MORNING MESSAGE
John Oliver Slams Charter Schools and His Critics Totally Miss the Point
Earlier
this week, British comedian John Oliver devoted a “Back to School” segment on
his HBO program "Last Week Tonight" to examining the rapidly growing charter
school industry and what these schools are doing with our tax dollars. ... None
of Oliver’s critics seriously refuted the crux of his argument that there might
be something fundamentally wrong by design, rather than by implementation or
intent, with the idea that a “free market” of privately operated and essentially
unregulated schools is a surefire way to improve education opportunities for all
students.
Hillary Clinton vs. the 'Alt-Right'
Hillary Clinton to put the focus on Donald Trump’s embrace of the “alt-right.” From Reuters: “Aides said Clinton will link Trump’s statements about immigration and religion to the rise of a political fringe movement in the U.S. known as the “alternative right”, which opposes multiculturalism and immigration. … “Trump’s newly installed brain trust,” Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement, “completes Donald Trump’s disturbing takeover of the Republican Party.””
“When
Trump Met Mr. Brexit—the Alt-Right Coalition Goes Global.” From John Avlon
at Slate: “Trade “Britain First” for “America First” and you get a clear sense
of the continuity between conservative populists on both sides of the pond.”
The
New Republic on “Hillary Clinton’s Alt-Right Dillemma”: “There’s a sensible
adage online: “Do not feed the trolls.” Trolls live off attention, so if you
respond to them, they get more energized. The problem is, if you leave trolls
alone you run the risk of letting them poison public discourse unabated. Clinton
has decided to take the issue head on.”
Reality in Donald Trump's Empire
Time
magazine probes “What Donald Trump Knew About Undocumented Workers at His
Signature Tower.” “For 36 years, Trump has denied knowingly using
undocumented workers to demolish the building that would be replaced with Trump
Tower in 1980. … But thousands of pages of documents … contain testimony that
Trump sought out the Polish workers when he saw them on another job, instigated
the creation of the company that paid them and negotiated the hours they would
work. The papers contain testimony that Trump repeatedly toured the site where
the men were working, directly addressed them about pay problems and even
promised to pay them himself, which he eventually did.”
Mother
Jones examines Trump’s claim that he hired lots of women executives. His casino
records say otherwise. “In filings from 1996 to 2008, we identified 59
executives (not including Trump himself). Of those, six were women—10 percent of
the total. None of these six served on the THCR [Trump Hotel and Casino Resorts]
or TER [Trump Entertainment Resorts] board of directors.”
Bernie Sanders Kicks Off 'Our Revolution'
Bernie
Sanders launches ‘Our Revolution’ with electoral targets. The Washington
Post’s David Weigel and John Wagner reports: “For a full hour, Sanders told an
audience in Burlington, Vt. — and tens of thousands of online viewers — that
they had moved the center of American politics to the left, and could join him
in backing “over a hundred candidates” and “seven key ballot initiatives” around
America. But the announcement was preceded by two days of negative stories about
how Our Revolution will actually work, and grumbling about how Sanders has spent
his political capital.”
Racism Unmasked
Kansas
family told “This neighborhood does not need any blacks in it.” “Nancy
Wirths, 49, told NBC affiliate KSNW that she pulled an anonymous note from her
mailbox Monday in northern Wichita from someone who claimed to be a disgruntled
neighbor forced to flee his home. … ‘We have noticed that there are some black
children at your residence. … This neighborhood does not need any blacks in it.
There is a reason for the saying, ‘The other side of the tracks.’ That is where
these people belong.'”
A
senior United Nations official calls out ‘blunt discrimination’ by police and
‘crisis levels’ of racism. “Maina Kiai … is the U.N.’s special rapporteur on
the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and his trip last
month was meant to examine how Americans handle protests. … “The focus of my
mission was not race or discrimination,” he said in his statement, a prelude to
a fuller report expected next year. “But it is impossible to discuss these
rights without issues of racism pervading the discussions.””
Case For Public Spending
Federal
Reserve emphasizes need for more public spending. “The Fed’s annual
conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where Yellen speaks on Friday, is due to
focus on how to improve central banks’ “toolkit,” but the unanimous message from
the Fed’s top policymakers is that those tools are not enough. … Fed vice chair
Stanley Fischer said … it was up to the administration to invest more in
infrastructure and education.”
Infrastructure
spending needs to be coupled with an equity agenda, says director of the
Partnership for Working Families. “In order to create an ambitious
infrastructure program that rebuilds the country’s systems and provides
opportunity, America’s next president will need to apply an equity frame to the
entire program. That means critically considering the impact of projects on
communities and getting their input early on in the process. That also means
smart planning to ensure that the program creates good jobs and opportunities
for those who need them the most.”
Breakfast Sides
New
York Times says Republicans are gaining in voter registrations in key
states. “The gains made by Republicans since 2012 have been especially sharp
in North Carolina and Florida. … [But the] number of registered Democrats and
Republicans might not be a critical factor in this election. Since 2012, more
voters have chosen not to register for either party.”
David
Corn at Mother Jones tries to answer “The Question No One’s Asking About the
Clinton Foundation.” “There may have been a need for a better firewall
between Clinton and the foundation when Clinton was the nation’s top diplomat,
but the AP article [that she met several dozen times with donors to the Clinton
Foundation] focused on a small issue and skipped a bigger subject: assessing
what the Clinton Foundation has accomplished. And there may be a good reason why
much of the coverage of the foundation has zeroed in on side matters, because
it’s darn hard to evaluate what the meganonprofit has done.”
California
Gov. Jerry Brown to sign sweeping new climate legislation. “Environmental
advocates and clean energy companies have pushed the proposals as a major step
forward for California, which has been touted as an international example for
tackling global warming. Oil companies and some manufacturers fought the
legislation, warning of higher costs and out-of-control regulators.”
Progressive
Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to
activists. Progressive Breakfast is a project of the Campaign for America's
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