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RFE/RL Historical Recording Description Project
An initiative to produce English-language content summaries for digitized radio broadcasts in over 33 languages and dialects from the RFE/RL collections.
Jump to content
Your gift helps advance ideas that promote a free society.
The National Library of Latvia (NLL) hosted an event on February 15th to celebrate the completion of a project with Hoover to describe more than 280 historic Latvian Service Radio Free Europe broadcasts.
The event was open to the public and attended by former RFE broadcasters such as Pāvils Brūvers who may be heard in several of the broadcasts in the collection. Latvia's main national TV network, Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji, covered the event including news segments both that evening and on the following day's Sunday news program. A written account of this coverage can be seen here.
Hoover archivist, Brandon Burke, and Zane Grosa, Head of NLL's Audiovisual Reading Room, served as project managers for the collaboration which completes the description of the Latvian Service open reel tapes and audio cassettes in Hoover's Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty collection. NLL is developing a dedicated portal on its website for users to discover and stream the programs in Latvian. Until then, most of the broadcasts are discoverable via its online digital library. English-language descriptions are being added to Hoover's Digital Collections site now. More information is available in Hoover's Latvian Service finding aid.
To learn more about the RFE/RL Historical Recording Description Project contact Brandon Burke (brburke [at] stanford.edu) or visit https://www.hoover.org/Radio-Liberty-Historical-Recording-Description-Project.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Mold Inspection in Salt Lake City Utah
This is a mold inspection in Salt Lake City Utah. The reason they were interested in a mold inspection is because they had a sewer backup 18 months ago. Don't wait to address water damage and Sewer damage. Call a professional right away deal with it as soon as possible.


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By Megan Marley and Marty Denzer
St. Mary School (Montrose)
At St. Mary's School in Montrose they have not one, but three 'principals' working together as an administrative team—a first for a Catholic school in this diocese.
Together, Phillip Landers, Angie Steward and Theresa Munsterman will be taking care of the day-to-day operations of the rural school, from teacher evaluations and staff meetings to curriculum and paperwork.
"We're not new to each other, we've all known each other and worked together—we all kind of have the same temperament and personalities, and we get along very well," Landers said.
"We communicate a lot anyway because we're such a small faculty that it's not really that different," explained Steward.
Phillip Landers
With 26-some years of teaching full- and part-time in the local public school and two years as assistant principal and part-time theology teacher at St. Mary's, Phillip 'Phil' Landers will take the lead on teacher observations, evaluations and running staff meetings.
"I've kinda got a feel for the school and how this runs versus the public school," he said.
With a degree from the University of Missouri, for several years Landers taught agriculture (a year-round contract) and ran a farm, then switched to teaching history when his three children grew up for more time farming. He will continue teaching history part-time in the local public high school while at St. Mary's.
He noted extra support from the Catholic schools office and fellow Catholic school principals for the new administrative team venture.
"We see that support that's there to help us—I think everyone knows kind of what we're going through here as part of this team," said Landers.
His family has been parishioners of Immaculate Conception for years, so the parish school is dear to his heart.
"Continue to keep the school open for the kids spiritually and intellectually—I think that's the most important thing."
Angie Steward
Angie Steward's tenth year of teaching at St. Mary's is going to be a growing experience.
In addition to teaching Pre-K and Kindergarten, she'll be the one on the administrative team focusing on curriculum and communications with parents.
"I really feel like we are developing and cultivating the whole child here. We have some strengths in that our children know that they are cared for and accepted. I want to make sure we maintain a high level of academics and that as teachers we're working to better ourselves," Steward said.
She already has her degree from Missouri State University in Early Childhood Education, but will also be pursuing a Masters to help her further take on the role of school principal in the future while juggling work at St. Mary's and being a mother of two.
"I want to be the best that I can for our school, and if that means going back to school to become a principal I'm going to do it," she said.
Though she went to Our Lady of Peace School and Archbishop O'Hara High growing up, Steward still has a lot of family connections to St. Mary's.
"My parents are from Montrose, my grandma lives across the street, my aunts and uncles live here and they all attended here, my cousins did," said Steward.
It's a similar spirit found in the parish community.
"If we did not have that support from the parish and our families—because they went here, their parents went here, they want their kids to go here—we would not exist," she said. "It's not cheap to run a school, yet they do it year after year—they make a sacrifice to keep us going."
Theresa Munsterman
For Theresa Munsterman, helping run the school grew out of her 19-year role as parish secretary.
"I started out just a secretary here, and then I helped out with the school—before that, I volunteered at the school because we have four grown sons and they all went to school here, and my husband and I both went to school here," she said. "I just got more involved in the school because there was a need."
Her duties will be mostly administrative procedures, money, paperwork and meetings, balanced with her continued role running the lunch program and as parish secretary.
Now a third generation of her family will be going to St. Mary's: two of her grandkids.
"I love what I do—I'm getting the age where I can retire, but I would miss it," she said of the school students.
"That's what I find so rewarding here—they'll graduate from here, they'll go on to high school, and several years down the road when they see me they'll come and give me a hug."
St. Peter's School (Kansas City)
Angie Meyer has plenty of experience as a teacher, an assistant principal and now as a principal. In fact, she has 27 years of experience in education, all at St. Peter's School.
She grew up in a small Kansas town. She said St. Peter's feels like a second home to her, although it isn't exactly small. Enrollment this year is at 517 students from early childhood through grade 8.
When the former principal, Mary Omecene, decided to retire, Meyer was there to take charge. She attended a servant leadership conference over the summer and came back with a notebook chock full of observations, ideas and suggestions for effective leadership.
"The first is Listening," she said. "Empathy, Persuasiveness and being Committed to the Growth of the people — here at St. Peter's, growth of both students and teachers — all involve listening." She believes that all of these contribute to relationship building, which she is focused on.
"MY philosophy is family first," she said. That is part of the makeup of a faith-emergent school, the family. I have made it a goal of mine to see all our school families at Mass or in church — not all our kids are Catholic — every weekend. If school families have a relationship with God, it will help teachers build better relationships with their students and parents, and with each other.
Another focus is the empowerment of the teachers. Meyer said she wants to be a principal who is "a guide on the side." Teams of confident, committed teachers who have each other's backs will feel empowered to work with their students to meet diocesan benchmarks and even raise the bar. When a best practice is reached, it should be shared.
"I want people to look at St. Peter's and say, "'Yes! That's the school we want our kids to attend!'" Meyer said. She added, "When you know others have your back, it builds trust. And God has everybody's back! Wanting the best for everybody builds excellence on all sides and helps us all become more Christ-like."
She said she's really excited about the upcoming year. "Everything feels right! We are planning cross-grade and cross-teacher activities, to get everyone, teachers and students, on board for a great school year."
St. Thomas More (Kansas City)
Randy Smith
Named the principal of St. Thomas More School back in January, Principal Randy Smith is a seasoned educator of 34 years, 21 of those as a public elementary school principal. His last position was as principal of Clearwater Creek Elementary in Olathe.
"I had the chance to open that building 14 years ago as the principal there," he said. "It was exciting—very few principals get the opportunity to do that."
Being principal of a Catholic school is a positive new experience for him.
"Obviously in a public school setting, it's a little more difficult to bring the faith filled component into the classroom. But coming to a Catholic school setting, we all have the same vision, the same goal, and ultimately the same destination of us all reaching Heaven," Smith said.
"There is an extremely strong parent support of our building, that not only wants to see the kids succeed here at St. Thomas More, but also in their future and that's probably been the most rewarding part that I've seen so far."
Smith has been married to his high school sweetheart for 33 years, and they have three grown children. Their first grandson "was actually born the day that I had my first opportunity to spend a whole day over here at St. Thomas More—so that's a memory that I'll have forever."
St. James School, (St. Joseph)
Gerre Martin
She retired in June after 34 years in education, but re-upped almost immediately. Gerre Martin had spent most of her career in education working in Kansas public schools, and now, for the first time, she is at the helm of a Catholic school — St. James in south St. Joseph. And loves it!
St. James School opened in 1913, taught by Benedictine Sisters from nearby Atchison. The school building of today was completed and dedicated in 1954. Several additions over the years have added more classrooms. A new gym holds pride of place in the parish center.
Martin grew up on the family farm near Denton, Kan., where her 89-year-old mother still lives. Her first job teaching was in Elkhart, a town in southwest Kansas on the Oklahoma border and only 8.5 miles from the Colorado state line. From Elkhart she moved to Kansas City, Mo., teaching for a time, before heading to Highland, Kan., in the northeast corner of the state.
While teaching, she earned a degree in counseling and served as a guidance counselor for a number of years. She also earned certification in building leadership and served as principal of the alternative school in Atchison.
She brings three decades of experience to St. James School, and part of that experience focuses on building relationships with the faculty and staff. "I've already seen that we have a great staff here," she said. "They're amazing to work with. I felt greeted with open arms!"
Martin hopes to build "a great culture with the teachers," a culture of caring relationships between the teachers and their students. Good relationships result in cohesion, "we have each other's backs," and importantly, the school becomes a family. Those are "building blocks to doing the best job for our students," she added.
She is already working on those relationships. "In staff meetings, I strive to listen, validate and give everybody a voice. That way we work better together. And if we work well together, the kids respond, the parents respond, and that makes us a better place!"
She also will work on increasing enrollment and attracting both new and experienced teachers to St. James.
Technology is part of education today and Martin says the school has the technology to equip each student. St. James has about 120 students ages 3 through eighth grade enrolled.
"Consistency in teaching, in caring and in faith is what we want," she said. "We are faith-based, our teachers are committed to excellence in teaching and loving their students. There is a generational comfort we can feel. Grandparents attended St. James, parents went to school here and now the grandchildren are our students."
School started Aug. 16. "It won't take long before we're going 100 miles an hour. It'll be Christmas before we know it!"


