one of them.

“You got a zero on purpose!” Took awhile, I thought.

“Who, me?”

They took me into a room where I thought they were going to beat the crap out of me.

One of them, “You know Detroit, right?”

“I do. It is home.”

“Do you know where we can buy some dope?”

“No. As far as I know, you are cops. Sorry, but that is how it is.”

They let me go.

A doc wafted a stethoscope about a foot from my chest. Passed the heart part.

More counterfeit physical exam stuff followed.

Then they had us stand behind a line to step across and be in the military.

Me–“Don’t step over that line. You’ll be under the US Military Code of Justice which means no justice. Don’t go to Vietnam. But if you do go, don’t shoot the Vietnamese. Shoot your officers!”

That more than did it. Took me off in the same room and some other guys with no uniform markings pushed me around a bit–not a beating–and kicked me out of Ft.Wayne. Again, no idea how I got home. More evidence of the bit of a hot head issue.

Two of my closest high school pals went. Neither came back ok. One was in ruins for about 3 years, til he met a lovely wife.

He got cancer from Agent Orange and is still fighting it.

The other guy just died, after suffering for years, from Agent Orange cancer. The VA only gave him 100% disability this February.

Two guys from Cranbrook went, low level officers, both killed.

The war changed everything, everywhere. The empire was defeated by peasant nationalists, not reds.

Vietnam today is a low wage haven for empires, cutting deals with their century’s old enemy, China.

I never got over Chicago. I never forgave the cops, everywhere. I know some of my students want to be cops, and will be. I try to instill some humanity and tell them, “don’t hit me on the head or lie about me in court and we will be fine.”

Learned to get along with troops even during that war.

Never voted for a human.

I think of the government, everywhere, as an executive committee and armed weapon of the rich.

Inside that committee, elements of the ruling class–as in industrial, finance, and agricultural capital–thrash out their differences (finance capital rules now, see the bailouts) and then turn on the rest of us with a vengeance–endless wars.

This is a part of what I use to teach about VN www.richgibson.com/vietnam/

Sorry this is long and no hard feelings if you skipped it. I never, ever, wrote about Chicago before but what with my friend dying and the 50th anniversary, I needed to do it.

Love and all the best to you both. Here is to good health.

Rich

Young Marxists and Maoists unsettle the old men in Beijing

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/young-marxists-and-maoists-unsettle-the-old-men-in-beijing-wfs73wzfr

The Little Red Schoolhouse

Arizona Supreme Court Blocks a Ballot Measure, and Schools Miss Out on $690 Million (direct action, not courts, not ballots, gets the goods!)

In a major blow to the national protest movement against classroom budget cuts and stagnant teachers’ salaries, the Arizona Supreme Court blocked a ballot initiative Wednesday that would have increased taxes on the wealthy to help raise money for schools.

Teachers, unions and activists have shifted their focus to the ballot box in recent months, after educators in six states walked out of their schools this year. Among their biggest targets was proudly libertarian Arizona, where proponents gathered far more signatures than the number necessary to put the tax initiative, called Invest in Education, on the ballot.

The court said, however, that the wording of the proposition could have confused voters about the extent of the proposed tax increase, in part because of questions about whether taxpayers’ income levels would be adjusted for inflation. The measure would have raised $690 million annually for education.

“This is absolutely stunning, and it denies citizens and teachers what they fought so hard for — the opportunity to fund our students and schools,” Noah Karvelis, a music teacher and one of the leaders of the Arizona walkout, said in an email. “Over 270,000 signatures were just thrown out by the court.”

“This is not the end of our fight, by any means,” he added.

The proposition would have raised income taxes by 3 to 4 percentage points on individuals and households earning more than $250,000. The court’s ruling against it increases the focus on the November elections in the state.  www.nytimes.com/2018/08/30/us/arizona-teachers-tax-investined.html

www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/228944647873392/?t=18

Student loan watchdog quits, says largest banks ‘ripping off students’

Student loan borrowers, already struggling to deal with big dollars in debt, have yet another reason to be nervous.

The top federal consumer watchdog for student loans is resigning effective Sept. 1.

“The American dream is under siege,” wrote Seth Frotman, assistant director and student loan ombudsman for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in his resignation letter.

