WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Time Magazine

There were 3,800 anti-Asian racist incidents, mostly against women, in the past year. A torrent of hate and violence against people of Asian descent around the U.S. began last spring, in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. Community leaders say the bigotry was spurred by the rhetoric of former President Trump, who referred to the coronavirus as the “China virus.”Amid the current upsurge in attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and in reaction to the growing national movement against anti-Asian hate crimes, former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee seized the moment to post this dismissive, mocking tweet about people of Chinese ancestry in America. 

Mike Huckabee

“I’ve decided to ‘identify’ as Chinese,” Huckabee tweeted Saturday. “Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my ‘values’ and I’ll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to @MLB games,” he added, in a reference to criticism against Georgia for its new law making it more difficult to vote. -- Huffington

 Congresswoman Ilhan Omar 

“It’s been really horrendous to watch the defense put George Floyd on trial instead of the former police officer who’s charged with his murder.” -- Guardian 

Former House Speaker, John Boehner

“P.S.: Ted Cruz, go fuck yourself!” -- Leaked audiobook

 Rebecca Solnit

My hope for a post-pandemic world is that the old excuses for doing nothing about climate – that it is impossible to change the status quo and too expensive to do so – have been stripped away. In response to the pandemic, we in the US have spent trillions of dollars and changed how we live and work. We need the will to do the same for the climate crisis.  -- Guardian

Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I have no problem with going to West Virginia, and I think we need a grassroots movement that makes it clear to Joe Manchin and everybody else in the United States Senate, including Republicans, that the progressive agenda is what the American people want." -- MSNBC

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Women Pack Streets in Massive Int'l Women's Day Marches Across Latin America

New York Times editorial

Already, citizens who are underinsured or uninsured are being slammed with medical bills that they can’t afford when they seek testing and treatment for the virus. Unsurprisingly, experts say that many of them are bound to avoid such care as the outbreak rages on. -- ‘Health Care for Some’ Is a Recipe for Disaster

 Rev. Jesse Jackson endorses Sanders

"With the exception of Native Americans, African Americans are the people who are most behind socially and economically in the United States and our needs are not moderate. A people far behind cannot catch up choosing the most moderate path. The most progressive social and economic path gives us the best chance to catch up and Senator Bernie Sanders represents the most progressive path. That's why I choose to endorse him today." -- CNN

Jane Fonda endorses Sanders

 "We have to get a climate president in office, and there's only one right now, and that's Bernie Sanders." -- USA TODAY

Kamala Harris endorses Biden

Senator Kamala Harris to Joe Biden: "I also believe and it’s personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who is built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country."

She continued, "It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing. There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me." -- New York Times

Trump's chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow

"Although, frankly, so far it looks relatively contained." -- Speaking on CNBC on Friday

This after Cruz's boss called COVID19 a "hoax"...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says he shook hands with CPAC attendee who tested positive for coronavirus, will self-quarantine https://t.co/YfnruLsrQ1

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 8, 2020

Alice Embree in Austin, Texas

"If the Coronavirus has really passed from humans to Ted Cruz, then we are f*****d." -- FB

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Chris Christie and Rahm Emanuel share a laugh during a segment attacking Medicare for All on ABC's "This Week." 

MapLight reporter Andrew Perez

"Rahm says no one at a bunch of Michigan and Wisconsin diners told him to take their health care away which is probably somewhat true since who in a diner would start talking to him at all." -- Common Dreams

Lori Lightfoot to Ted Cruz

But don’t you dare lecture us with half-truths, cherry-picked statistics and debunked rhetoric designed to score political points with your base and your donors while you, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the other Republicans in charge of the Senate sit in dereliction of your duty day after day, shooting after shooting. -- Washington Post

Amanda Kass

 “I think highlighting that there are lots of police and fire pension systems that are underfunded is accurate,” said Amanda Kass, associate director of the Government Finance Research Center at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “I don’t think it’s accurate to indicate that the majority are on the brink of insolvency.” -- Sun-Times

Rich Miller

But President Donald Trump, who had problems everywhere in suburbia, only won McSweeney’s district by a mere 1.6 percentage points in 2016. And then Democratic Comptroller Susana Mendoza won it last year by 2 points. Trump isn’t doing much to improve his popularity in the suburbs, so 2020 could be even worse for Republicans in that part of the world. -- Capitol Fax

Tom McNamee, Sun-Times Editorial Page Editor

The last sentence of the editorial made the point. The words were mine, but the clarity of thought was all Marca’s: “When we fully understand, as a society, that school nurses are not ‘extras’ — because kids with disabilities are not ‘extras’ — we predict this chronic shortage of nurses will magically disappear.” -- Marca Bristo made us all listen...

