New running mates

Fwd: Let there be proof

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington <jehemington@verizon.net>

It's well past time for the Obama administration to put up or shut up on this issue – and time is running out.  In the first article More than 20 U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic veterans are calling on President Obama to release the evidence backing up allegations that Russia aided the Trump campaign – or admit that the proof is lacking.  This is not a trivial issue and could eventually lead to a nuclear confrontation with Russia.  If it is true Americans need some certainty before unleashing the dogs in the Defense Department.  If is nothing but a cover for Hillary's election loss it is doubly preposterous and destructive.   Senator John McCain has already declared it an act of war which must be retaliated against.  We must know and we must know before Obama leaves office. 

John

Links to articles in PDFs

• A demand for proof of Russian hacking
• Stealing the elections is just part of the game
• Did Russians really hack the DNC

Fwd: . . . and on it goes

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington

We remain deeply embroiled in a serious class war in which young adults have become the most recent victims.  It's not just college graduates broken down with almost unpayable debts, it's also those without an opportunity to go to college who can't find jobs paying a living wage or any job at all.  It's minority youth of all stripes who are denied essential opportunities in a not-so-colorblind society as we would like to think.  Check out the attached article for additional information.

And lest we forget, young adults are not the only Americans suffering from this long-standing class war which resulted in the election of Donald Trump.  As this excerpt from Greg Maybury's article in Consortium News,  Fall and Rise of the Forgotten 'Deplorables' (see second attachment for full article), points our two major political have long ago abandoned and declared war on the rest of us also:

"In what must serve as the quintessential master class of prolonged, consistent, truly bi-partisan cooperation American politics has on offer, both parties have contributed enormously over the past three-plus decades to the dismantling if not effective destruction of the American Dream in its hitherto real and imagined dimensions.

Whether on broad economic, social, national security, or foreign policy issues, both parties have demonstrated a recidivistic, palpable indifference to the concerns and needs of average working- and middle-class Americans, with both repeatedly showing themselves prone to elitism, corruption, cronyism, manipulation, greed, deception, bribery, hypocrisy, opportunism, self-interest, contempt, cynicism and arrogance.

In the process democracy's once "proprietary" domains — equal justice, freedom, human rights, equality of opportunity, civil rights, liberty, and most everything from habeas corpus to the pursuit of happiness — have effectively been declared "no-fly-zones" for ordinary people, accessible only to those increasingly privileged, mostly unelected, and thoroughly unaccountable few.

Most significantly, both parties have undermined, possibly irreparably, the sense of pride and place folks had in their once beloved — but now maybe not so — United States of America.  Along with that, they have all but conspired to "deep-six" that once famously enduring, optimistic mindset that by some accounts enabled the country to thrive and prosper as a "paradise of opportunity" (or even a reasonable facsimile thereof).

Let's term that period The Era of Future Promise, or that time in history — from 1945 to say 1975 — where a whole generation or more of the majority of folks could not only envision a progressively better future for their kids and grandchildren, but anticipated it, and all things equal, if one was willing to strive for such, rightfully expected it.

That is no longer the case for an increasing number of people, and it is this sentiment — one whose seismic impact we have just witnessed — that's been neglected by both party majors.  That this envisioned future is no longer realistic for many comes as a direct result of neoliberalism — the roll-out of which was overseen by both parties — and with it the globalization of economic and financial activity itself culminating from there via "casino capitalism" in the inexorable transfer and consolidation of historically unprecedented wealth, power, and income into the hands of fewer and fewer people — is inarguable.

Now the end of this earlier era might have been heralded by Reagan's ascension in 1981 and the advent of neoliberalism.  But its sustained demise was enthusiastically presided over by Bill Clinton, in cahoots of course with this year's DNC candidate for president, his wife Hillary, and the then Party establishment.  Some folks clearly haven't forgotten that.  In short, there was no clear sign from Clinton that things would be substantially different under her regime than under that of her husband's administration.