Frotman, the latest high-level departure from the CFPB, said borrowers are trapped in a broken student loan system but the administration is protecting lenders and big business.

As part of his heated comments, Frotman said new evidence has come to light showing that the nation’s largest banks were “ripping off students on campuses across the country by saddling them with legally dubious account fees.”

But he charged that the bureau leadership has suppressed publication of a report on the problem relating to the bank fees.

“You choose to leave students vulnerable to predatory practices and deny any responsibility to bring this information to light,” Frotman wrote…www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2018/08/27/student-loan-watchdog-quits/1110573002/

New Poll: For First Time Ever, a Majority of American Parents Do Not Want Their Children to Become Public School Teachers

“It’s a thankless job.”

“Too much chaos in public schools.”

“It’s dangerous being a teacher.”

The majority of Americans do not want their children to become a public school teacher — and these quotes are just some of the reasons why. They come from the 50th annual PDK International Poll on public attitudes toward education, and it’s the first time that the majority of people — 54 percent — want their offspring to steer clear of a career in education.

“The pay is low. The conditions are tough. It’s not that much of a surprise,” said Joshua Starr, CEO of PDK International.

That’s not to say the public doesn’t like teachers — quite the opposite. The majority of poll respondents have confidence in teachers, want them to be paid more, and support their efforts to strike.  

But in an open-ended question, respondents listed several reasons they didn’t want their children to enter the profession, the most common being poor pay and benefits and the challenges of dealing with student behavior. Democrats were more likely to list pay, while Republicans were more likely to list behavior.

“We cannot be comfortable with the stunning contradiction that a majority of Americans both recognize the importance of the teaching profession and want their own kids nowhere near it,” said JoAnn Bartoletti, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, in a prepared statement. “The recent series of teacher strikes and the public support for more should wake us up to the need to invest more purposefully and creatively in the professionals who do nothing less than build our collective future.”

Illinois governor vetoes bill to raise minimum salary for teachers

Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) vetoed a bill Sunday that would have raised the minimum salary for teachers from $9,000 to $40,000 within five years.

In vetoing the bill, Rauner said he preferred tying pay increases for teachers to performance and incentives.

“Teachers are our greatest asset in ensuring the future of our youth and they deserve to be well-compensated for their hard work,” Rauner wrote in his veto message, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“However, minimum pay legislation is neither the most efficient nor the most effective way to compensate our teachers,” Rauner wrote.

“Things like pay-for-performance, diversified pay for teachers in hard-to-staff schools or subjects, or pay incentives for teachers with prior work experience are all viable options to provide greater compensation for teachers,” Rauner continued.  thehill.com/policy/finance/403760-illinois-governor-vetoes-bill-to-raise-minimum-salary-for-teachers

Why Grad Rates Across the State Went Down in California

When San Diego Unified announced its graduation rate for the class of 2017 earlier this summer, it did so with far less fanfare than in 2016, when the district posted a jaw-droppingly high number.

It took pains in the announcement to stress that the new number 86.6 percent couldn’t be compared to previous years, because California adopted a new method for calculating its graduation rates.

That’s true, and it means that grad rates for schools across California took a dip.

“The biggest change has to do with adult education degrees and high school proficiency exams,” he writes. “Previously, those were tallied toward the number of students who graduated. Now, California school districts can only count students receive who regular high school diplomas in their graduate column.”  www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/morning-report-why-grad-rates-across-the-state-went-down/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=6d7852b83b-Morning_Report&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2357fd0a3-6d7852b83b-81862829&goal=0_c2357fd0a3-6d7852b83b-81862829

www.facebook.com/WPTV5/videos/2134815453473666/?t=0

Detroit schools shutting off drinking water because of elevated lead, copper levels

The Detroit school district is shutting off drinking water to all of its schools, after test results found elevated levels of lead or copper in 16 out of 24 schools that were recently tested.

“Although we have no evidence that there are elevated levels of copper or lead in our other schools where we are awaiting test results, out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our students and employees, I am turning off all drinking water in our schools until a deeper and broader analysis can be conducted to determine the long-term solutions for all schools,” Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said in a statement Wednesday.