As Democrats increasingly unite around solutions as big as the problems we face, the media still puts up panels featuring politicians with little relevance like Rahm Emanuel and Chris Christie solely to attack the progressive energy in our party. pic.twitter.com/oJmLQI4N7j

— Justice Democrats (@justicedems) September 8, 2019

Trump: “Who will pay for the Wall?”
Audience: “Mexico will pay for the Wall!!” “Mexico!!”#BrokenPromise

— Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) September 6, 2019

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Protesters throw dollar bills at Clinton motorcade as she leaves Clooney fundraiser.

George Clooney after throwing a $33K/plate fundraiser for Hillary

"Yes. I think it's an obscene amount of money ... The Sanders campaign, when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely."  -- NBC News

New York Values -- A conversation

“We’re neighbors here,” she began calmly. “We enjoy the theater. We enjoy the arts. We enjoy Central Park, we enjoy the city — that’s New York. We’ve got all kinds of people, and we’ve all got to get along. Be kind, be patient, be gentle. Cruz is a moron. Marcia, what do you think of that jerk?”

“He was using New York as a symbol,” said Gillespie. “It’s code speak, so if you buy into the code, you start to defend it, and it’s indefensible.”

“That’s a very good insight,” said her friend. 

“Thank you sweetheart,” said Gillespie. -- Washington Post

CTU Pres. Karen Lewis

 "...we won’t be held hostage by the board’s zombie budgets." -- Sun-Times 

Bill Clinton mocks young Sanders supporters

"One of the few things I really haven't enjoyed about this primary: I think it's fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and [he] sounds so good: 'Just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine.'" -- Politico

Robert Scheer

"This war on terror has become a war on the American people." -- Democracy Now

George Clooney admits money he raised for Hillary Clinton is 'obscene' https://t.co/FNXIQxYZO1 #UniteBlue pic.twitter.com/R8dntVEFg1

— The Progressive Mind (@Libertea2012) April 18, 2016

Cruz came to the Bronx touting charter schools. But he was the one who got schooled. [Updated]

Malaika Mataba (l.) and Shula Selby helped draft the letter that led to Bronx Lighthouse Charter School to cancel Ted Cruz's appearance Wednesday.

[Correction/clarification: The references below to N.Y. charter boss Eva Moskowitz weren't meant to imply that Lighthouse charters were part of her personal network. But rather that she has become the powerful leader and spokesperson for the district's charter schools as a whole. Thanks to Diane Ravitch for the heads-up. -- mk]


I tried to warn them. When I first head that Donald Trump was holding a rally in Chicago, I asked, who on his staff thought that was a good idea?

When he ventured into Chicago last month, Trump was greeted by a coalition of thousands of protesters, inside and outside the UIC Pavilion. Seeing the size and militancy of the protest, he quickly cancelled his rally and hightailed it out of town. Trump's racist, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, and homophobic campaign may well have met its Waterloo in Chicago. The seemingly invincible campaign has been tumbling downhill ever since.

Ted Cruz down on "New York values". It's mutual. 

On Wednesday, Ted Cruz wandered into NYC attacking "New York values" and talking education. His strategists must have thought his pro-charter, school "choice" message would give him cover in the inner-city. Instead, he was the one who got schooled at a Bronx charter school of all places. 

According the NYDN,

The lesson came from a group of Bronx high school students who told the Republican presidential candidate to stay away. Cruz was scheduled to speak at Bronx Lighthouse College Preparatory Academy until students wrote a letter to the principal asking her not to let Cruz come, prompting staffers to cancel the appearance.

After her board invited Cruz to Lighthouse, Principal Alix Duggins was afraid to cancel without their permission. So the students planned their walkout.

"We told her if he came here, we would schedule a walkout," said Destiny Domeneck, 16. "Most of us are immigrants or come from immigrant backgrounds. Ted Cruz goes against everything our school stands for."

The students' letter made it clear that they had no use for Cruz' "misogynistic, homophobic, and racist" politics and would take action he came to their school.

Fearing a student walkout and a parent revolt, the charter school's CEO Khori Whittaker stepped in, patted the kids on the head, and cancelled Cruz.

A huge embarrassment, not only for Cruz, but for N.Y. charter boss Eva Moskowitz as well.

Lighthouse is a so-called "no excuses" school. The charter company operates 11 schools in NYC and one in D.C. It's one of Moskowitz' "choosiest of charters", with only a 5.9% admission rate and an extremely high (54%) teacher turnover rate.

The wingnuts at Breitbart have their undies in a twist.