…

And for those who understood there being such a thing as a "class war" and viewed globalization and neoliberalism through such a prism — if we recognize that the upper class won that war a long time ago — we might posit the following:  Why when after the vanquished have long since surrendered to distraction, disillusion or outright despondency are the victors still fighting the war?  Before this election, the short answer we might have suggested is that it's because they can!

The ascension of Sanders and Trump in this election demonstrated that vast masses of Americans have finally given up on the two elitist Parties and are ready to fight back; but unfortunately most of us still don't understand what's behind the system which oppresses so many while promising so much.  It is now imperative that we somehow figure out a way to redirect this anger and frustration into meaningful action.

Fight on!

John

Links from John's collection

• Economic Hardships with Young People - PDF article
• Fall and Rise of the Forgotten Deplorables - PDF article 

Did not vote would have crushed Clinton and Trump. Too bad we don't have "none of the above."

The election results show who won among those who voted. But, those who did not vote crushed all the candidates who got votes.

I long for the day when "NONE OF THE ABOVE" goes onto the ballots. 

http://brilliantmaps.com/did-not-vote/

Who's really supporting Donald Trump

John posted to me and others:

I urge everyone to read the attached ARTICLE from The Guardian newspaper as it is both timely and, I believe, very important if we are to come to grips with who we as a people really are.

The author examines just who the Trump supporters really are; and, at the same time, excoriating main stream media both for its failure to identify the breadth of Trump’s support and claiming it is comprised mainly of poor “white trash” uneducated folk who just aren’t smart enough to see what’s really at stake in the election. The article supports my belief that much of his support is coming from middle and upper-middle class mainly white folks with a rather different perspective on the state of the nation as well as a very different viewpoint on how things should be run. It also discusses the fact that many more elements of society were and still are impacted by the financial crisis than is commonly reported or believed. One of the most important elements addressed in the article is who really is racist in our society and how this is not the subject of media coverage. This is not a trivial point and should be examined in greater depth than is offered when filtered through the biases which dominate main stream media.

John H.

---

ARTICLE

This is the year.

Summer Reading for a LONG ROAD to the future

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington

Many of us, myself included, are searching for some way of changing the destructive neoliberal domination of much of the world.  It is now crystal clear that whomever is elected president in November will continue these neoliberal/ neoconservative policies which have devastated so much of the Middle East and Southeast Asia and wreaked havoc on non-elites in the U.S. and Europe.

This will mean that playing the game as structured by the dominant political parties in the U.S. will no longer be an option.  Bernie Sanders demonstrated this by cravenly submitting to endorsing Hillary Clinton on her terms.  It will mean that serious local community organizing will become an essential focus of any alternative strategy.  If change is to come it will come from the bottom up and not from assaulting the powers-that-be directly on their turf.  It will be a radical alternative to what is.

This is and will not be a simple quick fix for the multitude of systemic issues we face.  It will require serious, hard-fought, slogging victories at local, state and regional level in order to succeed.  Fortunately there is a model which can be followed, that of the religious right and the Tea Party operatives.  It will take dedication and commitment on the part of all involved – and it will take time.  But I can see no other alternative.

To succeed we need to work to elect committed folks to the "basement" offices at the local and state levels of government and, where possible, national representatives.  Because of the difficulty of establishing working third-parties in this nation some of it may have to take place within the dominant political party structure.  The key, however, is to find and elect people who will not sellout when elected – and, if they do, immediate defeat them at the next opportunity.

I believe that anyone seriously considering such an effort should first be well-grounded in the history and development of the current neoliberal/neoconservative worldview.  I have just finished an excellent, informative and, in my opinion, essential book in coming to grips not only with the ideological precepts involved; but also the methodology utilized in converting large swaths of the American public into blind supporters of this ideological trap.  The book is The Age of Acquiescence:  The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power.  Steve Fraser traces these developments from the end of the Civil War until the present.    Whether you are familiar with this history or not this is an exceptionally revealing historical and current analysis of where we are and how we got here.  It is the best source I have yet encountered explaining the existing divisions within our society and the reasons behind them.  Following is some information about and a couple of reviews of the book:

A groundbreaking investigation of how and why, from the 18^th century to the present day, American resistance to our ruling elites has vanished.