Vitti said he had initiated water testing of all 106 school buildings in the spring to ensure the safety of students and employees. Water at 18 schools had been previously shut off.  www.freep.com/story/news/education/2018/08/29/detroit-schools-drinking-water/1132514002/

A Small Pot of School Funds Is Regularly Mismanaged and Sometimes Abused

When it comes to school budgets, it’s easy to get blinded by the big numbers — San Diego Unified plans to spend $1.3 billion operating schools this year; in November, voters will decide on a $3.5 billion construction bond.

But the margins outside of school staff salaries — paychecks and benefits account for more than 90 percent of San Diego Unified’s operating budget — and construction are thin. Inside those margins is a slice of money that comes up nearly every year as chronically mismanaged and ripe for abuse: Associated Student Body funds.

ASB funds, as they are commonly known, can be a meaningful boost for individual schools. Accounts top $1 million at some high schools. The money comes largely from student group events, like bake sales or carnivals, and regular school events, like football games. In theory, the money is at least partially controlled by students and spent fully for their benefit. In practice, the funds are often mismanaged and sometimes spent on staff-only events like parties or teacher training, according to a recent internal audit.

“It is so unfair for the kids,” Dan McAllister, head of the district’s audit and finance committee, told staff members at a meeting earlier this month. “It’s easy for adults to prey on these funds and basically use them like slush funds.”

Susan Jarrold — the lone auditor in the district’s auditing department after downsizing in recent years, although officials say another auditor is in the process of being hired — confirmed a lack of quality control and consistency with the accounts in her presentation to committee members. One staff member is responsible for overseeing the ASB account at each school, she said. At high schools, this is a dedicated finance clerk. But at elementary schools, the person overseeing the account often performs several other jobs, such as school nurse or attendance clerk, and may have no background in finance.

“Our bookkeepers [at each school] have control on everything,” said Jarrold. The district wants “to split duties” to put better checks on these bookkeepers, she said. Among the problems highlighted in the report, a lack of receipts and no dual counts of cash came up repeatedly.

District officials created a video to teach school finance workers how to improve, but Jarrold highlighted the need for even more training.  www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/education/a-small-pot-of-school-funds-is-regularly-mismanaged-and-sometimes-abused/?utm_source=Voice+of+San+Diego+Master+List&utm_campaign=f40c53c163-VOSD_Podcast&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c2357fd0a3-f40c53c163-81862829&goal=0_c2357fd0a3-f40c53c163-81862829

 

The International Hot War of the Rich on the Poor

My Lai was commonplace: Sy Hersh

(50 years ago) My Lai massacre hero Hugh Thompson on being shunned–video inside)

Coming six months after Beijing’s biggest ever offshore naval drills, the joint war games are another reminder of how central military posturing now is to the world’s two most powerful authoritarian states. While neither likely desires or expects war with the United States or its allies, both Beijing and Moscow want to give every impression they are increasingly ready – and are relying on that message to dominate their neighborhoods and intimidate less-powerful nearby nations. Both countries also have an unambiguous message for the Pentagon – that if war should come in Eastern Europe or the South China Sea, the United States would risk serious losses if it tried to intervene.

These landmark military exercises are part of a much wider picture of investment, development and weapons trials – even if the outcome has sometimes been mixed. According to reports, Russian forces are still attempting to recover a nuclear-powered cruise missile that failed on a test flight somewhere in the Arctic last year. China, meanwhile, is reported to have suffered its own significant increase in military aircraft crashes over the last two years, particularly in the South China Sea.

It’s a stark sign of how much risk these countries are willing to take on in their quest for military power…Russia’s September “Vostok” drills will involve up to 300,000 troops, just as Moscow deploys its largest naval formation in several years to the Mediterranean. As well as a naked warning to the United States not to intervene with any further Russian action in Syria, they also likely act as domestic political messaging …www.reuters.com/article/us-apps-wargames-commentary/commentary-why-china-and-russia-are-obsessed-with-vast-new-war-games-idUSKCN1LE1O6

President Donald Trump warned he could begin joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan that will be “far bigger than ever” if progress stalls on North Korea nuclear talks.

Trump issued the warning in a series of tweets Wednesday, which he described as a White House statement, after complaining that China was hindering the negotiations due to trade disputes with the U.S.

Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters at the White House negotiations with North Korea are “doing well,” but “China makes it much more difficult.”  www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-29/trump-says-china-is-making-north-korea-talks-more-difficult

A number of intelligence officials are challenging the Pentagon’s insistence that things are fine, and the policy review is likely to include a new intelligence assessment for the administration. The military is scared to death of that assessment.

Trump has been inclined to be pessimistic about the Afghan War at any rate, what with the lack of visible progress on the ground. Intelligence officials will just underscore this view by echoing the endless array of metrics, which all point to the US losing ground in Afghanistan.

That has Pentagon officials doubling down on their own positivity, insisting that the possibility of peace talks proves things are heading in the right direction. They also say that 17 years into the war no one should’ve expected a big turnaround in just one year.

Yet the Pentagon is always predicting a turnaround just around the corner, and any outside assessment is liable to admit that’s as unrealistic now as it’s been for the past 17 years.  news.antiwar.com/2018/08/31/us-intel-agencies-see-afghan-war-going-poorly/

The General below thought things were going well. His replacement (further below) cannot figure out how things are going. Opportunistic morons waste lives on both sides, but get ribbons.

Next? New general takes over in Afghanistan amid questions about the U.S. military’s future there

Army Lt. Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller faces a stark central question as he becomes the United States’ newest commander in Afghanistan this weekend: With local forces struggling and questions swirling about President Trump’s support for the war, how long will America persist?

Miller, a respected veteran of some of the U.S. military’s most secretive combat units, takes the reins at a time of intense skepticism about what can be accomplished in a 17-year-old war. His mission to bring the United States’ longest war to a close is made more difficult by political upheaval in Kabul and Trump’s ambivalence about costly foreign wars.

Miller will be the first commander whose mission is as much diplomatic as military, as the Taliban’s resilience fuels a new drive to secure a peace deal allowing for a dignified U.S. drawdown.

“Throughout the ups and downs of this conflict, it’s become evident that the United States is not going to defeat the Taliban insurgency, even though it can prevent a Taliban victory,” said Laurel E. Miller, a former senior official who is now at the Rand Corp.

The 57-year-old general steps out of the shadowy Special Operations world Sunday to take over from Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr.

Miller’s most recent assignment was as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees elite forces that include SEAL Team 6, Delta Force and the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment. He has deep experience in Afghanistan, including a stint heading Special Operations forces there from 2013 to 2014.

“The more I stay there, sometimes the more difficult it becomes to understand,” he said of Afghanistan and its protracted conflict during his confirmation hearing this year. “I think I recognize what I do not understand at this stage of my career.”  www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-general-takes-over-in-afghanistan-amid-questions-about-the-us-militarys-future-there/2018/08/31/c1383080-ac64-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?utm_term=.b4436acfb7da

Lengthy operations are grinding down the Air Force, according to Rand report

The International Economic War of the Rich on the Poor

Serving Time Should Not Mean ‘Prison Slavery’

A national strike by prisoners is the latest iteration of demands for freedom from forced labor.

Wilbur Ross is accused of swindling $120 million from associates and ‘could rank among the biggest grifters in American history,’ according to a bombshell Forbes report

Win McNamee/Getty Images

• US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has been accused of swindling associates out of more than $120 million, according to a new bombshell report from Forbes.
• The magazine interviewed 21 former colleagues, many of whom said Ross had a propensity to filch money for himself.
• The Department of Commerce issued a statement in response, saying the Forbes story is “based on false rumors, innuendo, and unverifiable claims.”

The report says Forbes spoke with 21 people who know Ross and found claims that he wrongly took millions of dollars for himself on multiple occasions. The publication estimated that if all the allegations were true, then Ross had bilked associates out of more than $120 million.

Alexander pulled no punches in summarizing his findings, concluding: “If even half of the accusations are legitimate, the current United States secretary of commerce could rank among the biggest grifters in American history.”  www.businessinsider.com/wilbur-ross-120-million-grift-allegations-in-bombshell-forbes-report-2018-8?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop

Puerto Rico increases Hurricane Maria death toll to 2,975

Officials in Puerto Rico now say 2,975 people died following Hurricane Maria – a devastating storm that struck the US island territory in September 2017.