The Bronx isn't Texas.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

UNO's Rangel with Rahm Emanuel

UNO leader Juan Rangel 

...said in a written statement that the spending “must be put in the right context." -- Sun-Times

 Student Dontae Chatman

“My school is threatening to take away our field day to students who refuse PARCC, I think we all should get treated the same way, if we take it or if we don’t take it.” -- Sun-Times

NYT Columnist Frank Bruni

It’s hate worn down into resignation, disgust repurposed as calculation. Stopping a ludicrous billionaire means submitting to a loathsome senator. -- Lose With Cruz: A Love Story

Author Natalie Y. Moore

With Rahm Emanuel's 2013 school closings, Moore's concerns were compounded: "Foreclosures and short sales had already rocked my block and Bronzeville as a whole. How could a vacant school affect property values?" -- Reader

Barack Obama

I'm more worried about climate change than ISIS. -- Fusion

Steve Nelson, head of the Calhoun School

Duckworth and others have inadvertently added “you’re not gritty enough” to the long-standing “you’re not smart enough” as ways for schools and teachers to continue their unnatural practices. -- Huffington

Thursday Questions

What is Eva Moskowitz afraid parents, media and visitors will see inside of her Success Academies?

CPS teacher asks: Why is it wrong for Chicago teachers to shut it down on April 1st to demand school funding, but OK for Rahm/Claypool to use furlough day to close schools?

How did Sac's school privatization mayor, Kevin Johnson (husband of Michelle Rhee), ever get away with this?

Was Trump's speech at AIPAC really worse than Hillary Clinton's?

How did Arizona get away with calling this an "election"?

Pres. Obama says Ted Cruz' plan to "secure" Muslim neighborhoods is downright un-American. I agree. But then how does he explain this on his watch?

Trib's Grossman calls for an 'end to protests'. But winds of change keep blowing.

The Tribune's Ron Grossman is imploring Chicago's emergent freedom movement to "halt the protests." He's terrified that even by protesting peacefully, the movement will attract the wrath of Donald Trump who, he argues, "profited" from the UIC protest last week. 

He claims to be a life-long protester himself who...

 "...was thrilled by the sight of long lines of protesters marching on Donald Trump's recent rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The crowd's rainbow of colors and creeds was a moving tribute to America at its best — a diversity that Trump attacks whenever he steps before a microphone or television camera to rail against Muslims and Mexicans. 

But, says Grossman, "the time has come to halt the demonstrations."

They became counterproductive once the confrontation between Trump's followers and opponents at the UIC Pavilion turned violent. It doesn't matter who started it. Trump profited from it.

He offers no evidence that the peaceful protests outside, or even the scattered clashes instigated by Trump supporters inside the UIC Pavilion on March 11, benefited Trump in any way. Since then Trump's been forced to cancel nearly all of his campaign rallies and back out of scheduled debates. He's increasingly becoming a political pariah and his violent, racist, anti-immigrant message has failed to gain traction beyond his narrow base of support. 

Trump may well have met his Waterloo at the UIC Pavilion last week.

Should he win the nomination, it's doubtful that he will be able to campaign in any big city in America. Even though he's still winning most of his primaries over a pathetic field of Republican (using the term loosely) competitors, his vote totals are becoming anemic and losing elections to Cruz and Kasich that he should have won. Even his victories have been hollow with more Republicans turning out to vote against him than for. 

On Tuesday, Kim Foxx, our state's attorney candidate in IL, got more votes in Cook County than Trump won in the entire state. 

In the media and in the court of public opinion, Trump and a handful of his most virulent supporters are clearly seen as the instigators of violence. Anti-Trump protesters have shown their committment to non-violence. 

His campaign has shattered what was left of the fractured Republican Party and he has the party leadership scrambling for someone -- anyone -- to replace Trump/Cruz as the party's candidate. 

Trump is even facing criminal investigations in North Carolina and other states, for inciting to riot and now is openly threatening riots against his own party's leaders if they try and oust him in Cleveland. If they can't, polls show him losing badly in November to either Clinton or Sanders. 

Trump is a paper tiger whose violent outbursts are a sign of his weakness, not his strength. His nomination will be a gift to the Democrats.

Since Grossman can offer no evidence of how the Black Lives Matter movement or student-led anti-Trump protests in Chicago helped Trump, he tries to draw some historic parallels while making some absurd claims. He blames protesters for everything from violating "human nature" to causing Nixon's election in '68, to rise of Hitler in Germany. 

A nation is bitterly divided between advocates of change and partisans of traditionalism. The former come to power, or are close to achieving it, and violence ensues. Then a strongman seizes power, blaming the disorders on the party of change for having severed the moorings of older values. That scenario is as old as the French Revolution, as new as 1968.

 Still, the analogy that keeps me up at night is between this election season and Germany in the 1930s. Street violence between the left and the right was the steppingstone that brought Hitler to power.

He even tries to invoke the names of Gandhi and Dr. King to make the case for halting all protests, confusing their commitment to non-violence with passive acceptance of oppression. Both were advocates of protest and direct action against injustice throughout their lives, even in the face of severe repression.

I doubt that Grossman's call to end the protests will resonate with many young activists. I hope not and doubt seriously that many people under the age of 30 even read the Trib or give a damn about what Grossman thinks. If he's truly worried about the promulgation of fascist ideology, he might well look inward at his own paper's editorial board which last May, called for a man with "Mussolini-like powers" to take over Chicago's public school system.

Let's keep marching people. It won't fall by itself.