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Catherine Rampell: DOGE Is Making Government “Comically Inefficient” | Diane Ravitch's blog
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/21/doge-government-efficiency-federal-workers/ A senior aide to President Donald Trump once said the administration hoped to traumatize civil servants, an objective it has handily accomplished through arbitrary layoffs and other indignities. But government workers are not the only victims. Make sense of the latest news and debates with our daily newsletter Taxpayer dollars are being abused, too, as…
Texas: Beware of Vouchers! | Diane Ravitch's blog
The Texas House of Representatives is moving to a vote on vouchers. Governor Greg Abbott has been pushing vouchers for years, but the House legislators have defeated them again and again, even though Republicans have a super-majority in both houses. The votes were provided by a combination of urban Democrats and rural Republicans. The rural…
An Update on Downsizing of Federal Workforce | Diane Ravitch's blog
Government Executive has gathered data on the number of layoffs, RIFs, and firings in various federal agencies. These cuts of employees are supposed to make government more efficient, but they are so haphazard that government is likely to be less efficient. The data are current as of March 28. The cuts are expected to help…
CDC Downplays Importance of Vaccines, Reflecting Malign Influence of RFK Jr. | Diane Ravitch's blog
ProPublica reported that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently watered down its advice about how to respond to the danger of measles. Pre-Trump and RFK Jr., the CDC was quick to warn the public about the importance of getting vaccinated, especially when there was an uptick in contagious diseases. Now, with vaccine critic RFK…
Peter Greene: Arkansas Legislators Go Berserk Over Trans Students | Diane Ravitch's blog
Peter Greene, now retired after 39 years as a teacher in Pennsylvania, is a prolific writer. He has his own blog Curmudgacation, and he writes a column for Forbes. I am one of his most fervent admirers. He is a font of wisdom and common sense. In this post, he examines the cruelty of certain…
Are Trees “WOKE”? Are They Infected with DEI? | Diane Ravitch's blog
Doktor Zoom at the Wonkette blog alerts us to the elimination of a federal program to plant trees. If you have worried that "from little acorns, DEI will grow," you will be pleased. If you fear that planting trees is the first step towards a "Green New Deal," you can relax. Words like "justice" and…
Top Vaccine Official Resigns to Protest RFK Jr.’s “Lies and Misinformation” | Diane Ravitch's blog
Dr. Peter Marks, the leading vaccine expert at the Department of Health and Human Services resigned to protest Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s persistent lies about the efficacy of vaccines. At his Senate hearings, Kennedy assured the committee that his days as a vaccine opponent were over. He lied. The New York Times reported: The…
New York: Judge Rules that NYC Should Not Pay Inflated Rent of Charter School | Diane Ravitch's blog
Back in the first flush of charter schools, when they promised miracles, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that he was the champion of charter schools. They enrolled only about 5% of the state's students, but he was courting their Wall Street backers. He persuaded the state legislature to give charters whatever they wanted. One…
Der Spiegel: Personal Data of Top U.S. Officials is on the Web | Diane Ravitch's blog
Thanks to reader Kathy Griffith for this startling comment, citing the German publication Der Spiegel: Germany’s DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials,” the news site reported Wednesday. The top officials include National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence…
John Thompson: Why is Robert Pondiscio So Angry? | Diane Ravitch's blog
John Thompson is a historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma. He keeps watch over the Red state politics of Oklahoma and follows the national education scene closely, He writes here about author Robert Pondiscio. I was at one time good friends with Pondiscio. We were on the same wave-length. But things changed. Curiously, as I…
Trump Takes Control of the Smithsonian | Diane Ravitch's blog
Trump can't keep his hands off anything. In his mad dash to be king, he has decided to reshape the Smithsonian Institution. Will he close exhibits he doesn't like? We know he's completely ignorant of history, so whatever he does will suit his prejudices. He has put JD Vance in charge. Will he withdraw references…
Audrey Watters: The Dangerous Politics of Ed-Tech | Diane Ravitch's blog
Audrey Watters is a veteran blogger who has written about Ed-tech for many years, including a book about the history of Ed-tech, Teaching Machines: A History of Personalized Learning. Ed-tech concerns all of us so you might consider following her blog. This entry describes an upcoming conference where ASU and Global Silicon Valley bring together…
Trump Assigns Task of Revising the Nation’s History to Vance | Diane Ravitch's blog
When Trump took control of the Smithsonian Institution and its multiple museums yesterday, his executive order pledged to purge the museums of unpatriotic exhibits (WOKE ideology and DEI), the targets of Trump's rage. Trump gave the job to Vance, who will presumably clean up the nation's history and make it as inspiring (to white males)…
Three Prominent Professors Leave Yale for Canada | Diane Ravitch's blog