The revised death toll is nearly 50 times the previous estimate of 64.

Governor Ricardo Rossello “accepted” the findings in a long-awaited independent investigation.

The mayor of the capital, San Juan, accused the US government of deliberately downplaying the impact of the storm.

Puerto Rico has struggled to repair its infrastructure and power grid since the storm, and is asking US Congress for $139bn (£108bn) in recovery funds…

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz told the BBC that there had been “neglect” by the Trump administration and some local officials hadn’t wanted to confront the president about the need for more aid.

“It seemed like it was better to dance to President Trump’s tune than to tell the truth that we were all seeing.” she said.

“I did was I thought ought to be done as I screamed, literally, out of the top of my lungs to say ‘We’re dying here’ and the bureaucracy and the inefficiency of the federal government was killing us.”  www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45338080

Trump Cancels Scheduled 2.1 Percent Pay Raise For 2.1 Million Federal Employees

President Trump on Thursday canceled a scheduled 2.1 percent across-the-board pay raise for federal workers, as he faces an exploding federal deficit.

“In light of our Nation’s fiscal situation, Federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing Federal employees and those with critical skill sets,” Trump wrote in a letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate

The Emergence of Fascism as a Popular Mass Movement and The War on Reason

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K3027urTxo

‘Activists in Shackles’: Indians Denounce Arrests as Crackdown on Dissent

Vernon Gonsalves, a rights activist, was preparing for his morning bath when the police banged on his front door. Officers rummaged through his home in Mumbai for nearly eight hours, confiscating books, his laptop, a hard drive and pen drives — and then arrested him.

“My dad’s phone was seized, and our phones were put on flight mode so people trying to contact us could not,” the activist’s son, Sagar Abraham-Gonsalves, said in an interview. “They did not ask us a lot of questions. They just kept raiding, pulling out books and academic works.”

Across India on Tuesday, from New Delhi to Hyderabad to Ranchi, police officers carried out similar raids on the homes of at least a half-dozen activists, writers and lawyers. All were known for supporting resistance movements and marginalized groups, or for speaking out against the government.

Five people, including Mr. Gonsalves, were taken into custody on suspicion of abetting communist groups, plotting the assassination of top government officials and inciting a large riot this year. Several other activists arrested in June have been accused of similar crimes…

Solidarity for Never

Here we have Identity Politics Run Wild

 

 

 

 

Spy versus Spy

C.I.A. Officer-Turned-Candidate (one of more than a dozen US intelligence agents running as Dems) Says PAC Obtained Her Security Application

A former C.I.A. officer running for Congress accused a super PAC aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday of improperly obtaining her entire federal security clearance application — a highly sensitive document containing extensive personal information — and then using it for political purposes.

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate challenging Representative Dave Brat of Virginia, sent a cease-and-desist letter to Corry Bliss, the executive director of the Congressional Leadership Fund, which has raised more than $100 million to help Republicans in the midterm elections. She demanded that the super PAC destroy all copies of the form and agree to not use the information in any fashion.

“I write as a former civil servant and as an American, in shock and anger, that you have tried to exploit my service to our country by exposing my most personal information in the name of politics,” she wrote.

The super PAC released a statement on Tuesday strongly denying Ms. Spanberger’s charge, saying that the document was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the United States Postal Service by America Rising, a separate Republican-aligned research firm.  www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/us/politics/cia-officer-house-election-super-pac.html

The Magical Mystery Tour

Atheists Urge People to Quit Catholic Church Over Sex Abuse Scandal; Catholic League Warns Believers Are ‘Being Played’

 

One of the nation’s largest atheist groups is calling on American Catholics to quit the church in response to the ongoing revelations of sex abuse against children.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation revealed on Monday that it will be launching a full-page ad this week in The New York Times, with the headline: “It’s time to consider quitting the Catholic Church.”

The ad features statements from the recently released Pennsylvania grand jury report that found that hundreds of priests abused children but were protected by the church for decades:

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all.”

“Six dioceses, three hundred predatory priests, a staggering 1,000-plus victims. No bishops indicted. The pope’s response? All words, no action — except, insultingly, to call on the faithful to ‘pray and fast.'”