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Puzzle Fever
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Puzzle Fever is a fun and addicting puzzle game. Put three or more blocks of the same color in a row to blow them up. The game gets harder and faster the more you play. There are three game types in Puzzle Fever; Stage Clear, Puzzle and Endless. Stage Clear is the main game type, clear all the blocks under the line to go to the next stage and level, in Puzzle, clear all the blocks with a limited count of moves, Endless goes on forever until game over. The rules are simple and the game is fun for people of all ages.
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|Xing Interactive


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The Highway Patrol is investigating a four-vehicle crash that shut down Interstate 95 in Boynton Beach for at least five hours late Sunday night, sending one driver to the hospital with critical injuries.
Details of the crash still were not available Monday afternoon, but preliminary reports show a man had pulled over and was fixing a flat tire in the inside lane of I-95 near Gateway Boulevard shortly before 11 p.m.
One southbound car missed hitting the disabled vehicle but struck a tractor-trailer in the center lane, said spokesman Lt. Pembrook Burrows. Another car then hit the disabled vehicle.
The man who was fixing the tire was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, Burrows said.
Boynton Beach police diverted southbound I-95 traffic from Gateway Boulevard to other routes as troopers investigated the crash.


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Happy New Year 2018! I have been working on a commission piece as shown here in it's early stage. A 30" x 40" oil painting of Alaska. This area is the Harding Ice Field Trail leading to Exit Glacier. What is so intriguing about the piece, besides the mesmerizing view, is that the photo (my source with client input) was shot from a drone taking a video. The drone is being controlled by one of the hikers on the path to the left, who are the clients! Familiar with my work and delighted with my progress, they wanted a painterly, expressive rendition of the area that provides a colorful, timeless, and expansive view of what they experienced while hiking there, not just a photo copy, much to my exploratory impulsive delight.
If you have an interest in my work and are considering a commission please contact me for more info email@example.com and/or visit my studio, Warsaw, IN.


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2K Confirms WWE 2K19 Is Not Coming To Nintendo Switch
WWE 2K19 will bring all its fighter on October 9 to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. However, Nintendo Switch remains out of the ring: 2K has confirmed that the new installment of the saga will not be published on the hybrid platform of Nintendo.
The official press releases did not mention the Nintendo Switch version in any way, prompting some industry insiders to ask for clarification regarding 2K Games. However, a few hours later, the company replied, saying that at the moment there is no version of the game for the Nintendo console.
Here is the official statement distributed by 2K Games:
"WWE 2K19 will not be available on Nintendo Switch. 2K is focused on making the best possible experience for WWE 2K fans and will continue evaluating all opportunities to deliver the franchise across additional platforms."
The main cause of this absence seems to be due to the bad reception of the game by the press, since on Switch the technical sector of the game is quite problematic. Evidently, the publisher has decided to abandon the project instead of working on optimization.
WWE 2K18 was launched on Switch and was a heavily criticized version, with a 35 note in Metacritic and 1.6 by parts of users. Meanwhile, WWE 2K19 will be published as scheduled on October 9th on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.