Three noted scholars of history, philosophy, and fascism at Yale University announced that they are moving to a university in Canada. One, Jason Stanley, made clear that he was leaving because of his fear that the U.S. was dangerously close to becoming fascist under Trump. The Yale Daily News reported: Three prominent critics of President…
John Connelly: Trump Never Learned the Lesson of Chamberlain at Munich | Diane Ravitch's blog
President Trump and Vice President Vance berate President Zelensky at the White House, February 28, 2025 (OSV News photo/Brian Snyder, Reuters) John Connelly is a historian of East Central Europe at the University of California at Berkeley. This essay appeared in Conmonweal. I urge you to subscribe. How I wish someone would read this essay…
Trump Announces Ban on Labor Unions in Federal Workforce | Diane Ravitch's blog
In his efforts to purge the civil service of thousands and thousands of employees, labor unions have sued to block Trump's mass firings. Now he's striking back by seeking to eliminate the unions of federal workers. The New York Times reported: President Trump instructed a broad swath of government agencies on Thursday to end collective…
ICE Grabs Turkish Ph.D Student at Tufts and Detains Her in Louisiana | Diane Ravitch's blog
ICE has become the American Gestapo. They are snatching foreign students on American campuses and whisking them away, often to undisclosed locations, with no hearings, no due process. The latest snatch-and-grab occurred yesterday at Tufts University in Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reported: The Trump administration’s campaign against pro-Palestinian activists reached the Boston area Tuesday evening…
Washington Post: DOGE Cuts Plunge Social Security into Chaos | Diane Ravitch's blog
Elon Musk's team of vandals, known as DOGE, have raided government agencies in search of deep cuts that they can take credit for. Most of their claims of savings turn out to be false or inflated but they persist in canceling contracts and firing government employees. The effects are now being felt at the Social…
Trump Administration Cuts Funding for Vaccines for World’s Poorest Nations | Diane Ravitch's blog
The cruelty and sheer meanness of the Trump administration can never be overestimated. As the administration closes down USAID, without Congressional authorization, it announced a series of cuts that will kill millions of people. Having an ardent opponent of vaccines in charge of Heakth and Human Services removes any advocacy to distribute proven methods to…
Stephen Dyer: Vouchers in Ohio Subsidize 91% of Students in Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog
Stephen Dyer is a former state legislator in Ohio. He is a practicing lawyer, an accomplished journalist, and a close observer of state education policy. He wrote on his blog 10th Period: According to state data from this year, a whopping 91% of parents with enrolled private school students are getting publicly subsidized tuition. Ninety.…
Peter Greene: Why the Department of Education Matters | Diane Ravitch's blog
Peter Greene, veteran teacher, master writer, the voice of wisdom and experience, sets the record straight about the purpose of the U.S. Department of Education. Contrary to what wrestling-entrepreneur Linda McMahon (Trump's Secretary of Education) says, the Department was not created to raise test scores. The Department was created to promote equal access to educational…
Thom Hartmann: In Trump’s America, ICE Can Detain Anyone–Even You–Without Cause or a Hearing | Diane Ravitch's blog
As I read this frightening post by Thom Hartmann, I was reminded of the many times in first term that he longed for protestors or suspects to be roughed up. He spoke to police officers in New York and urged them not to be so gentle when they apprehended suspects. He encouraged his audience to…
The SignalGate Scandal, the Lies, and the Text Messages | Diane Ravitch's blog
In the first big scandal of the Trump administration, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was invited to participate in a top-secret texting session about bombing the Houthis. Jeffrey Goldberg first thought it was a joke or a scam, but he joined the group and discovered it was real. He wrote about it in The Atlantic…
Thomas Ultican: There Was No “Mississippi Miracle” | Diane Ravitch's blog
A few years bacon, the story of the "Mississippi Miracle" in reading was all the rage. The increase in scores of fourth grade students on NAEP scores was hailed as miraculous, a testament to the dramatic power of the "science of reading." New York Times' columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column praising Mississippi for raising…
Rep. Rosa DeLauro: Trump and Musk Want to Fire Nearly 300,000 Teachers | Diane Ravitch's blog
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut is a stalwart ally of public schools. When Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, she was chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee and she will be again when Democrats regain control of the House. She knows the federal budget. Check her attachment to see how many teachers will be…
Hillary Clinton “Baffled” by Top-Secret Leak of War Plans | Diane Ravitch's blog
Remember how Trump ridiculed Hillary Clinton for using a private email server to conduct State Department business? His crowds chanted "Lock her up!" at his rallies. The FBI reopened an investigation 10 days before the election, based on allegations about her emails, closed the investigation a few days later, and she lost the election. No…
Why So Much Trump on This Blog? | Diane Ravitch's blog