It continues:

“As an early church whistleblower put it, the Catholic Church appears to be an ‘organization preaching morality while providing sanctuary to perverts,’ a church where shepherds routinely prey on their flock.

“Three decades of praying priests, church complicity, collusion and cover-up going all the way to the top. Anyone who continues to support this morally bankrupt global  syndicate is complicit. This institutional betrayal of trust epitomizes the dangers of blind faith and obedience to religious authority.”  www.christianpost.com/news/atheists-urge-people-to-quit-catholic-church-over-sex-abuse-scandal-catholic-league-warns-believers-are-being-played-227048/

Pope Francis Long Knew of Cardinal’s Abuse and Must Resign, Archbishop Says

On the final day of Pope Francis’ mission to Ireland, as he issued wrenching apologies for clerical sex abuse scandals, a former top Vatican diplomat claimed in a letter published on Sunday that the pope himself had joined top Vatican officials in covering up the abuses and called for his resignation.

The letter, a bombshell written by Carlo Maria Viganò, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States and a staunch critic of the pope’s, seemed timed to do more than simply derail Francis’ uphill efforts to win back the Irish faithful, who have turned away from the church in large numbers.

Its unsubstantiated allegations and personal attacks amounted to an extraordinary public declaration of war against Francis’ papacy at perhaps its most vulnerable moment, intended to unseat a pope whose predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first pontiff to resign in nearly 600 years.

Archbishop Viganò claimed that the Vatican hierarchy was complicit in covering up accusations that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians and that Pope Francis knew about the abuses by the now-disgraced American prelate years before they became public. Yet, the letter contended, Francis did not punish the cardinal, but instead empowered him to help choose powerful American bishops.  www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/europe/pope-ireland-sexual-abuse-letter-vigano.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage 

Catholic bishops in Australia reject compulsory abuse reporting, defying new laws

The Catholic church in Australia said on Friday it would oppose laws forcing priests to report child abuse when they learn about it in the confessional, setting the stage for a showdown between the country’s biggest religion and the government.

Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics, is facing sexual abuse crises in several countries and the stance taken by the Australian bishops reflected the abiding, powerful influence conservatives in the church.

Visiting Ireland earlier this week, Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the multitude of abuses suffered by victims in Ireland, and he has promised no more cover-ups.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC), the country’s top Catholic body, said it did not accept a recommendation from an official inquiry which would force priests by law to report abuse to the police when they hear about it in confession.  Two of Australia’s eight states and territories have since introduced laws making it a crime for priests to withhold information about abuse heard in the confessional, while the others have said they are considering their response.  www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-abuse/catholic-church-in-australia-rejects-mandatory-reporting-of-child-abuse-discussed-in-confessional-idUSKCN1LG057?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social

The Best and Worst Things in the History of the World

A Fertility Doctor Used His Sperm on Unwitting Women. Their Children Want Answers.

Moon over San Diego, 8/26/28  Evgeny Yorobe

Blocked From Posting Printable Gun Plans, Activist Will Mail Them Instead

The day after he was blocked by a federal judge from posting free blueprints for 3-D printed guns online, a man who describes himself as a crypto-anarchist said he would instead send the plans to buyers for whatever they’re willing to pay.

The seller, Cody Wilson, has fought for years to offer his downloadable blueprints. But on Tuesday he said he had begun selling the plans on his website, offering to mail buyers flash drives loaded with the files.

“Everyone is going to continue to get these files,” Mr. Wilson told reporters at a news conference Tuesday. “I’m happy now at this point to become the iTunes of downloadable guns if I can’t be the Napster.”

Mr. Wilson said that he had already received nearly 400 orders. So far, he said, customers have offered between $1 and $15 for plans to make the plastic guns using a 3-D printer.

Mr. Wilson said his new strategy was permitted under the terms of Monday’s ruling by Judge Robert S. Lasnik of the Federal District Court in Seattle. Judge Lasnik wrote that the blueprints “cannot be uploaded to the internet, but they can be emailed, mailed, securely transmitted, or otherwise published within the United States.”  www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/business/3d-printable-gun-plans.html

 

Dear Friends,

I am currently in possession of about 50 banners and portable murals that I would like to donate to worthy institutions. Most of these will be free – with some costs for prep and shipping. For some of the major projects I may ask for modest contributions to help defray what were considerable expenses.