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Teacher Union Pinocchios
A new poll shows that teachers are politically divided, but union political spending is anything but. The results of a poll released last week by the Education Week Research Center reveal that teachers are evenly distributed across the political map. 29 percent said they are liberal, 27 percent conservative and the remainder describe themselves as moderate. The results are not really surprising, as an internal National Education Association poll dating back to 2005 shows pretty much the same thing. In fact, the 2005 NEA survey, consistent with previous results, found that members "are slightly more conservative (50%) than liberal (43%) in political philosophy."
The World's Largest Oligarchical Organization
The WikiLeaks document dump exposes NEA's manipulation of its purported democratic process.
The WikiLeaks email release, unmasking the Hillary Clinton campaign, has become a daily ritual. A treasure trove of communiqués has exposed Hillary to be just about everything that the right (and even many on the left) has said she is. The emails from hatchet man John Podesta, who goes by the title "campaign chairman," uncover the double dealing and lies orchestrated by the Clinton camp. (Memo to Podesta: Was referring to Bernie Sanders as a "doofus" for his extremist position on climate change really necessary? Sheesh!! But kudos for not following up on the DNC suggestion to smear Sanders' Jewish background. Too bad you and your cronies chose to slime Catholics, though. )
Lost in the daily email disclosures have been revelations that the National Education Association manipulated the endorsement process to ensure that Hillary was the union's candidate of choice for president. As reported by Mike Antonucci, on June 13, 2015, four days after Clinton announced her candidacy, her director of labor outreach, Nikki Budzinski, sent a memo to other campaign officials discussing possible strategies for the upcoming NEA Representative Assembly (RA), set for the following month in Florida.
"They are sincerely doing their best to manage the activists at the RA. It only takes 50 signatures to raise a resolution on the floor and I have been warned about a Northeastern Sanders contingent. I think it would be good to be organized on our own behalf with a few key folks in the room (NH and IA leaders) in case anything comes up. I am a little nervous about this event. That said, their steps are moving toward a (sic) October 2nd/3rd endorsement all going to plan."
NEA had not taken any formal steps to determine who its rank-and-file actually preferred for the Democratic nomination, but it's no secret that there were many in the union who favored Sanders over Clinton, citing the socialist's "opposition to charter schools, support for collective bargaining rights and free tuition at public higher education institutions."
Then on June 19th, Budzinski warned colleagues of an impending endorsement of Bernie Sanders by NEA's Vermont affiliate. That set off alarm bells and the manipulation machine was set in motion, which Antonucci meticulously details here.
Three months later, on Sept. 29th, an email sent by Podesta to Clinton explained that "despite the intense work" of NEA President Lily Eskelsen García and Executive Director John Stocks, there was no certainty that Clinton would receive enough votes from the union's board necessary for the endorsement. As reported by Politico, Clinton met with them behind closed doors on Oct. 1st, a meeting coordinated by Podesta and Stocks that was deemed "critical" for the endorsement. The NEA also had a safety net in place that weekend: "They will not call the vote unless they are certain that they will hit the threshold," Podesta wrote.
And later that same day, the announcement was made that Clinton was anointed, garnering 82 percent of the vote. In response, NEA president Eskelsen García continued the dog-and-pony show gushing, "It was truly what democracy looks like."
In Chicago, maybe.
Clearly complaints by Sanders and his followers in the union that he was being treated unfairly were justified. Ironically, NEA still refers to its legislative and policymaking body as "The World's Largest Democratic Deliberative Assembly."
Any teacher who is troubled by the NEA's politics and/or its backroom dealing has virtually no options. It's true that in non-right-to-work states, teachers can refuse to pay for union politicking but they must still fork over about two-thirds a full dues share to the union.
Can teachers join a different union? No. Throughout virtually the entire country, they are stuck with the monopoly bargaining unit that they had no role in electing.
Can you imagine being forced to use the same legal firm that your grandmother did? Nuts, right? But not in Big Labor Land. Most teachers unions were certified 30-50 years ago. As The Heritage Foundation's labor economics expert James Sherk points out, just 1 percent of current teachers in the largest school districts in Florida were on the job in 1975 when the first and only union election process took place. The other states that Sherk studied have similar statistics.
Union democracy? Oxymoron.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Clinton Turns Her Back on School Choice While Trump Embraces It
As Hillary Clinton cozies up to the teachers unions, Donald Trump seeks to vastly expand school choice opportunities.
In November, 2015, Hillary Clinton gave a speech in South Carolina in which she abandoned her prior support for charter schools. Using language straight from the teachers union fact-free playbook, she claimed that charters "don't take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don't keep them."
Fast forward to the National Education Association convention this past July. Mrs. Clinton made the terrible mistake of diverting from the teacher union party line by saying, "when schools get it right, whether they are traditional public schools or public charter schools, let's figure out what's working … and share it with schools across America." This innocuous comment didn't sit well with some of the unionistas in attendance, who made their displeasure known by booing the presidential candidate. Realizing that she strayed from union orthodoxy, Clinton regrouped by acknowledging that there are people on the outside who are pushing "for-profit charter schools on our kids. We will never stand for that. That is not acceptable."
Later in her talk, she asserted, "There is no time for finger pointing, or arguing over who cares about kids more. It's time to set one table and sit around it together – all of us – so we can work together to do what's best for America's children." And that table, Clinton promised, will always have "a seat for educators."
Two weeks later at the American Federation of Teachers convention, she went further, adding that she opposed "vouchers and for-profit schooling," and repeated her pledge, "…you will always have a seat at the table."
A seat for educators? No, not really. What she actually meant was a place for union bosses and their fellow travelers. Good to her word – at least in this case – that's just what she did.
Last week, Mother Jones revealed just who is seated at Clinton's table. (H/T Antonucci.) Participants include Lily Eskelsen García and Randi Weingarten, leaders of the two national teachers unions. They are joined by Carmel Martin and Catherine Brown, vice-presidents of the Center for American Progress, a leftist think tank that is financially supported by the teachers unions. Also seated is education reformer Chris Edley, president of the Opportunity Institute, a California-based think tank, whose board is a collection of Clinton cronies. And finally there is Richard Riley, who served as Bill Clinton's education secretary and was the recipient of NEA's Friend of Education Award.
Well, certainly no one can accuse Clinton of seeking out diverse viewpoints.
At the same time Clinton was doing the teachers unions' bidding, Donald Trump did the opposite. In fact, he went all in for school choice. Speaking at Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy, a charter school in Ohio, he promised, if elected, that he would redirect $20 billion in federal money to school-choice programs. Trump said he would make it a priority to give 11 million children living in poverty a choice of schools, including traditional public, charters, magnets and private schools. He proclaimed that parents should be able to walk their child to a school they choose to be at, adding that each state would develop its own formula for distributing the $20 billion block-grant money, but that the dollars must follow the student. Trump also had disparaging words for Common Core and promoted merit pay as a way to reward the best teachers.
Not surprisingly teacher union leaders were not exactly enthralled by The Donald's vision and proceeded to blast his ideas, using tired and wrong-headed union anti-choice talking points. NEA president Lily Eskelsen García snapped: "His silver bullet approach does nothing to help the most-vulnerable students and ignores glaring opportunity gaps while taking away money from public schools to fill private-sector coffers. No matter what you call it, vouchers take dollars away from our public schools to fund private schools at taxpayers' expense with little to no regard for our students."
AFT president, Clinton BFF and reportedly her favorite candidate for Secretary of Education Randi Weingarten added, "Today's speech on education repeats the same flawed ideology anti-public education zealots have been shilling for years. He shows his usual obeisance to the idea of making public education a market rather than a public trust, to blaming rather than respecting educators, and to ideas that have failed to help children everywhere they've been tried but instead, in their wake, have hurt kids by leaving public schools destabilized and their budgets drained."
While I applaud Mr. Trump's general vision, the devil will be in the details. Just how his plan will be implemented, including where the $20 billion for his block-grant plan will come from, is not clear. Also, Trump has been known to change his stance on various issues from week to week so we will have to see what transpires in the coming days. And the fact that he chose to give his speech at a failing charter school is typical of the gaffe-prone Republican nominee for president.
Kevin Chavous, a lifelong Democrat and education reformer, now finds himself in an odd position. After learning of Trump's plan, he said, "While I do not support Donald Trump, his speech on school choice demonstrates that he is giving serious thought to education issues and I strongly challenge Hillary Clinton to do the same…I urge Hillary Clinton to show more openness and creativity when it comes to embracing school reform, choice and charter schools. So far Mrs. Clinton has largely been a representative of the interests of teachers' unions and the status quo, which is in opposition to parents and students and will serve to be on the wrong side of history."
Chavous is absolutely correct, but Hillary won't change. She has jumped into bed with the teachers unions, which now own her. As such, if elected, she will indeed find herself on the wrong side of history – the children, whom she claims so fervently to care about, and their parents be damned.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Minnesota's Toxic Twins
Randi Weingarten and Hillary Clinton embrace, as parents sue to modify rigid, anti-child union work rules.
The yearly American Federation of Teachers wingding was a doozie this year. The 100th anniversary of the union and the presence of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made for an especially noxious four days in Minnesota – a forced union state – last week. (The AFT affair coincided with the Republican Party convention, but no one would have attended that other event, even if they were on different dates.)
AFT president Randi Weingarten's talk was laden with typical rah-rah union blather, topped with world-class fawning over Clinton. "Hillary understands the most urgent issues confronting our country. Her bold economic plan puts unions front and center…."
Boy, does it ever. If elected, Clinton will put at least teachers unions front and center. In her talk at the love-in, she gushed, "I want to thank you for being one of the essential partners for everything we need to do to move the country in the right direction." And she then added "When I'm president, you will have a partner in the White House, and you will always have a seat at the table." (The you in her statement refers to union honchos, not teachers.)
Minnesota governor Mark Dayton also addressed the throng, tossing out well-worn edu-blob rhetoric like, "…many people did not know how poorly the nation funds public education." But the "we need to spend more" mantra has been blown up countless times, most recently by Minnesota reformer/writer Chris Stewart who pointed out that North High, one of the poorest performing schools in Minneapolis, receives budget allocations that amount to $17,460 per student, while Southwest High, a school ranked among the best in the nation, gets just $7,782 per student.
The party faithful were in heaven as Clinton and Weingarten oozed their utopian happy talk – so much so, in fact, that hundreds of unionistas took to the streets on the second day of the festivities, tying up traffic and annoying thousands of workers trying to get home during rush hour. But the protestors just had to vent about the "violence visited on the community by Big Banks" and promote the Black Lives Matter agenda. (Can't let a little good rush hour traffic go to waste!)