From the American Revolution through the Civil Rights movement, Americans have long mobilized against political, social, and economic privilege. Hierarchies based on inheritance, wealth, and political preferment were treated as obnoxious and a threat to democracy. Mass movements envisioned a new world supplanting dog-eat-dog capitalism. But over the last half-century that political will and cultural imagination have vanished. Why?

THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE seeks to solve that mystery. Steve Fraser's account of national transformation brilliantly examines the rise of American capitalism, the visionary attempts to protect the democratic commonwealth, and the great surrender to today's delusional fables of freedom and the politics of fear. Effervescent and razor-sharp, THE AGE OF ACQUIESCENCE will be one of the most provocative and talked-about books of the year.

"Steve Fraser is that rare writer who combines a deep knowledge of history with a penetrating analysis of our current political and social condition. Here, in the lively prose that marks all his writing, he probes the similarities and differences between America's two gilded ages – the late nineteenth-century and today – offering provocative observations about why the first produced massive popular resistance and the second resigned acquiescence."―Eric Foner, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery

"Over the last few years, there's been a wealth of books describing our new Gilded Age and bemoaning the extreme economic inequality that now defines modern America. Steve Fraser's fascinating The Age of Acquiescence is indispensable because it explains how that happened, how America's long standing opposition to concentrated wealth was defeated. Steve Fraser, in other words, is Thomas Piketty with politics, providing a crucial guide in helping the ninety-nine percent understand the terms of their defeat and, more importantly, how it can once again go on the offensive."―Greg Grandin, author of The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World and Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City

"A splendid and illuminating book. Fraser's writing is clear-headed and free of cant. I know of no better an accounting for the division of America over the last forty years into a minority of the terrified rich and a majority of the humiliated poor."―Lewis Lapham, editor of Lapham's Quarterly and author of Pretensions to Empire: Notes on the Criminal Folly of the Bush Administration

"Steve Fraser has given us a sweeping account of the economic and cultural changes in American society that combined to create an earlier era of working class struggle and hope, and then in our present moment have generated quiescence and despair.  Read this book for its synoptic account of the ways that cultural manipulation have accompanied intensifying economic exploitation.  But read it also to snatch glimmers of a better future from the past."―Frances Fox Piven, author of Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America

About the Author

Steve Fraser is the author of Every Man a Speculator, Wall Street, and Labor Will Rule, which won the Philip Taft Award for the best book in labor history.  He also is the co-editor of The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order.  His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The Nation, The American Prospect, Raritan, and the London Review of Books.  He has written for the online site Tomdispatch.com, and his work has appeared on the Huffington Post, Salon, Truthout, and Alternet, among others.  He lives in New York City.

 

John

 

 

Great news on ballot access in PA

The ballot access struggles have become something that is able to be managed in Pennsylvania.

http://www.post-gazette.com/early-returns/erstate/2016/07/01/Federal-judge-gives-third-parties-a-helping-hand-on-PA-ballot/stories/201607010174

Welcome changes. Thank goodness. 

I had first hand experiences with the crazy requirements that have been part of the landscape in PA. Let's hope for sanity in the future.

----

By Chris Potter / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal judge has made it easier for third-party candidates to appear on the state ballot this November, possibly adding a new variable into an already dizzying presidential election.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued an order asserting that presidential candidates in three minor parties — the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party — will need only 5,000 voters to sign their nominating petitions. That's roughly a quarter of the 21,775 signatures they would have needed under the old rules.

The order "restores voter choice to Pennsylvania elections, which has been absent other than the major parties," said Oliver Hall, an attorney who represented the minor parties. "Now people can decide if they want to vote for someone else entirely, and that's how our elections should work."

Major-party candidates need only 2,000 signatures to get on the primary ballot — where a win ensures a space in November. But previously, minor-party statewide candidates were obliged to meet a threshold equal to 2 percent of the previous statewide vote-count. In past years, that has required candidates to obtain up to 67,000 signatures.

Mr. Hall said that even under the old rules, it was “close to a certainty” that the third-party contenders would have won spots on the 2016 ballot. But Thursday’s ruling also makes it harder to remove them.

