Broad Education Foundation
President of the Broad Education Foundation, a Los Angeles-based philanthropy that works to improve urban public schools; former assistant to President Barack Obama and Chief-of-Staff to Vice President Joe Biden; former domestic policy advisor to then-President Clinton; former president of the Democratic Leadership Council and co-author of The Plan: Big Ideas for America
Do Public School Teachers Deserve Failing Grades? A judge in Los Angeles made national headlines last week when he ruled that tenure and seniority rules protect bad teachers and make them almost impossible to fire. He found that ineffective teachers end up in troubled neighborhoods, where they deprive poor and minority children of their constitutional right to an equal education. He said, “the evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and other “reformers” are celebrating a victory for the “rights of students.” Teachers’ unions insist they're not the real villains, calling it “another attempt by… special interests to privatize public education.”
Are the Democrats This Year's October Surprise? "Strategists and consultants of both parties now believe the House is lost and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi will become speaker. At best, Republicans will cling to control of the Senate by a single seat, two at most." That's from conservative columnist Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard, quoted today in ABC's political website The Note . Democrats are so optimistic that Pelosi is already talking about which office she'll use as House Speaker. But President Bush and Carl Rove are reportedly full of confidence, both publicly and in private. Will the mid-term elections be a referendum on the President himself, Iraq and scandals in Congress? Can Republicans change the subject to local issues? What about money, organization and the partisan gerrymandering of district boundaries?
Too rich for our own good Affluent communities put their futures as risk when they become unaffordable for everyone but the wealthy.
Legal or illegal? Is the appointment of Matt Whitaker as acting attorney general?
Regulars at Borderline Bar & Grill reflect on the shooting This year there has been a mass shooting in America on average almost once per day. As you know, the most recent was the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks where 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire inside a local bar. It was called Borderline Bar & Grill. KCRW’s David Weinberg talked to some of the bar’s regulars about what made the place special.
Measure B and municipal banking After the 2008 financial crisis, an activist movement rose up in opposition to the big Wall Street banks that caused the subprime mortgage collapse. They camped out in a park at the base of Wall Street, called themselves Occupy Wall street and eventually the movement spread to other cities. And here in LA there is a measure on the ballot for this Tuesday that has its roots in the Occupy LA movement.