Missing from the convention agenda, however, was that the prior week a judge heard initial arguments in a lawsuit aimed at dismantling Minnesota's union-orchestrated tenure and seniority "protections" for public school teachers. The case was filed by Campbell Brown's Partnership for Educational Justice and Students for Education Reform Minnesota. The plaintiffs in Forslund v. Minnesota are four mothers from Duluth, St. Paul and Minneapolis. Their suit seeks to have state tenure and dismissal laws ruled unconstitutional, charging they violate the state's guarantee to a "thorough and efficient" education. It takes three years to attain tenure or "permanent status" – essentially a job for life – in the state. Additionally, the litigants claim that the last-in, first-out statute leads to a less qualified teaching profession. According to Chris Stewart, 98 percent of principals reported losing a quality teacher to LIFO.
The case is similar to the Vergara litigation in California which led to the Wright lawsuit in New York. The latter suit, like Minnesota's, was also brought by Partnership for Educational Justice along with the New York City Parents Union.
The teachers union is also front and center in another battle in Minnesota. The Gopher State faces severe shortages of teachers in special education, math, science and engineering. As such, you might think that Minnesota – as other states have – would ease the rigid, unnecessary and frequently idiotic credentialing requirements one must suffer through to become a public school teacher. (Bill Gates could not teach a class in computer software in a Minnesota public school because he hasn't taken the required ed school classes.)
But Minnesota's Board of Teaching isn't budging. You see, the board was appointed by the governor, a strong supporter (and beneficiary) of the state's teachers union, Education Minnesota, which has lobbied against any kind of alternative licensing. The board is comprised of union organizers and representatives of the traditional education colleges whose exclusive franchise would be threatened by a change in the requirements. Also, the ed schools' faculties are represented by the union.
All the while the union bosses are grousing about the motives of the reformers. Weingarten still swipes at Campbell Brown, claiming that she "continues to do the bidding of her monied donors." But of course this is just a typical union diversionary tactic. In Minnesota – and elsewhere – the unions have almost total say over who enters the profession and who leaves it. As long as this is the case, many children all over the country will continue to receive a substandard education, and if Hillary Clinton winds up in the White House, she will do everything she can to ensure that the very disturbing status quo remains firmly in place.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Major-party presidential candidates offer no solutions on federal retirement crises
For Immediate Release
June 2, 2016
California Policy Center
Contact: Will Swaim
(714) 573-2231
SACRAMENTO — Californians may be accustomed to living with the specter of a public pension crisis. But the federal government's problem with its retirement systems – including Social Security – is far worse, and yet none of the three remaining major-party candidates for president has a plan to do anything about it.
The California Policy Center offers "Comparing Federal and California State Retirement Exposures," a comparison of California and federal exposure to pension liability. You can read Marc Joffe's full study here.
Key findings include:
On Social Security
DEBT VS. ASSETS: "Although discussion of Social Security often revolves around the trust fund, this emphasis is misplaced. Unlike CalPERS or CalSTRS, the Social Security trust fund does not contain real assets. Instead, it holds special-issue U.S. Treasury bonds. Total federal assets of $3.2 trillion are easily exceeded by $13.2 trillion of federal debt securities held by the public and $8.2 trillion of other liabilities. So the IOUs held by the Social Security trust fund compete with claims held by many external parties for a relatively small pool of federal assets."
IMPACT ON FEDERAL DEFICIT: Using projections from the Social Security Actuaries, Joffe reports that the Social Security program is expected to add $371 billion to the annual federal budget deficit (in constant 2015 dollars) by 2040. The Social Security Actuaries say that projecting higher costs (for example, an increase in life expectancy), adds $640 billion (again, in constant dollars) to the annual deficit.
On Federal Employee Retirement Programs
UNFUNDED LIABILITIES: "The Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, paid $81 billion of retirement benefits in fiscal year 2015, or 2.49% of federal revenues. The system reported an Unfunded Actuarial Liability of $804.3 billion and Assets of $858.6 billion, implying a funded ratio of only 51.6%." The Defense Department also offers pensions, and its system is worse than the Civil Service program with a funded ratio of just 35%.
Washington has Bigger Problems – and More Powerful Financial Tools
Joffe concludes that the federal government has tools to deal with a public pension crisis that the states do not:
Constitutional: "In an emergency, Congress and the president can cut or even terminate benefits to Social Security recipients, federal civilian retirees or veterans. This is not the case for the state of California."
Currency control: "A central government controlling an international reserve currency does have more fiscal flexibility than a state which is legally obligated to balance its budget each year. So the federal government's ability to absorb pension obligations is greater than California's. This is fortunate, because the federal governments exposure is so much greater."
The complete California Policy Center study is available here.
Study author Marc Joffe is the founder of Public Sector Credit Solutions and a policy analyst with the California Policy Center. Joffe founded Public Sector Credit Solutions in 2011 to educate policymakers, investors and citizens about government credit risk. PSCS research has been published by the California State Treasurer's Office, the Mercatus Center and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute among others. Before starting PSCS, Marc was a senior director at Moody's Analytics. He earned his MBA from New York University and his MPA from San Francisco State University.
The California Policy Center is a non-partisan public policy think tank providing information that elevates the public dialogue on vital issues facing Californians, with the goal of helping to foster constructive progress towards more equitable and sustainable management of California's public institutions. Learn more at CaliforniaPolicyCenter.org.
Hillary Rodham Weingarten
Using teacher union talking points, Mrs. Clinton badly distorts facts about charter schools.
Coming on the heels of the Benghazi fabrication, the "dead broke" when she left the White House claim, and "servergate," the latest Hillary blunder is a baseless sliming of charter schools. In a well-publicized gaffe, she told journalist Roland Martin,
… the original idea, Roland, behind charter schools was to learn what worked and then apply them in the public schools. And here's a couple of problems. Most charter schools – I don't want to say every one – but most charter schools, they don't take the hardest-to-teach kids, or, if they do, they don't keep them. And so the public schools are often in a no-win situation, because they do, thankfully, take everybody, and then they don't get the resources or the help and support that they need to be able to take care of every child's education.
… But I am also fully aware that there are a lot of substandard public schools. But part of the reason for that is that policymakers and local politicians will not fund schools in poor areas that take care of poor children to the level that they need to be.
These falsehoods are nothing new. They've been spoon-fed to Hillary – and everyone else – by American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten and other union leaders. Coming to the defense of her old friend, Weingarten told POLITICO, "Hillary Clinton looks at the evidence. That's what she did here. She called out that many charters don't take the hardest-to-teach kids or don't keep those with academic or behavioral issues."
Despite Weingarten's reassuring words, Hillary wasn't allowed to wiggle her way out of this one. Factcheck.org did an excellent job of poking holes in her statement. And many Democrats, to their credit, didn't let Clinton get away with her fallacious comments either.
Charles Barone, director of policy at Democrats for Education Reform, points out, "…charters usually have more applicants than seats and thus – under law – must choose students via lottery. And the reality is that, with the exception of students with disabilities, charter schools generally have a higher percentage of students from demographic subgroups that lag academically behind their more advantaged peers."
In USA Today, Democrat, think tanker and education writer Richard Whitmire also let her have it.
I fear your advisors, especially those allied with the teachers unions, have convinced you that pulling back on your previous support of charter schools is a 'gimmie,' a political move that costs you nothing…(R)apidly expanding charters offer many poor and minority children their best chance of emerging from K-12 schools ready for a job or further education. If you look at the extra days of learning students in Los Angeles, D.C., Boston and New York gain by attending a charter, you'll understand why charter enrollments are surging and wait lists growing longer.
The political lessons for you: There's no putting this one back in the bottle. Look at the thousands of black and brown parents who marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to protest what they see as hostile actions from Mayor Bill de Blasio. This could happen to you.
As Whitmire suggests, Clinton's comments were politically stupid in that they are a slap in the face to the "black and brown parents" who are an important part of her political base. And she had no reason to say any of it. She didn't need to curry favor with the teachers unions. Weingarten's AFT had already anointed her as the union's pick for Dem nominee in July, and by October, Clinton had become the National Education Association's choice as well.
Instead of listening to the union party line, Clinton would be better served if she knew the facts:
- One in four charter schools has a majority black student population, while another one in four has a majority Hispanic student population. By comparison, only 9 percent of traditional public schools have a majority black population, while 15 percent have a majority Hispanic population.
- Majority Hispanic charter schools have risen since the 1999-2000 school year, when only 11 percent of charter schools held that status. Now, 23 percent do.
- Clinton's remark about too little spending on public schools has been debunked more times than Chicken Little's hysteria. In fact, we have increased spending three-fold over a 40-year period with nothing to show for it.
- Recent data show 12.55 percent of traditional public school students receive special education, compared to 10.42 percent in charter schools. So while slightly fewer students with disabilities attend charters, these schools are far more inclusive. Special needs kids are far more likely to spend their school day in general education classrooms.
- As pointed out by Nina Rees, president of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, there is "no difference in the percentage of English Language Learner students served between charter and non-charter public schools."
- Clinton suggested that charters were created to "learn what worked and then apply them in the public schools." First off she is suggesting that charters are not public schools. Wrong. And secondly the reason charters came into being are many. Andy Smarick, senior policy fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, found that "in the preambles of charter laws, there are at least eighteen reasons why state leaders created chartering. These include providing more K–12 options, offering teachers a wider array of professional settings, experimenting with school accountability, increasing parental involvement, and fostering competition."
- Clinton's comment about not keeping "hard to teach kids" is based on the fact that a principal in one of Eva Moskowitz's 34 wildly successful charter schools had a "Got to go" list of undesirable kids. The principal was reprimanded by Moskowitz, which should have ended the story. But not if you are Clinton or Weingarten. The latter, who has as harbored a longstanding hatred of Moskowitz, mentioned the list in a series of tirades against her nemesis. Additionally, as Fordham Institute's Robert Pondiscio writes, traditional public schools "don't take everybody." Not only that, public schools have a long history of removing and transferring undesirables – either to other public schools, continuation schools or opportunity schools.
- Charters are so popular that there are over 1,000,000 kids on waitlists nationally.
Another teacher union leader faux pas is front and central on the NEA website. There, United Teachers of Los Angeles vice-president and English teacher Cecily Myart-Cruz slammed charters, saying "If we lose 50 percent of our students to unregulated charters, that means we're going to have 50 percent less of a teaching force. The sizes of those classes remaining in the public schools are going to be sky high. Students won't get the one-on-one interaction they need and deserve." (Note to Myart-Cruz: if half the teachers and half the kids move to charters, there will still be the same ratio of teachers to kids in the traditional public schools, and classes won't be "sky high.")
I guess we should be thankful that Myart-Cruz is not a math teacher. And the "unregulated charter" crack is yet another fact-free teacher union mantra.
Mrs. Clinton should be advised to avoid people like Weingarten and Myart-Cruz. If not, she will continue to look misinformed, if not corrupt, in the eyes of her fellow Democrats – not to mention Republicans. And any ensuing political blow-back certainly can't be laid at the feet of the "vast right wing conspiracy."
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Could California Follow Wisconsin's Teacher Union Jail Break?
If CA becomes a right-to-work state, a seismic political shift may ensue.
