Some items caught my eye from today's emails.
Betsy DeVos may not be staying too long as Secretary of Education according to Raw Story.
It looks as though the Republican Congress is not too big on her agenda.
Meanwhile, we learn from Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post via The Intercept that AFT President Randi Weingarten met in April with then Donald Trump Chief Political Strategist Stephen Bannon. Bannon and Randi sought common ground. Bannon is attempting to realign the parties with a populist, nationalist program. He was looking for teacher support I guess.
While I reject the alt right, I have no problem with teacher union leaders talking to them, or just about anyone, to get our views across.
Finally, AM 970 has a labor show called Blue Collar Buzz that airs Sundays from 9:00 P.M. to 10 P.M. One of Sunday's guests will be writer Thomas Frank who has been very critical of the Democratic Party. Below is the press release for Sunday's broadcast.
For Immediate Release:
Contact Joe Maniscalco at 347-873-7125 or joe@laborpress.org
This week, on the latest episode of LaborPress’ Blue Collar Buzz, “Listen Liberal” author Thomas Frank talks about the Democratic Party’s abandonment of the working class and where that leaves organized labor. We also discuss passage NYC’s Construction Safety
bill and how it’s going to be implemented with Council Member Carlos Menchaca, co-sponsor of the law. We’re also talking to the Teamster Center Services’ Andy Johnson about the insidious ways the nation’s opioid crisis is impacting workers.
*Thomas Frank, author, “Listen Liberal”
“[In 1992, Bill Clinton] becomes president; he gets NAFTA done; he gets a lot of other things done that, frankly, shafts working-class people — and then gets reelected. And because he gets elected, everybody in Democrat-land said, ‘Ah-ha, he’s got the right
answer. This is the way to go — and they’ve never looked back since that day.”
“The critical thing is, I was saying this well before the election, and I even did interviews saying, Hilary Clinton, if she wants to beat Donald Trump, has to get right on issues of importance to working class, middle class people. And do it in a prominent
way; in a way that is absolutely unmistakable — and it never happened.”
“It sometimes looks like the only option for [working people] is to support Republicans as well, but that’s really not much of an option because Republicans want Labor to die. It doesn’t do any good to help those guys.”
We here at ICE can be equally critical of all sides of the political spectrum.
I respect Thomas Frank He is worth listening to.
Nothing would make me happier than to see DeVos crawl back into whatever hole she came from. However, you can count on her to keep her anti public school agenda going after she gets shit canned or quits. "I have been in these union run schools and I know a thing or two about those lazy, greedy, teachers!"
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