Category Archives: bullying

Wall of Women stand opposed to Kinder Morgan

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First Nations and Greenpeace women stand together against pipeline expansion…

“We’re standing here together to link arms to build the wall of women to say no, we do not want that in our communities, we will not accept this in our communities, we want better,” said Nahanee. “Canada has a responsibility to protect their communities, we have the right to live in healthy environments— healthy environments to raise our children, to take care of our grandparents, to drink healthy water, to eat healthy food. It’s basic human rights.”

– Mandy Nahanee

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Who would have thought that we would actually have to protest keeping our water clean and healthy??

Good on the women standing together, protecting the Earth. She needs us.

Video of Russian forces breaking down the gate

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Global News has obtained video of the Russian gate crashers at the Ukraine air base in Crimea. The report states they are not sure if they are Russian military or pro-Russia militia in Ukraine.

It’s hard to see the layout, but it does look rather open.  I would think with the situation, there would have been more armored vehicles to prevent such an attack.  It just looks like they “walked” up to the door and let themselves in.

The second question I thought was why have they not begun to pull back once Crimea voted to join Russia?  Are there more people in Crimea wanting them to stay and we aren’t being told this by the lame media?  Because if the gate crashers are pro-Russia militia…with obvious military capabilities…that are intimidating the peaceful ones of Crimea…then Houston, we have a problem.

I think I’ve found my answer here.

 

School Bullies?

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Has it really come to this?  That a mother has to assert her child’s civil rights to be let alone from government intrusion, via the pro-Common Core/anti public schools mob??    That a child can be interrogated by Chicago Public Schools for opting out of an abusive test?

Who are the bullies in this scenario? Because it ain’t the kids…

NPE Twitter storm

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Reclaim Reform has a post up on the twitter storm demanding Congressional investigation into the profiteering of standardized testing.

From the link to NPE:

How good are the tests?

Problems with the actual content of tests have been extensively documented. There are numerous instances of flawed questions and design, including no right answer, more than one right answer, wording that is unclear or misleading, reading passages or problems that are developmentally inappropriate or contain product placements, test questions on material never taught, and items that border on bizarre, such as a famous example that asked students to read a passage about a race between a pineapple and a hare. Tests are not scientific instruments like barometers; they are commercial products that are subject to multiple errors.

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Linda Darling Hammond testifies

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Diane Ravitch has a post up on Linda Darling-Hammond testimony at the Vergara trial.  She outlines the criteria for evaluating teachers for tenure and helping struggling teachers:

“Well, it’s important both as a part of a due process expectation; that if somebody is told they’re not meeting a standard, they should have some help to meet that standard.

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Absolutely.  If a teacher is abusive or grossly inadequate, you want them out.  But if a teacher is good in some areas, but needs help in others, by all means, they should get support and encouragement in those weak areas.  In any line of work, you would expect some guidance from those more experienced.  Why should the teaching profession be any different?

More:

And the third reason is that when you create a system that is not oriented to attract high-quality teachers and support them in their work, that location becomes a very unattractive workplace. And an empirical proof of that is the situation currently in Houston, Texas, which has been firing many teachers at the bottom end of the value-added continuum without creating stronger overall achievement, and finding that they have fewer and fewer people who are willing to come apply for jobs in the district because with the instability of those scores, the inaccuracy and bias that they represent for groups of teachers, it’s become an unattractive place to work.

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Word.

This comment by Teacher Ken gets at the heart of teaching and tenure:

I have been the cooperating teacher for five student teachers from the University of Maryland at College Park, three from the undergraduate program and two from the masters’ program. The only one who failed to ‘make it’ was a 4.0 student who refused to listen to the notion that he had to meet the kids where they were in order to be able to inspire/entice them to move further. He dropped out before doing his full load of student teaching.

I have been a building union rep and have served as an informal mentor to both beginning and struggling experienced teachers. I have helped some turn around and have counseled others out of the profession. I have as a union rep helped remove a tenured teacher (who never should have gotten tenure) who was not merely ineffective but a danger to students.

We have those who should never go into teaching – they don’t like kids.

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This can’t be stated enough–the pro-Charter, anti-public schools, anti-Teacher’s union mob would like to play on people’s emotions and say that bad teachers get a free ride once they get tenure.

As Diane has stated in the past, tenured teachers are not guaranteed a job, per se, but are guaranteed the right to a fair hearing if charges are made against them.  That seems reasonable to me.

However, I have heard of instances of bad teachers being kept on because the principal was afraid to confront them.  They feel they had to have mountains of evidence to get rid of a bad teacher. It might also be just a clash of personalities…where the child is better suited for another teacher.  The teacher isn’t necessarily bad and the kid isn’t necessarily bad, but they just butt heads.

On the other hand, I would not want to see a teacher sacked over gossip (lack of solid evidence)…because I’ve seen that happen, too, where some big mouth started a rumor and the good teacher left.  He was one of those teachers that really connected with the kids, too.  The gossipmonger was probably jealous of his ability to connect and the resulting popularity.

And Teacher Ken’s point about the 4.0 teaching student is spot on.  You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you don’t like kids and can’t get down to their level to help them learn, you’re in the wrong profession.  (Gee…why does this describe Bill Gates to a “T”…??)

Teachers’ Letters to Bill and Melinda Gates

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This is one of the most compelling letters I’ve read so far.  It’s sickening how these little children are being forced to perform at levels above their comprehension and emotional growth.  It’s abuse, plain and simple.  Bill Gates is a child abuser…why isn’t he held accountable??