Last week Mike Antonucci reported that the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the National Education Association's Badger State affiliate, is down to fewer than 50,000 members (40,000 currently employed) from a high of over 100,000 in 2009. This precipitous loss is a result of Governor Scott Walker's Act 10 which became law in 2011. The law limits collective bargaining for teachers (and other public employees), requires annual votes for union certification and prohibits employers (taxpayer-funded school districts) from collecting union dues. Wisconsin, having become a right-to-work state in March, is sure to see those numbers fall even more in the years to come.
As Wisconsin's MacIver Institute points out, it isn't just individual members who are leaving their unions, "…an increasing number of teachers' unions were being decertified by their members all together." And over a 100 public school unions in Wisconsin have voted to do just that in the last two years. In addition to worker freedom, MacIver reports that Act 10 has saved taxpayers over $3 billion.
Needless to say, unionistas are furious with Walker, infusing their disdain with Marxist rhetoric and on any given day comparing him to Hitler. But is Walker really bad for workers? Hillary Clinton sure thinks so. Right after Walker announced that he was running for president, Clinton went off on him.
Republican governors like Scott Walker have made their names stomping on workers' rights, and practically all the Republican candidates hope to do the same as president. I will fight back against these mean-spirited, misguided attacks. Evidence shows that the decline of unions may be responsible for a third of the increase of inequality among men, so if we want to get serious about raising incomes, we have to get serious about supporting union workers.
But the statistics tell a very different story for workers. Deroy Murdock points out that since Walker has become governor, Wisconsin has outperformed the country as a whole using a variety of metrics including unemployment rate, labor-force participation rate, inflation-adjusted, median household income, etc.
While California has no Act 10, it would become a right-to-work state if Friedrichs v California passes muster with the Supreme Court next year. And if teachers and others public employees are not forced into paying dues, what would the ramifications be for the Golden State? A political earthquake is imaginable.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission shows that by far the biggest political influence peddler in CA is the California Teachers Association, which spent over $211 million between 2000-2009 on candidates, ballot measures and lobbying. It's no secret that CTA will fight any education reform measure that diminishes its influence; charter school proliferation, vouchers and reasonable teacher evaluation methods are but a few examples. But CTA also spends oodles on non-education issues, all of which swerve sharply to the left. As Troy Senik writes in City Journal,
Among these causes: implementing a single-payer health-care system in California, blocking photo-identification requirements for voters, and limiting restraints on the government's power of eminent domain. The CTA was the single biggest financial opponent of another Proposition 8, the controversial 2008 proposal to ban gay marriage, ponying up $1.3 million to fight an initiative that eventually won 52.2 percent of the vote. The union has also become the biggest donor to the California Democratic Party. From 2003 to 2012, the CTA spent nearly $102 million on political contributions; 0.08 percent of that money went to Republicans. (Emphasis added.)
The second highest spender was another public employee union, the California State Council of Service Employees, a branch of SEIU, which spent over $107 million on politics during the same time period. California Common Sense, an organization that is dedicated to opening government to the public, reports that CSCSE spent broadly across various state-level positions in 2013, "focusing on Governor's ($4.9 million), State Senate ($1.4 million), and State Assembly races ($1.2 million). Like most unions, CSCSE opposed Republican candidates in almost every case."
The results of union largess in the Golden State have been devastating for Republicans, who have been marginalized in Sacramento for years. After a few crucial GOP wins in 2014, the Los Angeles Times wrote,
California Republicans scored a rare victory in Tuesday's election by denying Democrats a two-thirds legislative supermajority that would consign GOP lawmakers to virtual irrelevance in the state Capitol.
For a party sharply diminished by two decades of relentless setbacks in California, it passed as a major achievement for Republicans to capture more than a third of the seats in the state Senate and possibly the Assembly as well.
Clearly the unions don't deserve all the "credit" for the pathetic GOP results, but to be sure, they have played a huge part. If California experiences a 50 percent Wisconsin-type drop in union members, however, the Democrat's stranglehold in CA could be eased considerably. CTA's position as "the co-equal fourth branch of government," would be history. Not having an endless supply of cash, it would have to pick and choose its political recipients much more judiciously. Also if teachers and others aren't forced to pay the union for the right to work, the unions would have to become more of a political big tent in order to entice workers to join. And Democrats, who regularly carp about "getting big money out of politics," will – to some extent – finally get their wish.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
AFT's Left Flank Infuriated over Clinton Endorsement
Union leftists are shocked! shocked! that the teacher union elite did not confer with them before anointing Hillary Clinton as Democratic presidential pick.
The education and mainstream media were whooping it up last week after a cadre of teacher union members laid into the American Federation of Teachers for its endorsement of Hillary Clinton as Democratic nominee for president. The headlines screamed:
The AFT's Endorsement of Hillary Clinton Is an Insult to Union Democracy
Clinton Endorsement, Wrong For Our Union
Teachers Say No Freaking Way to AFT Endorsement of Hillary Clinton
(Mike Antonucci has a bunch more here.)
Seems that the union members are apoplectic for a couple of reasons. First, they said the announcement came too early. The angry teachers pointed to a general agreement among AFL-CIO labor leaders that none of its unions would make an endorsement before July 30th, after all candidates were properly vetted on a variety of issues. And perhaps more importantly, the aggrieved felt slighted because they were not consulted before the Clinton coronation. AFT president Randi Weingarten dismissed the dissidents' anger by explaining that the early endorsement would enable AFT "to help Hillary shape a powerful platform and focus the conversation on the issues that matter to our members…." Weingarten also declared that AFT conducted a phone survey that contacted more than a million members, soliciting their input.
But hardcore unionistas weren't buying anything Weingarten said. As EAG's Kyle Olson reports, a tweet sent out by a teacher claimed the "poll that endorsed Clinton surveyed 683 of the 1.6 mil members. 0.04%." Another tweet asserted that AFT "used telephone town halls and a web-based survey, I didn't even know existed." One teacher simply called the endorsement "BS." Also, over 4,500 teachers have signed a Change.org petition demanding that AFT withdraw its endorsement.
At the core of the teachers' anger was that they saw the endorsement as a bargain between two political cronies. Weingarten and Clinton are longtime buds, their relationship beginning early in the millennium when Clinton was a New York senator and Weingarten ran New York City's teachers union. Also, Weingarten sits on the board of Priorities USA Action, a pro-Clinton super PAC. There are rumors that if Hillary makes it to the White House, Randi would become Secretary of Education. (Make up your own fox/henhouse type joke here.)
Many of the dissenting teachers also see Clinton as a one percenter, while viewing socialist Bernie Sanders as much more "pro-union." (Maybe one day these unhappy union members will wake up to the fact that Randi with her half-a-million plus income is a one percenter too. Maybe.)
But the real story here is that union lefties have awakened to something those of us on the right have known for years. Union leaders don't give a rat's derriere about the political leanings and desires of their members. Mike Antonucci reports that an internal National Education Association survey shows that its members "are slightly more conservative (50%) than liberal (43%) in political philosophy." Former NEA president Reg Weaver has said publicly that his union breaks down as one-third Democrat, one-third Republican and one-third "Other." And at a panel in which I was a participant in 2013, California Teachers Association president Dean Vogel said that his union membership is 65 percent Democrat and 35 percent Republican.
With all those right-of-center union members, you'd think that the unions would at least spend some money on candidates and causes that would make them happy. But as I have written about ad nauseum, they don't. For example, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2012, AFT spent $2,110,529 on Democratic candidates for office and just $7,046 on Republicans.
The NEA is not much better. From 1989-2014, the union sent only 4 percent of its donations to Republicans, and rest assured that the few bucks they tossed at the right never wound up anywhere near any Tea Party types. Additionally, over the years NEA has lavished gifts on such leftist stalwarts as MALDEF, Planned Parenthood, People for the American Way, Media Matters, ACORN, Al Sharpton's National Action Network and the Center for American Progress.
Now that many left-leaning teachers are having a needed "Aha!" moment, perhaps they will realize the only way to make their union truly democratic is by not making teachers pay to play. Without forced dues, the union would have to be more solicitous of its members. As things stand now, unions don't have to care what their members think…about anything. So I welcome the newly baptized to the world that those of us right-of-center folks have inhabited for years. Now a little love for the Friedrichs Ten, maybe?
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Parents Need a Private School Option When Public Schools Fail
As the need for vouchers increases, the politics of school privatization gets interestinger and interestinger.
"Some NYC teachers: 'Don't send your kids here!'" screamed the headline in a New York Post article last week. The damning story goes on to explain how over 80 percent of the teachers in eight public schools – including charters – said they would "never recommend those schools to children."
At two of the schools — Foundation Academy HS in Brooklyn and recently-closed Monroe Academy for Business and Law in The Bronx — 100 percent of teachers who answered the survey said they'd tell parents to pull their kids.
"The school was a mess," said Lourdes Lebron, a former PTA president at Foundation. "The environment was horrible. There were fights. The school didn't even have a yearbook. What memories are the students going to have about the school? These kids got nothing."
There were several reasons given for these intolerable situations. Some blamed the administrators of the schools, while others blamed the city. A few administrators claimed that disgruntled teachers, having been let go, were just being spiteful.
The question becomes, "What are the parents of the kids attending those schools supposed to do now?" Given that some of the schools are charters – usually a better alternative than local traditional schools – and given that New York has no private school choice program, it seems that these families will have no option but to shell out money for a private school … if they can afford one.
This story reminded me of others dating back to the 1990s.
In 1993, columnist George Will was on "This Week With David Brinkley" and asserted that "50 percent of urban area public school teachers with school-age children send their children to private schools. What do they know that we ought to know?" National Education Association president Keith Geiger, also on the show, attempted to trump Will with a lame gotcha, "It's actually 40 percent." Geiger clearly gotcha'd himself.
More than a decade later, nothing much had changed. A study by the Fordham Institute in 2004 found that in big cities many teachers send their own kids to private schools.
In Philadelphia, 44 percent of the teachers put their children in private schools.
Cincinnati – 41 percent
Chicago – 39 percent
Rochester, N.Y. – 38 percent
San Francisco-Oakland area – 34 percent
New York City – 33 percent.
Well, it sure is nice that so many urban public school teachers choose not to send their children to those icky public schools. But what about the parents of kids who can't afford to do that? What are they supposed to do? According to many teachers and the unions they belong to, well, suck it up.
But there is a solution and it's called a voucher or opportunity scholarship, which enables a child to use public funds to attend a private school. And no one knows their advantages better than African-Americans and Hispanics.
In fact, the country's first voucher law came into being in 1989 via a joint effort of the recently deceased Polly Williams, a black Democratic Milwaukee state assemblywoman, and Tommy Thompson, the white Republican governor of Wisconsin.
A 1999 survey by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan research group, found that 68 percent of blacks favor vouchers. In 2007, an Education Next poll showed that 68 percent of African-Americans and 61 percent of Hispanics favor the private school option.
A 2014 survey by the Friedman Foundation showed that blacks and Latinos are the groups most likely to favor vouchers.