Previously, if the legitimacy of a candidate’s signatures was successfully challenged in court, the winner could recoup the legal costs of doing so. In 2004, for example, Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader was billed over $80,000 -- a crippling sum for smaller political parties.

Judge Stengel's ruling restricts the ability to assess such costs. That was "absolutely a load off our minds," said Shawn Patrick House, who chairs the state Libertarian Party.

Signature requirements for other races are also lower. Candidates for auditor general, treasurer, and attorney general — all of which are on this year’s ballot — must procure 2,500 signatures. Senate candidates must also produce 5,000 signatures. But the ruling may have the greatest impact on the race for president.

Pennsylvania is a potentially key battleground, and polling shows many voters discontented with both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

“Usually I discount third-party candidates,” said Muhlenberg College pollster Christopher Borick. “But the polls in Pennsylvania show the race as fairly close. Put that together with the high unfavorable ratings of both candidates, and a third-party candidate or two could be pivotal.”

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Ms. Clinton leading Mr. Trump by 39 percent to 36 percent, with Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson garnering 9 percent and the Green Party’s Jill Stein with 4 percent. Mr. Borick said that while Ms. Stein would likely appeal to “disenchanted progressives” who might otherwise back Ms. Clinton, Mr. Johnson’s impact was harder to gauge: “Nationally, it seems like he draws marginally from both candidates.”

The legal dispute over the requirements dates back years. In 2015, Judge Stengel ruled that the high signature requirements, combined with the threat of financial penalties, meant "the ability of the minor parties to ... voice their views has been decimated.” Gov. Tom Wolf's administration appealed, saying it had no power to change election rules set by the courts and the legislature.

Judge Stengel’s order bridged that impasse, and in fact incorporated the administration’s own proposed signature requirements. “Governor Wolf ... wants to ensure greater ballot access for minor parties,” said Mr. Wolf’s office in a statement, “and he is pleased with Judge Stengel’s ruling.”

The state Republican Party sounded less pleased. "These are decisions that we believe are best left to the General Assembly,” it said in a statement.

In fact, Judge Stengel’s order applies “until ... the Pennsylvania Legislature enacts a permanent measure amending or modifying the process to place [minor parties] on the general election ballot.” A measure to do so, House Bill 342, was passed by the House, amended by the Senate last month, and is pending in the House again. The bill sets out petition requirements consistent with those in Judge Stengel’s order.

But for the time being, as Mr. House put it, "We have more than Coke and Pepsi candidates.”

Candidate Sanders

Fwd: Trump voters

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington

Below is a link to an interesting article from the Allentown Morning Call describing the fact that many Democratic voters, particularly white working class voters, are switching parties in order to vote for Donald Trump.  This seems to come as a surprise to many, but it shouldn't be at all unexpected given the way working class Americans have been both ignored and screwed by the elitist leaders of both major political parties since 1980.  The reality is that these so-called leaders have come to represent only one class of voters – or, more accurately, donors – corporate rulers and the billionaire class.  Working class voters, particularly working class white voters, had come to expect and depend upon the ever rising standard of living which persisted from the end of World War Two until about 1980.  But that expectation began to dissolve with the advent of Ronald Reagan's presidency in 1980 and continued to dissipate during the Bush I years.  However, it was during the presidency of Bill Clinton that the floodgates finally opened with the Clinton promulgated "New Democrats" or Washington Consensus version of the Democratic Party.  This amounted to a deliberate sell-out of middle and working class Americans dreams and aspirations to the monied corporate and financial elites. 

It also marked a total reversal of prior Democratic support for poor and minority populations in deference to myth-based ideas that the nation could no longer support or justify social programs because of their cost.  It also marked the advent of "trade agreements" which were supposedly going to make American products more competitive, but instead made foreign lands more profitable as locations for corporate manufacturing   At the same time the political mantra of both parties was cuts to taxes for the rich and social programs for the poor.  During this period working class whites were told that their jobs were being eliminated because of unstoppable foreign competition and the unstoppable flow of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America; that undeserving Blacks and Latinos were gobbling up all of the money available to satisfy their desire to lay around and collect welfare payments for doing nothing.  It was more of the old tactic of dividing those at the bottom and turning them against one another by claiming that one group was the cause of the problems of the other when both were victims of a system designed to keep them subservient to the rich and powerful.