I am a historian of education. I started the blog in 2012 to draw attention to the nefarious push for privatization. The privatization movement was and is well-funded by billionaires and highly coordinated. Its leaders attacked public schools as "failing," they railed against teachers, and they advocated for charter schools. And of course, they hate…
Heather Cox Richardson Sums Up the Trump Clown Car Fiasco | Diane Ravitch's blog
Always count on Heather Cox Richardson to synthesize the latest news and put it into context. That's her skill as a historian. In this post, she recounts the absurdities of the top-secret meeting of the top officials in the Trump administration, which included a journalist. How did any of these clowns get a security clearance?…
Jeff Tiedrich: What’s Going on with National Security, Pete? | Diane Ravitch's blog
The funniest blog out there is Jeff Tiedrich's "everyone is entitled to my own opinion." He is all over the scandal of Pete Hegseth & Co. including Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, on a top-secret texting group that discussed war plans. The group used an app that was not secure, that could have been…
How Many Will Die Because Trump and Musk Ended Foreign Aid? | Diane Ravitch's blog
Nicholas Kristoff tried to estimate how many people will die because of Elon Musk's frivolous cutting of foreign aid to desperate people? Of course, Musk relied on the authority given to his phony DOGE by Trump. So together, they bear responsibility for the deadly consequences. If either has a conscience, which is questionable, they will…
Refugees in Bangladesh Will Die of Starvation Due to U.S. Budget Cuts in Foreign Aid | Diane Ravitch's blog
Mujib Mashal wrote in The New York Times about the desperate starvation facing the Rohingya refugees as a result of the shutdown of U.S. foreign aid. They escaped Myanmar's "ethnic cleansing" and now live in a United Nations camp, where their survival depends on donations of food from benevolent nations. The U.S., thanks to billionaires…
Carol Kocivar: It’s Time to Talk to Your Child About Threats to Democracy | Diane Ravitch's blog
Carol Kocivar is former President of the California State PTA. She has worked as an attorney, journalist, and ombudsperson and is the parent to two children who graduated from the San Francisco public schools She posts on Substack, where this appeared. She writes: Scary as this may seem, it is time to talk with your…
Dana Milbank: Trump’s War on Freedom of the Press | Diane Ravitch's blog
Dana Milbank warns about Trump's determination to stamp out a free press. The most salient fact about Trump is his narcissism. He demands obeisance, praise, respect, admiration, even groveling. He despises criticism. That's why he is determined to intimidate journalists and media moguls. If he can't intimidate them, he sues them, expecting to intimidate them…
Thomas Friedman Does Not Believe a Single Word from Trump or Putin about Ukraine. Why? | Diane Ravitch's blog
New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman smells a rat in the bilateral talks between Trump and Putin about the war in Ukraine. He's been watching both of them for years, and he knows they are both lying. Putin is using Trump for his own ends. Trump wants to please Putin. He writes: Ever…
Jay Kuo Explains What Happened When a Federal Judge Slapped Down Musk and DOGE | Diane Ravitch's blog
Jay Kuo is a lawyer , blogger, and author who here explains a very important court ruling that finally, at last, challenged the constitutionality of Musk and his DOGE vandals. They have gone through agency after agency, copying personal data, firing employees without any knowledge of their role, and generally wreaking havoc. Anyone with the…
Hundreds of Jewish Academics Protest Trump’s Claim of “Fighting Anti-Semitism” to Attack Universities | Diane Ravitch's blog
A protest letter is circulating among Jewish faculty and students in response to the Trump administration's attacks on American universities. The specific complaint is that the attacks are cloaked as an effort to "fight anti-Semitism." The first assault was the federal government's suspension of $400 million in research grants to Columbia Unicersity on the grounds…
The Trouble with Tesla | Diane Ravitch's blog
Two years ago, two friends were driving to their weekend getaway in Orient, Long Island, in New York. Both were doctors. One was a noted pulmonologist who had saved my life in 1998 when I had a dangerous pulmonary embolism. His wife was a surgeon in an emergency room at a public hospital, who saved…
Blame Musk: Why Tesla is in Big Trouble | Diane Ravitch's blog
Tesla is in trouble for two reasons: first, Elon Musk entered politics and alienated half the nation's voters. He didn't just endorse Trump, he created the slash-and-burn DOGE, which is firing government workers en masse without cause. More people are trading in Teslas than any other brand. Protests are taking place at Tesla showrooms. Teslas…
Family Members of Deported Venezuelans Say They Had No Gang Ties | Diane Ravitch's blog
The Miami Herald reports that some of the men who were deported as "dangerous members of a Venezuelan gang" had no gang ties. Since the men were deported without any due process, we have no way of knowing whether they were justly or unjustly arrested and deported. In the U.S., the law requires due process…
Robert Kuttner: Trump and the Politics of Cruelty | Diane Ravitch's blog
Donald Trump is not only a sociopath, he is a sadist. He enjoys insulting people, humiliating them, and inflicting suffering. Robert Kuttner of the Economic Policy Institute--the rare think-tank that sides with working people and unions--wrote about how Trump ruins people's lives without losing sleep, without any expression of remorse or compassion. He writes: The…