When you look at the Washington D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, it's hardly surprising that so many minorities see vouchers as their ticket to a better life. The program has averaged a 93 percent graduation rate, with 90 percent of those graduates enrolling in college, and a 92 percent parent satisfaction rate since 2010. (The grad rate in D.C. traditional public schools is supposedly 64 percent, but even that dismal number is questionable.)
While there are 39 private choice programs in 18 states and D.C. that help those in need, there aren't nearly enough to match the demand. And the issue has some very interesting political ramifications. While a majority of Republicans have long favored this kind of school choice, Democrats have fought fiercely against it, having aligned with the adamantly anti-choice teachers unions. But things are changing; over the past several years, more and more courageous Dems have been bucking the establishment and fighting passionately for school choice. In addition to the aforementioned Williams and her partner in crime, the great Howard Fuller, long time Democrat strategist Joe Trippi, former California state senator Gloria Romero (who now runs the Foundation for Parent Empowerment) and hedge-fund manager and self-described "pragmatic, realist liberal" Whitney Tilson have become apostates. And many more are now lining up for the cause.
Included in the "breakaway Dems" category is Kevin Chavous, a former D.C. councilman who has been deeply involved in a myriad of education reform groups for years. After the Nov. 4th election, he wrote an op-ed for USA Today in which he acknowledged that the results exposed a schism within the Democratic Party.
Hidden in the news coverage of the midterm elections looms a bigger problem for my fellow Democrats than just a bad night at the polls: the voters' wholesale rejection of the party's most powerful backers: teachers' unions. Led by the NEA and AFT, the national teachers' unions boasted of spending $80 million in this election to defeat candidates who support vouchers, teacher accountability and other promising education reforms. They lost. And they lost big.
The aftermath offers a lesson to the Democratic Party — and Hillary Clinton — as they prepare for 2016.
… What a great irony it would be in 2016 if the Democrats, led by Hillary Clinton, suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of a major civil rights issue. (Emphasis added.)
The teacher's unions know they are on the losing side of this fight, even if they desperately hope that national Democrats aren't paying attention. For months Randi Weingarten, the current president of the American Federation of Teachers, has been a fixture on TV screens vowing to stop candidates challenging the status quo education establishment. After the election, she canceled a scheduled press call. There was little good news to report.
The normally demure Condoleezza Rice took it one step further. On a radio show last week, she bluntly stated,
Poor black kids trapped in failing neighborhoods schools, that's the biggest race problem of today. That's the biggest civil rights issue of today. Anybody who isn't in favor of school choice, anybody who isn't in favor of educational reform, anybody who defends the status quo in the educational system, that's racist to me.
Neither teacher union leaders nor traditional Dems have weighed in on Chavous' op-ed or Rice's statement, but I think it's clear that the division in the Democratic Party is growing into a gaping chasm. School choice has become a powerful wedge issue and has brought with it a great irony, as alluded to by Kevin Chavous. There are still many who consider themselves "progressive" who want to keep an outdated and sclerotic zip-code-mandated public education system in place. And it's the stodgy old conservatives who want to – if not blow up – radically alter and improve the dreadful status quo for millions of kids that the progressives claim to care about.
As an optimist, I believe that at some point, enough Dems will tell their union buds to kiss off and embrace vouchers. When that happens, a tipping point will be reached and there will be no turning back. That will be a great day for the most vulnerable children of America, who will be liberated from the wretched public schools that teachers refuse to send their own kids to.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.
Ideological Battles Divide Both of America's Major Political Parties
To our progressive friends, it seemed like a century of advocating for government-sponsored universal health care reached fruition when the Affordable Care Act became the law of the land. But triumph turned to tragedy when Progressivism's signature accomplishment blew up on the launch pad. Not only did this make a shambles of our wounded president's governing philosophy, it sent the most vulnerable Democratic officeholders scurrying for cover, leaving damage control to a few befuddled party elders.
Far-left true believers, putting their faith in hope over experience, are insisting that Obamacare's woes were brought about by compromise, and are demanding what they wanted all along and expected to get when Obamacare ultimately went bankrupt: single-payer, nationalized health insurance. To lead the charge, they will recruit their newest champion, Elizabeth Warren, anti-banking demagogue and untiring defender of unsustainable middle class entitlements.
The populist professor recently made headlines with the extraordinary claim that Social Security is $2.7 trillion in surplus and could easily provide increased benefits. She will have no trouble doubling down on the hoary promises her fellow progressives so fervently promote. As for the math? Who cares! It's greedy insurance companies, Republican sabotage, and the wicked one percent who are really to blame for the Obamacare fiasco. Keep your focus on the enemies of the people and all will be well.
Old-bull Democrats, determined to recreate the glory days of the 1990s, will rally around their presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. Hillary has been doing her level best to stay out of the line of fire as the wheels come off her former rival's presidency, leaving it to Bill to prick Obama's balloon whenever the opportunity arises. Watch these two old hands try to triangulate their party back to the center, perhaps even reaching across the aisle to old-bull Republicans as Clinton Inc. tells an angry and frightened electorate that things will surely get better if adults are put back in charge.
Old-bull Republicans, fearing a Tea Party insurgency even more than the Clinton campaign steamroller, will seek to strike a grand bargain on … well, everything. Remember the good old days when Tip and the Gipper could deliver both guns and butter while maintaining a respectful professional rivalry. So what if this means spending the country into oblivion? Politics is the art of the possible, which makes winning elections more important than defending principles. And wouldn't life be better if Washington insiders could get back to scratching each other's backs without having to worry about primary challenges?
And the Tea Party? These Constitution-thumping reactionaries will remain the wild card, biding their time, picking off the weakest of the old bulls, and preparing for the moment when America is finally forced to make hard choices. That moment will come when our QE besotted fiat currency system begins to totter, threatening to take the too-big-to-fail banks down with it. Will they convince America to hit the reset button—scrapping the bankrupt entitlements and crony capitalist policies that are sucking the life out of our economy? Or will they be driven back to their survival cabins to impotently watch the country sink into permanent Eurosclerosis?
Oddly enough, one solution to the Obamacare mess that could produce a stable political outcome is to give both extremes what they want—a government funded, owned, and operated national healthcare service freely accessible by the needy and a deregulated, privately insured health care delivery market where people of means can avoid the poor quality of care a public service will surely deliver. How to unwind the disastrous attempt to glue public and private systems together in an effort to disguise the underlying income redistribution will be the story of the next three years. And figuring out how to honestly pay for a new public healthcare service on top of Social Security and Medicare will force a conversation about means-testing that may eventually get the middle class off the dole, future generations off the hook, and Ponzi entitlement schemes out of bankruptcy.
About the Author: In the 35 years since Bill Frezza graduated from MIT with degrees in electrical engineering and biology he has been a scientist, an engineer, a product manager, a salesman, a consultant, an entrepreneur, an author, a technology evangelist, and a venture capitalist. His early career on high-tech's bleeding edge included the development of first generation electronic newspapers, home banking, home shopping, cable modems, multi-user videogames, wireless LANs, and wireless email, all of which became a success – for someone else a decade later. His 15 years as a venture capital investor working with early stage telecom, semiconductor, and biotech startups taught him humbleness, risk aversion, and the ability to identify ten fatal flaws out of five in any startup business plan. Frezza is a frequent guest on CNBC, FOX, and CBN News where he is challenged to reduce complex economic and policy issues into thirty second sound bites. More writing by Frezza can be found at BillFrezza.com. This article originally appeared in Forbes and appears here with permission from the author.
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AMD released its official 2016 product roadmap today, with point updates to current hardware, a new CPU cooler, and its Zen-compatible Socket AM4 dropping later this year.
Rumors suggest that AMD is prepping a desktop version of Carrizo for launch in 2016. The chip could theoretically offer some advantages over the older Kaveri, but does AMD have something else up its sleeve?
AMD is facing a lawsuit over claims that it misrepresented the core counts of its eight-core Bulldozer products, but the lawsuit's technical merit seems extremely weak.
AMD has released a point refresh of its Kaveri APU, with slightly higher CPU clocks, a significantly faster GPU, and full software support for features like FreeSync and screen re-sizing.
AMD's desktop and mobile roadmaps may have leaked ahead of its May 6 Analyst Day. Oops.
AMD's quarterly results for Q1 are in, and it's an ugly situation overall. The company's revenue has taken a hammering over the past 12 months, and its core GPU and CPU markets are the worst affected.
AMD and MediaTek have supposedly teamed up to build tablet and laptop solutions for the mobile space — could this be a new market for AMD?
AMD's new Carrizo is coming to laptops this year, and the chip packs some notable efficiency and battery life gains. Performance should also improve noticeably in both CPU and GPU workloads thanks to a complete design overhaul and better power management.
Intel will pay customers who purchased Pentium 4's a $15 refund over alleged benchmark shenanigans — but the evidence for such actions is both fairly strong and still ongoing to some extent.
AMD has just slashed prices on its APUs by 15-25% across the board — dramatically improving the price/performance argument for its processors.
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European powerhouses Portugal and Netherlands will go head to head for what should be an exciting contest in the international friendly fixture this Monday at Stade de Geneve, reports Goal. Fans can watch the Portugal vs Netherlands game live online through the live-streaming link provided below.
In the last game, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two late goals for Portugal to cancel out Mohamed Salah's 56th minute lead to give an impressive 2-1 victory for the European champions.
Portugal's journey to the 2018's World cup began after they snatched the top spot in their group courtesy of a 2-0 win against Switzerland in the last round of the qualification. Cristiano Ronaldo and company are definitely one of the favorites to challenge this year's World Cup trophy in Russia.
The 2016's European champions are placed at the third position in the FIFA World rankings with 1360 points. After the triumph of 2016's UEFA Euro Cup, the Portuguese side had a terrific couple of months with most of the international wins in their belt. And lately, Portugal has been in sublime form with a six-match unbeaten run.
Meanwhile, Netherlands' dreams of making to the World Cup 2018 shattered following their disappointing first half of the World Cup qualifiers. With the deflated emotions of not making it into the grandest football event, the Dutch side went on a roll with five-game undefeated streak. However, their momentum was halted by the Three Lions as the Dutch suffered a 1-0 loss against England in Friday's confrontation.
The Netherlands is sitting at 21st position in the FIFA World rankings and have managed 964 points in the process. The Friday's defeat has added sheer pressure on the Dutch side as they have to lock horns with the strong Portuguese side.
The two European heavyweights have faced 12 times against each other in the past. Portugal commendably leads the head to head battle with the 7-1 advantage and will look forward to continuing their sheer dominance over their European counterparts in this exciting fixture.
TV Channel And Channel
In the US, the game will air live on ESPN Deportes USA, ESPN3 USA, ESPN Deportes+ USA, and WatchESPN. Fans can also watch the game live online through the live-streaming link provided below.
Start Time for Portugal vs Netherlands Live Streaming
The scheduled time for the game for various regions are given below:
Portugal – 7:30 p.m. Monday
Netherlands – 8:30 p.m. Monday
UK – 7:30 p.m. Monday
USA – 2:30 p.m. Monday
Where To Watch Portugal vs Netherlands Live Stream?
You can watch Portugal vs Netherlands live online through bet365.