The election of Barak Obama based on a campaign of "hope and change" with promises that he would change the basic tenor and operation of the system that had become so oppressive to the middleclass, working classes and the poor proved to be an illusion based on lies and distortions.  Not only did Obama continue and expand upon the unconstitutional policies of the Bush II administration including more wars everywhere, he effectively completed the process of selling out the country to the financial elite which had begun during the Clinton administration – there could no longer be any hope for any real change in the political landscape. 

So now here we are confronted with a new election cycle once again dominated by corporate and financial interest money with Hillary Clinton once again carrying the banner of the "New Democrats" for the financial elite – a woman who never met a war, an Israeli leader, or trade agreement she didn't love – competing with a billionaire real estate mogul who appeals to those working class voters who have been shafted again and again by a system gone berserk in the name of money power.  Can there be any wonder that the Donald generates such a visceral level of support when he strikes out against the entrenched elitist political class?  The surprise to me would be if those he didn't attack, the white working class people of this country, didn't flock to his side and support his candidacy no matter how irrational he might appear to many of us.

Yes, Donald Trump may well be an incipient Fascist.  He certainly has the narcissistic need for adulation and control; but that is not going to dissuade those who feel that the entire political system is arrayed against them and their children's future – and with good reason.  Most of these people are not crazies.  Most are feeling a desperation which is rooted in years of declining living standards and years of false promises by the political class of both parties.  They have been conditioned not to anything which smacks of socialism even though some socialist type policies would benefit them mightily (think Social Security – which the love – Medicare for All, unemployment compensation, postal service, infrastructure maintenance, and many others), but the mere word sends chills down their backs.  Thus, in all likelihood, insufficient support for Bernie Sanders to overcome the fixed non-democratic Democratic Party primary system, even though Sanders is not a socialist in any real sense of the word.  He is an unreconstituted Roosevelt liberal of the post-World War II vintage.

Thus, there is only one place left for those frustrated working class Republicans and party-switching Democrats to turn and that is Donald Trump.  Unfortunately, it appears that people of color and Latinos are continuing to buy into the self-created Clinton myths that she has fought for Blacks and Latinos for years when the only thing she has really fought for is money and power. Perhaps someday they will figure out the "New Democrat" scam and finally rebel, shedding the political chains which bind them.  For the rest of us there appears to be little or no hope for anything positive to come out of this election.  But things could get much worse for all of us with either Hillary or Donald – not to mention Ted.

John

Article

Debt video

Economics: How Big is the U.S. Debt?

(New Video) Economics: How Big is the U.S. Debt?Sound familiar? We’ve revamped Learn Liberty’s very first video in celebration of our 5th birthday!

Posted by Learn Liberty on Friday, February 12, 2016

Hillary and Bernie

I do not agree with the root message in the article about Hillary finding her HOME RUN MESSAGE against Bernie. But, there is a difference in there between the 2 D candidates. Hillary is far reaching, broad, doing UNIONS in one breath and working for INDIVIDUALS in the next. She wants to help kids in Flint. Rush to help the person who got fired on Monday after that Saturday wedding. She is bouncing around all over the place fighting nose to nose. The problem for Hillary, is that there is only ONE of her. She can't be everywhere. She can't be a 1,000 points of Hillary and help all the ones that need the help.

Meanwhile, I think Sanders is going to wage an attack on a system level. He wasn't on the dang bridge in Selma. Perhaps the Clinton's were able to show their faces in the South. But, when Sanders is President, his JUSTICE REFORM is going to be in the minds of all in the POLICE DEPARTMENT when those marchers cross the next bridge.
Sanders is not going to rush to help a bunch of folks with new pink slips at the factory, and I expect Hillary would be there. But, Sanders trade policies is going to be attacking so that those factories are re-opening and jobs are not going to evaporate as many have done.

