Month: March 2018

I’m trying to imagine what the right-wing media would do with a headline like this one from Bloomberg News if it referred to the presidency of Bill Clinton or Barack Obama or *gasp* Hillary Clinton.

When I think about how they’ve treated things like the Fast & Furious “scandal,” let alone Benghazi! or Hillary’s private email server, I do not even go back to the McCarthy Era to envision the cacophony of righteous indignation that would rain down on a Democratic president who was this lackadaisical about protecting our national security secrets.

They would call for impeachment and they would never stop.

The thing is, they’d actually be justified. They’d also be late. We already have solid evidence that Trump’s first national security adviser, his campaign chairman, and his deputy campaign chairman were all susceptible to blackmail to the Russians and interested in doing their bidding. All three have been indicted. Two have pleaded guilty, and the other has about as much chance of being found innocent as I have of leading the NBA in blocked shots.

The distinguishing flaw of McCarthyism was that it took what was an actual national security concern and it used it in a political way to score points by accusing mostly innocent people based on flimsy or nonexistent evidence. That certainly wasn’t the only flaw, but it’s what made McCarthy’s behavior so egregious and shameful that it was indefensible. It was certainly possible to take more precautions to defend our national security against Soviet infiltration without grandstanding and ruining guiltless people’s careers and lives.

But we know things about the people around Trump that are not theoretical or unproven. We know that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates had massive criminal liabilities in the United States that the Russians could have exposed at any time. We know that Manafort owed about $16 million to a Putin-connected Russian oligarch who had been banned from entering our country because of his alleged connections to the Russian mafia. We know he was desperately trying to get the money to pay him back and offering him briefings on the campaign. We know that Michael Flynn accepted payments from the Russians that were illegal and that he lied about it, thereby putting him at the Russians’ mercy. We know that Trump invited high-ranking Russian officials into the Oval Office, bragged about firing the FBI director because he was investigating their relationship, and then gave away highly sensitive classified information about Syria that had been provided by the Israelis.

This is the context in which thirty members of the administration had access to classified information without having passed a basic background check to assure that they weren’t vulnerable to blackmail.

The Democrats have a lot of possible ways to attack this administration, but this is the most substantive of them all. It shouldn’t even be political, although everything is ultimately political in some way. Certainly, the Republicans hypocrisy on this issue is political. And it’s the very definition of putting our national security at risk.

In my opinion, the Democrats should latch on to this like a rabid pit bull and not worry about foaming at the mouth. Lord knows, that’s what the Republicans would do. And, for once, they’d be right.

(This is resident RidgeCook’s beat, but in his absence and not a single word here on this matter that is important in several ways, will inadequately fill the gap.)

It’s not sexy like elusive Russian bots (in an ocean of bots), Dr. Ben’s table, Hope Hicks, and a possible Wikileaks lie which explains why the media coverage has been limited and of low quality.  It only concerns a lot of people in a lowly profession in one of the lowliest states.  Teachers in West Virginia.

The WV teachers strike began last Thursday, February 22, 2018 and included other state workers.  #55 Strong is the organizing hashtag.  55 is the number of WV counties.  (Teachers and supporters adopted red neck-ware and t-shirts, giving everyone a mini-history lesson.)  Schools in all 55 counties were closed yesterday.  (Mindful of how many of their students depend on the free school lunch program, teachers packed lunches for students and brought them to the picket line.)  Reportedly a cooling off period as Governor Justice and teacher union leaders had struck a deal on Tuesday to end the strike.  Media duly reported that the strike was over.

Then a curious thing happened:

To their union leaders, the teachers said nyet.  But they used English — “We’re not going back,” was their chant.  (They also exchanged their red colored clothing for black.)

From the beginning, union leaders said the decision to go on strike was made from the ground up — by teachers themselves. When asked if union leaders would support teachers if they vote to continue the strike, Dale Lee, president of the West Virginia Education Association, said, “We will always support our members.”

The proposed deal only addressed one of the demands, a salary increase, and that one was hardly assured as there is no guarantee that the WV GOP legislature would pass it.

“We’re feeling let down,” said Lori Murray, a history and civics teacher at Spring Valley High School. “You’ve given us a bunch of promises, but you’ve not given us anything to back it up with. When our governor comes out and says one thing, and then the Senate president comes out and says something completely different, how do we trust that?”

Plus:

Teachers have said they want a long-term fix for funding of the Public Employees Insurance Agency. Until they see that in writing, teachers said they won’t return to work.

As WV teachers have noted, the increasing cost of health insurance and out-of-pocket medical costs would quickly eat up a measly 5% salary increase.  And as of 2/16/18 PEIA changes unite teachers and all state employees (Gazette).  

…During the PEIA call-in hearing late last year, PEIA encouraged state workers to apply for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover their families because they knew employees qualified.

Ironically, this was at the same time that CHIP was being threatened by Congress. It is obvious that the PEIA board no longer has a representative for the working people of West Virginia.

(Walmart must be pleased to see a state following its lead.)

So, all WV schools remained closed today, Thursday March 1, 2018.  (There’s a Go Fund WV teachers’ strike.  And/or put on a red bandanda (je suis bandanas rouge) in solidarity with the strikers.)

 

Update: Jake Jarvis:

BREAKING: All schools in West Virginia will be closed again Friday because of an historic, statewide teacher strike. It will be the seventh day of the strike.

Update 1.2 Strike continues

West Virginia public school teachers will strike for an eighth day Monday [3/5/18] because the state legislature didn’t meet their demand for higher pay and better benefits over the weekend.

All 55 counties announced school closures for Monday. About 20,000 teachers walked out February 22, keeping almost 277,000 students out of class.

Update #2: To keep an eye on – 40,000 so far but not yet strong in Oklahoma. Conditions and compensation for OK teachers (and KS and MS) have become deplorable. Note: An Oklahoma law prohibits a teacher’s union from striking or threatening to strike “as a means of resolving differences with the board of education.” But if teachers walk out to protest the state Legislature, that would be different, said Doug Folks, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union.

Also: note: About one-fifth of all 513 Oklahoma public school districts — 91 — have a four-day school week, something that has become synonymous with education in Oklahoma. Many districts have been forced by state funding cuts to find a way to trim expenses without trimming jobs, said about a dozen superintendents who responded to a Tulsa World survey.

Update #3 West Virginia governor signs bill to give striking teachers pay raise

Except it was about more than a salary increase:

Separately, the governor agreed to set up a task force to address the state health insurance program on March 13.

As such:

though it’s unclear if teachers will go along as the raise appears to be paid for by cutting general services and Medicaid.

Latest chant from the strikers is: put it in writing. Doesn’t seem to refer to the pay increase; so, stay tuned.