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first SILive.com user to add photos or videos of Todd A Pletcher Racing Stable Inc
Todd A Pletcher Racing Stable Inc is located at 2150 Hempstead Tpke, Elmont, NY. This business specializes in Horse Boarding Stables.


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A Sykesville man remained in serious condition yesterday after he was injured in a car accident early Saturday on Route 97 near the Carroll-Howard county line, authorities said.
Donald W. Fritts, 36, of the 600 block of Buckhorn Road was at Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
According to police, Fritz was traveling north near Hoods Mill Road when his vehicle veered off the road, struck a tree and overturned. The accident occurred at 2: 47 a.m.
Sykesville: Firefighters from Sykesville, Gamber and Liberty Road in Baltimore County assisted Sykesville at 5: 32 p.m. Saturday, responding to a house fire in the 2000 block of Red River Road. Units were out 26 minutes.
Pub Date: 6/09/98


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|A notice for Victorians, in line with government's latest COVID-19 restrictions we have made some changes: Click here for more info.
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Enjoy the beauty and wonders of tropical waters with these great diving masks and snorkels!
Do your laps or explore the splendor of the coral reefs in safety and in comfort. Whether you are surface swimming or diving underwater our fantastic masks have a splash guards that keep the water out and your vision clear.
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DogPAC to Eagles: Campaign Won't Help Dogs
According to an email obtained by a suburban Philadelphia newspaper, efforts to help victimized dogs are misdirected and more about branding the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tom Hickey of DogPAC wrote to Pamela Browner Crawley, VP of public affairs and government relations for the Eagles and stated, "most concerning to me is most of the activities appear to center on ensuring that the Eagles brand is the primary driver in each activity."
Hickey has been in discussions with Eagles management since the team signed convicted dog fighter Michael Vick in August.
The Eagles are sending veterinary vans around the city to promote and conduct spay/neuter procedures, and hand out trading cards depicting Eagles stars with their dogs. Hickey's email explained that critics of the campaign fail to see how the services will help abused dogs, and points out that dog fighters wouldn't use such a service since the goal is to breed and fight the animals.
The article reminds us of the auspices in which Vick was signed six weeks ago, delivered at a presser by team owner Jeffrey Lurie:
[the criterion] "will be 100 percent, is he able to create social change in this horrendous arena of animal cruelty? Whether he is successful with us on the field, sure I hope he is. But his legend and whether we are giving him a second chance will be successful if he can diminish the level of animal cruelty. That's it."
Related: Michael Vick Signs with the Eagles
Vick's Image Rehab Kicks Off with 60 Minutes
[Official pet jersey, via Eagles online store]