In the harbor of life, Hillary is an over-reaching couple of strokes with a paddle as she bounces from deck to deck on many boats. Bernie is a mega tide that lifts all boats. Or, if you want that "protective feeling" -- Bernie Sanders is the break-wall that protects the whole harbor from the storms.

Voter Registration to "R"

Because Rand Paul, a former swimmer I coached, was gearing up for a race for President of the USA, I switched to become a Republican.

I'm a Rand Paul Republican now.

Recap: Final Public Hearing for Pittsburgh Public Schools in its Hiring Quest for a New Superintendent.

Replacing the retiring Linda Lane can be an opportunity to recreate Pittsburgh recreation. We're a sports and river town and should use our swim pools.

From Mark Rauterkus, Mark@Rauterkus.com, varsity swim coach at Obama Academy and leader of the PPS Summer Dreamers Swim & Water Polo Camp with the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation


On Thursday night, January 28, 2016, right after our home swim meet at Pittsburgh Obama against South Fayette, I dashed over to U-Prep for the public hearing concerning the search for the new PPS superintendent of schools. We lost the swim meets, but game them a good scare. One new school record was set by Obama sophomore, Sead N, leading off the 400 free relay in a 49.

I was speaker 13 and took some notes as the others before me gave the school board their thoughts. It was wild to hear what the others would say as nearly everyone else had statements that resonated with my message too. What they want, and what I want, are identical in terms of values and vision.

Pittsburgh Public Schools needs to make an overhaul to its sports and after-school programs.

Two years ago, the wake of Doctor Linda Lane's state of the district speech when she said she wanted to cut a number of sports from the budget, I released a position paper. Thankfully, those cuts never occurred. Now that there are some new board members, it is prudent to re-introduce this document again to get them aware of these situations.

http://aforathlete.wikia.com/wiki/Fewer_Sports_Alternatives

When Mark Roosevelt became superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, a few of us shared concerns with him. Mr. Roosevelt, a former tennis player, understood the value of sports. To his credit, he was in agreement but said sports reform and athletics were not a priority – yet. He had bigger problems: principal accountability, teacher evaluations and contracts, merit pay, and of course, right-sizing. Nothing changed for years. Then, finally, Mark Roosevelt sent me an email around New Years Day and he promised me that sports reform was coming off the back burner. Wow!

A study was done on Title IX, a consultant was hired with grant money. A committee was established and meetings were held. Real issues were talked about. Mark Roosevelt came to a meeting with about 35 people, VIPs in PPS in terms of coaching, sports, security, transportation, administration, principals, and said, “I'm sorry.” Roosevelt apologized for the terrible treatment and lack of support his administration had given throughout the years to sports and athletics. He had seen the light and now understood what was happening with PPS and how many of the pitfalls could be rectified through a more robust attention to these areas. Improvements in school spirit, attendance, grades, student health, graduation rates, discipline and scholarships are evident. I was so excited to hear of the new change in direction and within the month, Mark Roosevelt resigned and took a new job at a college in Ohio.

Linda Lane was hired by the board without interviewing anyone else so as to sustain the changes Mark Roosevelt was championing in PPS. But sadly, she failed and fumbled the whole sports reform movement. She was clueless. She pulled the plug and wouldn't do anything else in this regard except cut and starve.

When Dr. Lane gave her State of the District speech at CAPA in the fall of 2013, she talked about saving $600,000 from a budget by cutting some sports and all intramural programs and upgrading computers less frequently. That's some line item: Sports and technology upgrades for $600,000 savings. That move seemed to be a surprise to everyone, even within PPS, who had worked on sports reform. I pushed back with a position paper, “Fewer sports alternatives,” and the cuts to the budget never materialized, thankfully, due in great part by board members who knew better. Two years later in the fall of 2015, the PA auditor general and city controller told the newspapers of a PPS surplus of more than $120-million. Go figure.

The first suggestion in the position paper reads: PPS Superintendent, Doctor Linda Lane, should re-establish our Athletic Reform Task Force. Suggestion #1b: This position paper can fill the early agenda for task force meetings. Suggestion #1c: The next task force should include a research component. Examine student data along with Pittsburgh Promise data.

