History - Fantasies Told by the Victors

As bad as things seem to be getting, people are awakening in all facets - art, science and history. This one is for you James (get well soon)- https://youtu.be/Vb0BKH3z1zs?si=0vgO8zgDOGobUnp1  https://youtu.be/VUHd5vrA7eQ?si=Agvk-SwJpqfqR7Kb  

A Rough Road Ahead

 I just read an article saying that math and reading scores are at their lowest since 1990 for the average 13 year old. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/21/us/naep-test-results-education.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare  Well, 1990 was the year I started teaching. I had a PPT certificate , which was a temporary license to teach basically anything. I had five preps my first year and I was teaching reading, math and social studies to 7th and 9th graders in a junior high in the South Bronx. Most of the kids did struggle, but they all tried. I remember setting up a reading lab with plants, bookshelves, club chairs and tons of high interest novels. I had some great success with those students. Skip forward 33 years and things are so bad that they are unbelievable - https://youtu.be/4P7QyJ7cUfs Politicians and the media would like you to believe that it was the lockdown that caused it. It’s not,  it’s cell phones and the decline of civilization.  https://youtu.be/DZt4EDqB58Q

The NY Post Skews Reality on the Backs of Teachers (Again)

 One of my daily rituals is to read the New York Post. I also subscribe to the New York Times. If I am to be honest, I enjoy the Post much more. I think it’s because I’m allowed to argue and fight with the overwhelming amount of absurdly moronic readers of that venue. They have a comment section that seems to attract every neanderthal in the New York region. The sparring is quite addictive and enjoyable. Check out the latest - an incredibly shortsighted biased article that moved my blood pressure up this morning. The author’s bit on healthcare coverage was especially infuriating . One of the commenters, a Horace Mann, mentions something in the comments that I found very interesting —

“Horace Mann

11h ago

Unlike pensions, the state constitution doesn’t guarantee ..

Hmm. I shall search for that disgraceful, special interest, taxpayer hostile provision .. Yep. There it is. Article 5 §7:

After [7/1/40], membership in any pension or retirement system of the state or of a civil division thereof shall be a contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.

It looks like the communists pushed this through in NYS' Constitutional Convention of '38. Outrageous. Abolish PERS. Oh, and gov't workers and their financial dependents should NOT be allowed to vote in a GE.”

Read the entire article at your own risk. https://nypost.com/2023/06/18/with-no-room-to-raise-taxes-where-will-adams-find-the-money-for-his-pricey-union-deals/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

Denials and the Devastation of Sickness

 One of my buddies sent me this, an email referencing an article from the Washington Post - it’s content is quite good and pertains to some of the things that could happen as the UFT actively works against us (again). 

Give it a read, and then listen to this poem ‘Hell is a Lonely Place’, by Charles Bukowski. 

https://youtu.be/dwFNS-sNPEk 

Denials of health-insurance claims are rising — and getting weirder, Elisabeth Rosenthal, The Washington Post
Millions of Americans in the past few years have run into this experience: filing a health-care insurance claim that once might have been paid immediately but instead is just as quickly denied. If the experience and the insurer’s explanation often seem arbitrary and absurd, that might be because companies appear increasingly likely to employ computer algorithms or people with little relevant experience to issue rapid-fire denials of claims — sometimes bundles at a time — without even reviewing the patient’s medical chart; a job title at one company was “denial nurse.”

It’s a handy way for insurers to keep revenue high — and just the sort of thing that provisions of the Affordable Care Act were meant to prevent. Because the law prohibited insurers from deploying a number of previously profit-protecting measures such as refusing to cover patients with preexisting conditions, the authors worried that insurers would compensate by increasing the number of denials.

A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) of plans on the Affordable Care Act marketplace found that even when patients received care from in-network physicians — doctors and hospitals approved by these same insurers — the companies in 2021 nonetheless denied, on average, 17 percent of claims. One insurer denied 49 percent of claims in 2021; another’s turndowns hit an astonishing 80 percent in 2020. Despite the potentially dire impact that denials have on patients’ health or finances, data shows that people appeal only once in every 500 cases.

Sometimes, the insurers’ denials defy not just medical standards of care but also plain old human logic...

Sign the Petition- 10k needed (6/9/23 deadline)

 There’s 10,000 signatures needed to bring the Uft‘s nonsense to vote. If you haven’t signed it, please do, and if you have -pass it on. Remember, this can be signed by working teachers, and those who have retired. 

Sign at https://egjeqv.clicks.mlsend.com/te/cl/eyJ2Ijoie1wiYVwiOjM0MTk4OSxcImxcIjo4OTQ2MzU4NzY4NTI3MDkxOSxcInJcIjo4OTQ2MzU5MTE1ODE1NDUzNn0iLCJzIjoiMWEwNzQ0NzU3Mjg4NjI2NCJ9

A Message from the Party of Deceit

 And now, for a message from the Party of Deceit, aka UNITY, for those who don’t know better. Read at your own risk. (A great challenge for those of us who are trying to reach enlightenment.)

Hey there    We are in the middle of a historic organizing effort; unfortunately, the opposition is spewing cynical rhetoric. The opposing caucuses are for organizing until we call for it. We are asking members to get together and advocate for the fair contract we deserve. The opposition is opposed to it. Why would they be opposed to organizing now? The answer is all in politics. Don't let them define the narrative and paint a different picture. To get a fair contract, we must unite with all members, organize and advocate, period. That is, and always has been our narrative!    Let's redirect their message; please share or repost the Facebook post below to show support for the hard work that we are doing to fight for what we deserve.   We need to clap back and send our message loud and clear!    https://www.facebook.com/100064502509964/posts/pfbid0wv3sEHQW1kPQ7ZwZk5rgQz7yutpuGP7RkFm3kfcNcGxKhKNub6QjTdYUiY9Bwujjl/?mibextid=DcJ9fc

Thanks for your support!  Best,    Unity Caucus Social Media Team

Contact Info: Unity Committee P.O. Box 90362 Brooklyn, NY 11209 unitycommittee@hotmail.com

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Paul Laurence Dunbar

 The first school I worked in was called Paul Laurence Dunbar JHS in the Bronx. Very few people knew who he was, especially the teachers ; here’s one from Paul Laurence Dunbar.

We Wear the Mask

BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

       We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

       We wear the mask!