Kids had to solve 8+6 when the answer choices were 0-9 and had to DRAG AND DROP first a 1 then a 4 to form a 14. There were questions where it was only necessary to click an answer but the objects were movable (for no reason). There were kids tapping on their neighbor’s computers in frustration. To go to the next question, one clicks “next” in lower right-hand corner…..which is also where the pop-up menu comes up to take you to other programs or shut down, so there were many instances of shut-downs and kids winding up in a completely different program.

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Some of the links in the letter:

Gates dining with 80 Senators. Eighty.  Unfortunately, it stops short of naming names. So, I went looking for other reports to try to find out the senators’ names…no such luck.  All that I could find were quoting Politico.

On Politico’s site, I found this little tidbit:

SPOTTED: Political odd-couple Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) having dinner last night at Bistro Bis just off Capitol Hill. Sen. Joe Donnelly later strolled over with a big group to say hi. (h/ts: @ZStoller and @dsamuelsohn) Pic here: http://bit.ly/1qyM4dx

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Wanna bet Joe Donnelly was one of those senators that dined with Gates?

And from this link:

There is a growing body of evidence that the Common Standards are not the solution to make America more competitive, to make kids smarter in math, reading and science, and any of the other ills that have been cast upon the education system.  I’ve reported on this blog that independent research questions the efficacy of a standard-based approach to education as it is now conceived.  The standards-based system is a top-down authoritarian system that disregards the professional decision-making ability of classroom teachers.  I’ve reported research by Wallace that shows that this authoritarian accountability system is a barrier to teaching and learning.

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….the Gates Foundation has invested about $2.3 billion into the Common Standards and related efforts.

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Bill and Melinda Gates are not educators.  Why does their $$$ opinion $$$ matter more than those who are educators and don’t wish to abuse children?!

Getting us into yet another war

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John I-don’t-know-how-many-houses-I-own McCain is once again banging the war drum…although he is careful to not make it sound that way.

Let’s take a look back, shall we?

My blog here on the media’s culpability in getting us into Iraq.

John McCain on Iraq here.

I want the Ukraine people to have their democratic government, but I am not willing to go to war over it. I am sick of wars and I’m sick of warmongers like McCain and Clinton who slobber at the thought of going to war.  One has to wonder how much they are invested financially in defense contractors or other war profiteering.

Let’s not forget the lie of the reasons to go to war…as she smiles and says “it’s the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make…”  Utter bullshit

And this video on Hillary Clinton’s views on the media and exchange of free information is chilling.  Without a free exchange of ideas, without the media uncovering greed & corruption, and violations of our Constitution, our democracy is lost.    Why is Hillary so afraid of that?

Finally, my Russian reader has not been back since Putin clamped down on the media.

My hope is that he/she will be back when things settle down.  I hope so….please know that not all Americans are like Clinton and McCain…we value peaceful solutions to conflict.  We are all connected.  Peace to you.

And this is heartening…a journalist quits the Russian media in protest of Putin.  Bless her.

 

Terry Richardson Assistant Identified

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Leslie Lessin has been identified as the assistant to Terry Richardson.  My prior blogs on him here and here.

She is apparently the one who was allegedly cheerleading/cajoling the young women into whatever Terry Richardson wanted.  She tried to smooth things over (and what sounds like brainwashing) in a cab ride home with one of the young women.

It’s nice to hear from the guys about the stories of the women. 

“I felt that to dignify [accusations] with a response was a betrayal of my work and my character”

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Richardson is concerned about his character? Really?  How dignified is it to having your member photographed while a woman performs a sexual favor? Because I don’t see a lot of dignity in that.  Nor in putting a woman in a garbage can, or calling her a slut.

“I collaborated with consenting adult women who were fully aware of the nature of the work,”

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“Nature of the work”…what does that mean, exactly?  Do you tell them you are going to whip your member out and make demands that they perform sex acts?  Is that in writing? Because if it isn’t in plain language in the so-called “release” then you have no freaking case.

These accusations have been occurring over years and nothing has been done. 

Women are apparently sick of it and are boycotting anything connected with Richardson to make their voices heard. 

 Indeed, gaslighting is classic tactic of an abusive personality. Richardson insists that it is an ill-informed, pitchfork wielding internet leading the charge against him while subtly failing to address the fact that these allegations have come from multiple sources, repeatedly and over a number of years.

But if the allegations are true, then Richardson isn’t just undermining his victims by questioning the credibility of their accusations – he’s further abusing them by attempting to erase them from the situation altogether.

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And as each of them have stated, they were intimidated at the time…so for them to come forward is a brave thing to do.  It gives their testimony more weight because they have a lot to lose (not working again is a big incentive NOT to say anything).

Richardson’s involvement with Miley Cyrus’ vulgar performances (Wrecking Ball, for one; and Blurred Lines, for another) speaks volumes.  He’s a creep who loves to degrade women.

There is a positive sexuality and a dark, negative sexuality.  Terry Richardson is dark and devoid of any conscience, in my opinion. 

 

Freed U.S. Hikers write book

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Democracy Now! featured the three hikers captured in Iran.

They emphasized during the program that they did not hate the Iranian people.  I think this is an important point because it sends the message of peace instead of revenge.

It’s fascinating that this incident apparently was the beginning of tentative peaceful relations that was behind the historic Iranian nuclear deal.

I’m glad that they are using what could be a negative–anger for what happened to them–and turned it into a positive–working for the end of solitary confinement and other ills of the prison system.

A concrete dog run?  Are you kidding me?  Talk about being treated like an animal.  I always thought that they were allowed out into fresh air on a grassy yard.  They’re not even getting that much.  It’s pretty sad when someone in a U.S. prison is experiencing the same thing as prisoners in Iran.

In one of the prisons here, the prisoners once had an organic garden.  Governor Daniels got that stopped.  Um-hmmm….