Some other of my favorite suggestions to PPS administrators include the establishment of PPS H2O for city-wide aquatics, an All-City Sports Camp from May to September and the formation of a private-public partnership, an Olympic Sports Division, to manage the scholastic sports of Swimming, X-Country, Track-and-Field, Tennis and intramural programs. After a three month wait, I finally did have one 30-minute meeting with Dara Ware Allen, PPS Administrator in charge of all student services (including athletics). She hadn't even read the position paper. No follow up since.

Linda Lane's Administration lacks leadership in terms of sports, after-school and community building – that's my top concern with PPS.

With the superintendent search, and new board members, it is time to double down. I want to re-visit the 2014 position paper and to insure the new PPS Board Members see it. But I am releasing a new document, a new vision. We can build upon our Summer Dreamers experiences with Swim & Water Polo and turn them into Year-Round Achievers. Let's train 250 new lifeguards in the next five years. You know, PPS has 14 indoor swim pools and there was a time a few years ago when every pool was closed all summer long. We ran the numbers, we have the opportunity to train 6,000 students a year in a five-week Swim & Water Polo Camp. We can teach every kid in PPS how to swim. And, we already have these facilities. They are too often closed. And, these plans are affordable. The pools are there. The water awaits. The plans call for no extra time for custodians. Done well, I expect sensational health benefits and community school interactions.

In the final public hearing concerning input for the new superintendent search, I was the 13th speaker. Every other speaker that came to the microphone to share insights had common ground with my central message as well.

Speaker #1 said: Services and support are not in place in PPS.

Speaker #2, a young woman, remembered that the only thing she was jazzed about at Allderdice through 9th, 10th, and 11th grade was her involvement in marching band. That experience kept her going through high school.

Speaker #3 works as a professional in out-of-school time activities as a community-based provider. She wants PPS to embrace partnerships and have that as a skill-set. The new superintendent needs to have a “track record” (pun to me) and display “small wins” in after-school programming. Well, I want big wins.

Speaker #4, an 8th grade student in Higher Achievement, spoke of the need for a fresh environment. In past years I coached water polo with students in Higher Achievement. Of course, that's fresh!

Speaker #5, a 7th grade student, wants communication skills and respect in communities.

Speaker #6, Hill District Economic Council spoke of being healthy. Wishing for transforming students, leadership, innovation. Athletic do that.

Speaker #7, a Pitt Education Professor and a parent spoke about deep and sustaining partnerships. Pittsburgh has an incredibly rich network. Civic and community engagement are needed and golly, she said that PPS often seems as if it does not want input. Spot on!

Speaker #8, Sala Udin, wants to see someone articulate a strategy. That's exactly what the position paper did. That's exactly what the Sports Reform Task Force did. That's what was ignored by PPS. Sala wants a “turn around” and I do too. We'll even teach flip turns! Yes, Sala, Pittsburgh is a segregated city with a large number of poor people. That's why we are excited to do water polo in the Hill District's Ammon Swim Pool again in the summer of 2016 and champion swimming and water polo, activities that don't cost much beyond having swim suits.

Speaker #9 wants community schools and job training for parents. I've been working with the Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center, but that's not the social skills job training that is really desired. But the new document speaks of community fitness for the parents and guardians of the students we coach. I want adults to start to train when their kids are youngsters so that a few years later as the kids are in high school we can kayak together in our rivers.

Speaker #10, the President of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers hit a home run and made mention of the word “athletics.” She wants none of this as an “after-thought. Rather, authentic working together is desired. Bravo.

Speaker #11, a U-Prep teacher, Chris, made mention that Pittsburgh has been a sports town with some graduates in the NFL and NBA. Who is going to stand up and take the heat, he asks? I think we teach that in athletics too.

Speaker #12, Fred Logan of Homewood, wants the PSCC (Parent School Community Councils) to return with gusto. And our sports boosters, sports leagues and sports advocate efforts should be a part of those PSCC gatherings, perhaps bringing purpose for some to show up and get more involved.