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I'm a girl. I'm in love with a girl and we fully intend on spending the rest of our lives together. I'm very close with my parents but this is something they have told me that they will never be okay with. Ever. I'm still living with them but I'm saving up the money to move out as soon as I can. I feel like I am single handedly tearing my family apart. But I'm in love. And I just want to be happy.
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Griffons are creatures with the body and legs of a lion and the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. The lion is considered the king of land animals; the eagle is considered the king of all flying creatures. In mythology, the Griffon is the king of all creatur...
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At All Boca Tree Services we can help you clear your land. We have had some of our customers contact us wanting excavation work done. Our company mainly focuses on tree removal, trimming and stump grinding. If you have land that needs to be cleared, we can get the job done quickly and professionally. Our new truck allows us to remove large loads of debris and other garbage.
If you are looking for a company to clear your land, be sure you hire a company who has all of the right equipment. We have the equipment and crews who can get any job done. All Boca Tree Services is a fully licensed and insured company to do work within Boca Raton Florida.
Call us today if you need land clearing or debris removal services at (561) 299-5650


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Happy Birthday John Travolta! You Turn 60 Today And Are Not Dead Yet!
Happy Birthday, John Travolta! You are 60! You are still not going to just come out and be happy and gay, which makes us sad, because you seem like a nice guy and we would like you to be happy. You should give yourself the gift of gay. Everyone loves that, though it is kinda hard to wrap. On today, your 60th, we are going to celebrate by thinking about when you were a remarkably charismatic and good looking young man, like this:
We'll overlook the fact that you were actually 28 when you made a movie about being in high school, especially because your co-star Olivia Newton-John was 30 when she made a movie about being in high school.
We'll also celebrate that you could gently mock yourself by dancing in Pulp Fiction.
We'll salute the fact that you had the largest comb anyone has ever seen.
And, just because we like you and want to do you a solid, we'll forget you ever made Battlefield Earth.
You probably want to forget that too, don't you? Maybe meeting a nice boy will help you do just that, so get on out there, tiger, and happy birthday.


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Police in Ohio are investigating a shooting that killed a man and wounded five people following a Fourth of July party.
The Lima News reports Lima police say a handgun believed to have been used during the shooting early Thursday was found at the United Auto Workers hall being rented for a private party. No arrests have been made.
Authorities say 23-year-old Carrington Lott, of Lima, died from gunshot wounds at a hospital while two men and three women were treated for non-fatal wounds.


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From infrastructure damage caused by extreme weather events to drought-induced food insecurity, there are many climate risks for which the world should urgently be preparing. But one of the areas where climate change poses arguably the most significant risk is barely being discussed: human health. By Seth Berkley.
You are here
Results for human health
Wednesday 10 July 2019
Geneva, Switzerland


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A day trip from Vic Falls is perfect for those who don't have time for all of Botswana but would still love to visit the Chobe National Park.
Enjoy the best cruising experience on the Zambezi River through unparalleld service on board on this four star luxury vessel.
Capture some of the most beautiful scenery that Victoria Falls has to offer with this Photographic Safari.
Test the edge of fear...leap from no-man's land between Zimbabwe and Zambia. This is 111 metres of pure adrenaline rush!
Flight of Angels is a helicopter flip over the Victoria Falls themselves, also the town, National Park and the Zambezi River.
Enjoy a sun-downer whilst cruising slowly down the mighty Zambezi River, with wildlife roaming on the river banks nearby.
Experience the magic of the upper section of the Zambezi and experience it up-close and personal with a Zambezi Canoe Safari.


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The new 2019 Acura RDX has arrived with an all-new design. The 2019 Acura RDX redefines what it means to be a luxury crossover, with its sophisticated design and thrilling handles. This beautiful vehicle is more luxurious than ever before, and that is noticeable both inside and out.
Acura knows driving should be fun and that is clear with the 2019 Acura RDX. Standard on the Acura RDX is a 2.0L 4-cylinder turbo engine that delivers a thrill 272 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. You can take handling to a who new level thanks to the Super-Handling All Wheel Drive™. This feature gives you sharper handling and smoother, responsive ride that will be exhilarating each time, not to mention the four driving modes that respond to any situation. Acura went all-in on power, but they did not have to sacrifice efficiency, the 2019 Acura RDX gets 22 MPG* in the city and 28 MPG* on the highway. Driving never felt or looked this good.
Sit inside the luxurious cabin, and you will be greeted by a fleet of comfortable yet stylish seats. The technology inside only sees to heightening the driving experience not hindering it. The ambient lighting and leather-wrapped steering wheel increase the luxurious feel inside the cabin. The Acura RDX features an Acura/ELS Studio® 3D Premium Audio System that delivers excellent music quality. Connect your iPhone to the cleverly placed touchscreen using Apple CarPlay™ and you have all your favorite apps at your fingertips.
For a car that seemingly has it all, you cannot forget safety. Acura equipped the 2019 RDX with driver-assistive features that make life behind the wheel easier. You will have access to features such as
If you have any questions regarding the illustrious 2019 Acura RDX, contact our sales team here at Marin Acura. Schedule a test drive and experience the luxury for yourself.
*Based on 2019 EPA mileage ratings. Use for comparison purposes only. Your actual mileage will vary, depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle, driving conditions, battery pack age/condition (hybrid only) and other factors.