Oct. 13 Open Thread: It’s Not Just Mike Matthews
What happened to Mike Matthews is going on all over America as election season nears a boil. The same day a Connecticut Republican dropped out of his race over Facebook comments, the GOP candidate for governor of Michigan was forced to apologize for a creepster comment he made during taping of a video 30 years ago. A liberal opposition research firm released it to Talking Points Memo:
In the 38-second video, a woman out of view of the camera can be heard telling Bill Schuette, then a Michigan congressman, to move closer to a lamp. “I will do anything you want,” Schuette replied. “Some things I may not let you run the camera on.”
Schuette’s campaign issued a statement Wednesday claiming the GOP nominee did not remember the circumstances surrounding the “interview outtake.” Schuette himself called it a misguided attempt at a joke. As in Matthews’ case, the video was already out there — it appeared on a conservative web site back in July.
Amanda Marcotte has a theory about how Republicans justify Trump’s corruption, and as a bonus it explains why they’re such a ready audience for conspiracy theories. Short version: They want to believe Democrats already do all those things.
Supreme Court reporter Dahlia Lithwick ponders how Chief Justice John Roberts, a fanatic about the court’s reputation, will confront the appearance of a partisan SCOTUS in the age of Kavanaugh. Also, too, polling has found that confirmation has not changed the public’s mind — a majority still believes he doesn’t belong there.
Isaac Edward-Dovere flew to Iowa with Sen. Cory Booker the night after the Kavanaugh vote and reports on the 2020 presidential hopeful’s appeal.
The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins revisits the story about connections between computer servers in Trump Tower in New York and a Russian bank and finds the New York Times minimized the story at the time, and computer experts continue to work on finding out what was going on.
So Atnre Alleyne is calling for “a broader conversation about misogyny, sexual harassment, and racism in Delaware’s education system.”
I couldn’t agree more. Let’s oblige him right here and discuss the racial and economic segregation of Delaware charter schools. The fragmentation of resources caused by charters and magnets has devastated public education in Delaware for the benefit of a fortunate few. The number one predictor of academic success is economic status.
All matriculating Christina District eighth graders that are schooled and reside in Wilmington are bused to one of three Newark area High Schools. Newark High, Glasgow High and Christians High. These are the only high schools Christina has available to those students.
These high schools are all within the 5-mile radius carve out for Newark Charter High. None of the same matriculating Wilmington/Christina students is permitted to participate in the lottery selection process for the publicly funded Newark Charter High School. The school has the right to accept only lottery applications from residents within the 5 mile radius of Newark Charter when the lottery is full (which it always is).
Despite repeated bills I’ve authored and sponsored to eliminate the 5-mile radius exclusion option that literally closes access to the “fully publicly” funded Newark Charter High School for Wilmington students this policy remains in force. I’ve never called for or asked for dissolution of Newark Charter. I’ve never sought to deny equal public funding for Newark Charter operational expenses. I’ve never fought to cut Newark Charter’s state transportation stipend (approx. $885 per student vs. $550 per traditional school student).
I’ve acknowledged the student success of Newark Charter and worked with and nominated one of its brilliant young students Lillian P. for the DNREC “Young Environmentalist” award, for which she was chosen. However I do not and never will support “publicly” funded schools that have exclusive admissions policies and standards, schools that do not come close to mirroring the ethnic, cultural, minority and socioeconomic diversity and ratios of the surrounding communities.
I do not support these publicly funded entities from having access to taxpayer funded “Performance funds” and “Capital Improvement” funds that are “ONLY” accessible to Charter Schools. I do not support budget language (every year) that contravenes existing Delaware code that allows Charter Schools, and only Charter Schools to keep excess/unused money allocated for student transportation and not return it to the General Fund (as all other traditional public schools must).
I do not and never will support a system that uses taxpayer money to fund publicly funded schools (with little to no oversight) yet refuses and denies admission to certain of those very same taxpayers children.
Representative John Kowalko
When the dems blow it in a few weeks, they’ll be e posed as bifger griferts than trmp. You cant be a party that both “champions” campaign finance reform AND brags about donation hauls as am indicator or winning.
It’s time to bring the honors academics and specialty programs back inside the traditional public school buildings where they always belonged.
Delaware public education is de facto apartheid. Here’s how school choice works:
Say your child is thirsty and you have a choice of two water fountains. The first one is dirty with a trickle of lukewarm water that has an off smell. The second fountain is clean and has a strong stream of fresh cold water – and has a sign over it that says “Whites only.”
If you choose the fresh clean water for your child – does that make you a racist? It depends.
If you go home outraged at the injustice and determined not to rest until ALL the water fountains are clean, fresh, and available to everybody in every neighborhood, then no you are not a racist.