I spoke at #13.

Speaker #14 ranted about knowledge being power. Learn everything and many things. “We should do better than that so our kids can survive in the world.” Learning to swim is a survival skill.

Speaker #15, a Linden teacher and advocate with gifted referrals wants a universal screening so that all the kids who qualify as gifted get an invite to the Pittsburgh Gifted Center. Of course, all the kids should have some of the same opportunities. We could tie a universal gifted screening approach to a mission to have universal swimming lessons.

Speaker #16, Obama Academy senior, spoke of Teen Block and speaking up with student voices. The most popular messages among the kids have been about school starting too early and PPS teaching the whole person. I just released a new video about the AM Swim Practices we have at 6 am. And, I'm a big fan of holistic coaching.

Speaker #17, a U-Prep junior, a young Mr. Sanders, wants to be an entrepreneur. His personal finance class doesn't have a stable teacher and there are many faculty who seem to change often. The lunches do not seem to be nutritional and he and his classmates do not seem to be energized after eating. With athletes, great nutrition is vital. With growing kids, nutrition matters. I also expect that with more athletes, we'll diminish violence. Learning to play well with others is a central theme we should embrace often.

Speaker #18, a parent wants to develop amazing adults and wants inclusion with the disability community. Unemployment is at 70% in that sector, and teaching needs to be visual, auditory and kinetic.

Speaker #19, Ron Lawrence, 100-Black Men and an A+ Schools board member is one I want to get to meet. Closing the achievement gap is important. That achievement gap happens at the swim pool too.

Speaker #20, Education Rights Network advocate wants to end that pipeline to prison. I agree, the PPS administrative cabinet should have a commitment to include an administrator to work full time on efforts to better support those with disabilities. Another after-thought it seems.

Speaker #21, Kenneth, a long-time community activist and friend wants student government and school newspapers to be a first contact with visitors to the school. The newspapers teach ethics and are a place to get focus in a crisis. What's going on should be written about and he feels Mark Roosevelt was a terrible person, especially as he sold off the printing presses in all the schools.

Speaker #22, Tim Stevens, spoke and sang of his days in the U-Prep school, site of the meeting, as it was then called Herron Hill. He spoke at a past meeting and he highlighted the slogan above the stage, “We are all learning.” Enough said.

Speaker #23, Chris Moore, the new U-Prep principal, a former teacher at Schenley, is back in PPS and he feels the new superintendent should be one who is “called” to the job. That is a great trait. He also says that the new superintendent should have the discipline to put students first as he or she makes decisions. I got to chat for a minute after the meeting with the new principal. He'll help to get the word out to the students about the opportunities to play water polo in the neighborhood on Fridays at the Thelma Lovette YMCA.

Some are going to be really mad when Rand Paul wins Iowa

How the US Government Works, sorta

Bad answer....

Debate recap

Another FB post had this gem:

Marco Rubio puts forth that Vladimir Putin is just an organized crime thug who is controlling a 6 trillion dollar economy which is a disaster, but is putting a trillion dollars into his military which will surely bankrupt Russia; 15 minutes after he complained that the US economy is a disaster and by the way, we need to increase military spending by a trillion dollars.

Ba-Dow!
... and the hits just keep on a'comin'...

My point about the hawk, Marco Rubio, is that he should not be POTUS (President of the United States).

Marko Rubio for Union Boss of the Zen of Aimless Welding. As a back-up, he can be CEO of Candy Crush.

Reading up on Bernie

Interesting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

In the first D-candidate debate, the introduction time for each candidate was 2-minutes long. Senator Sanders spent his time talking about issues and gave little, if not nothing, about himself.

I do enjoy seeing a guy who bucked the two-party system get some traction in political circles. Props too for University of Chicago grad. Our swim team captain from last year's squad at Obama Academy is a freshman there now.

Another good article about Socialism and Bernie's stances with those political terms:

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/14/9530787/socialism-history-explained

A good runner in high school too.

http://magazine.good.is/articles/feel-the-bern-bernie-sanders-facts?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood

Nice tutorial