These were painted over the last several decades. Why are they available now? I am currently preparing my archives for donation to the Tamiment Labor Library at New York University. The collection contains materials from the 1970 Kent Massacre and national student strike, socialist activities in a number of cities and unions, international mural projects, strikes, etc.

So some of these may go to Tamiment. However, some of these banners/murals may be appropriate for other venues, especially if the theme relates to particular institutions. Suitable sites might be libraries, workers centers, galleries, museums, etc. Can be anywhere in the US or international.

If there was somewhere that the entire collection could go I’d be delighted. Unfortunately, unlike some countries like the UK or Australia, there seems to be no institution or organization preserving labor banners.

They should go where they would either be on permanent display or available for use, but preserved. Some are part of a series and should be kept together. Some are more of historic interest, others remain quite timely.

Recent developments in digital printing will also allow for excellent reproductions to scale, therefore essentially making them available to more than one location.

THESE BANNERS ARE NOT FOR INDIVIDUALS, though I hope to have reproductions made of many of these images that would be available.

There are links to details or background info on the separate photos in this album.

If you have suggestions for where these banners might find a permanent home, you can message me on my facebook page or at alewitz@gmail.com.

You can see some of this work on display at my informal personal museum, Red Square:

www.facebook.com/alewitz/media_set…

In solidarity,

Mike Alewitz

 

So Long

The Manufactured McCain: Lifting Up A Bloodstained Lying Venal Servant of Capitalist Empire

There’s a real John Sidney McCain III and there’s a fake one, manufactured for the public relations of US empire. Imperial PR needs to justify, even sanctify the ecocidal and genocidal rule of the rich by portraying its servants not as the venal and bloodthirsty thieves they are, but as the brightest, the best, the most noble and deserving among us. The Manufactured McCain whom the corporate media will spend another week on top of the previous one lifting up to the heavens bears only passing resemblance to the real John McCain. The real McCain was no hero. He was a lying, bribe taking, neo-nazi sympathizing politician and war criminal, who served the US empire and himself for all of his long life….

The real John McCain was born in 1936 in US occupied Panama, which the empire’s law at the time considered an “unincorporated territory of the US .” That’s why McCain never took part in the Republican birther craze, which falsely claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and why the Manufactured McCain never talked much about his birthplace.

The real John McCain spent many childhood summers at Teoc, the 2,000 acre Carroll County Mississippi plantation which belonged to his great great grandfather Dr. William Alexander McCain. The antebellum McCains once owned at least 52 slaves who made their masters quite wealthy raising corn and cotton. There are still black McCains in Carroll County whose ancestors were owned by white McCains with whom they neither claim nor deny any blood kinship. The black McCains hold a family reunion every other year, and though they did invite Senator McCain he never attended.  blackagendareport.com/manufactured-mccain-lifting-bloodstained-lying-venal-servant-capitalist-empire

 

AUGUST 30, 2018

Please Speak Ill of the Dead

by TED RALL

Please Speak Ill of the Dead

Franklin sang for Popes and Queens. She made tearful eulogies for Princess Diana. She was not a “Detroiter,”but abandoned Detroit like the Supremes. She frequently did not pay her staff.  She sang the “Star Spangled Banner” soulfully to the opportunist delegates at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. Nice voice.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqVzfd_cHQ0

 

Jesse Lemisch, 1936-2018

I met Jesse late in his life, but at a crucial juncture in mine.  I attended the 2012 AHA meeting in Chicago, and sat in on the plenary session about the academic job market and “Plan B” for historians.  Jesse was on that panel, and he was having none of “Plan B.”  Instead, he called for a new WPA for historians. He wanted the AHA to lobby for and fight for funding for under-employed and professionally-trained historians to undertake various projects that would serve the public good by capturing what they could – what we could – of the ever-receding past.  He was combative, ornery, bordering on the contemptuous towards his interlocutors for what he believed was a lack of vision and a lack of will or a lack of courage.  That was Jesse.  s-usih.org/2018/08/jesse-lemisch-1936-2018/