Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Now and then, he makes a show of caring for others, though compared to his own sense of self worth, he cares little for the welfare of others and even less for people in his employ, whose purpose in life, he is certain, is to make the world a better place for him to live. If someone is injured — especially if he is somehow to blame — he might have a hireling deliver a gold coin as a token of his concern. And he likes to make a public display of bestowing money on people and organizations who, unlike him, devote their lives to making the world a better place for others.
Once, when his carriage careened through the city streets and killed a child . . .
Wait. What? A carriage? A child?
Did you think I was talking about the multibillionaires walking among us who devote their lives to stepping over others to increase their wealth, then give a few million dollars to worthy causes to ease their consciences, to make them feel like they're part of the solution, not the problem? No, I was talking about "Monseigneur," a rich and powerful lord in Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
After taking his morning chocolate, Monseigneur ordered his carriage driver to race through the streets with "furious recklessness" and "an inhuman abandonment of consideration not easy to be understood in these days."
The carriage struck a child. Monseigneur tossed the father of the dead child a gold coin while thinking, "It is extraordinary to me . . . that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children." When a man in the crowd offered wise, world-weary condolences the child's father, Monseigneur said to him, "You are a philosopher, you there," and tossed him a gold coin as well. Then he went on his way.
We can tell ourselves the ways of today's rich-as-lords plutocrats are different from those of the lords who lived before the French Revolution. Dickens, pen dipped in acid, tells his readers living 70 years later that Monseigneur's ways are "not easy to be understood in these days." We can believe the same.
Tags: WINNERS TAKE ALL: The Elite Charade of Changing the World , Anand Giridharadas , Income inequality , A Tale of Two Cities. , Image
Friday, August 24, 2018
For an update on the Backpage.com shutdown and a deep dive into what led to the website's closure, check out Elizabeth Nolan Brown's great reporting.
Backpage started as the literal back page of the Phoenix New Times. Co-founders Michael Lacey and James Larkin started the weekly paper in 1970. And from the get-go, they were radical.
Nolan Brown speaks with the two men, arrested in Backpage's closure last spring, and looks at the case against the media moguls and the history of the Phoenix New Times and Backpage.
In Arizona, that meant taking ample swipes at Sheriff Joe Arpaio—who would eventually demand years' worth of personal data on New Times readers and have Lacey and Larkin jailed for writing about it—as well as anyone who cozied up to Arpaio, Republican Sen. John McCain, or his wealthy wife, Cindy. The paper would report on the McCains for their involvement with savings-and-loan scammer Charles Keating; dredge up Cindy's dad's connection to mobsters and murdered Arizona Republic journalist Don Bolles; and out Cindy as an opioid addict who forged prescriptions and stole pills from the children's charity she founded.
"We weren't trying to curry favor," says Larkin. "We didn't line up with the establishments in any city that we were involved in….We didn't really care what politicians saw in us. And that's come back to haunt us."
Tags: Backpage , Phoenix New Times , sex workers , Image
If guns are going to be put into the hands of teachers or anyone else other than school police, first, the state needs to absolve the employees of legal liability if any of them injure or kill a student or another innocent bystander.
As a retired teacher it hurts me to write about this, but it's just a simple fact. If school employees with minimal training in gun use during crisis situations are allowed to carry weapons in school, one of them is going to shoot the wrong person. It's a statistical inevitability. Police shoot innocent people, and they get far more weapons training than a school employee is likely to have. In the heat of the moment with fear and adrenaline raging, some teacher or administrator or custodian is going to choose the wrong person to aim at, or a shaky hand will jerk the gun in the wrong direction, and an innocent person will get hurt, or worse.
A school employee who shoots the wrong person will live with the mistake for the rest of his or her life, as will the family of the person accidentally injured or killed. But should the employee be held responsible — sued by the injured family or prosecuted in a court of law? The answer is no. The employee should be dealt with far more leniently than a law enforcement officer whose job it is to deal with situations involving violence and guns. People who work at school are trained to teach or administrate or perform other school-related duties, not to handle fire arms in a shooting situation.
Tags: Guns in schools , education , politics , safety , children , schools , teachers , legislation , Image
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
In a recent BradBlog post, Friedman wrote about the latest from the hackers convention, DEF CON, in Las Vegas. If this doesn't scare you, you're not paying attention (or you figure vote tampering is going to help your side). He also has a podcast you can link to with more detailed information and interviews.
[W]e head straight out to Las Vegas for today's BradCast, where the 26th annual hackers convention, DEF CON, held its 2nd annual Vote Hacking Village.
After every voting system on display at last year's event was hacked within minutes by conference attendees, organizers tried to make it a bit more difficult this year. They made unverifiable electronic voting systems, optical-scan paper ballot tabulators and electronic pollbooks from a number of companies —- almost all of which will be in wide use across the country once again for this November's crucial midterms —- available for investigation and penetration. Once again, the hackers in attendance made short order of pretty much all of them.
Stunning vulnerabilities were discovered, including some that officials have known about (and ignored or tried to keep secret for years) while others were revealed for the first time. Things like Chinese pop song files were found on one system used in actual elections recently, along with a host of other disturbing findings, which we summarize today.
Tags: Election integrity , Brad Friedman , DEF CON , Voting machines , Image
Monday, August 20, 2018
We, here at the Tucson Weekly, receive lots of mail every day and so in efforts of paying it forward, here is a letter to you about a book that landed in our mail box.
Every now and again some kind publisher sends us a book with the hopes and dreams that we will write a wonderful review therefore skyrocketing their book sales. We get many books and are not able to read and review every single one, but sometimes one catches our eye.
Well, today that book was "The Best Damn Answers to Life's Hardest Questions" by Tess Koman.
The little pink, brown and gold book is inviting with its sparkly cartoon taco, sunglasses and bra on the cover, and that is where you get sucked in.
First you start reading thinking you are too cool for group think. That there is no such thing as universal relatablility. And then you follow through the flow charts and realize that everything describes your life. Perfectly.
Now, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bit sad of a thing, but it is certainly the truth.
This book asks the real questions in life, such as is a bra really necessary? Should I buy a plant? Should I text *that person*? And perhaps, most pointedly, am I too old for this shit?
Cute and colorful flowcharts illustrated by the talented Katie Vernon help millennials, and maybe even everyone really, navigate through some of life's smallest yet most important decisions.
And after reading through Koman's advice, my advice for her? Go open that bagel shop! You clearly want to!
EXTRA: A little interesting note about the author is that she is the features editor at delish.com and the former web editor at cosmopolitan.com. Web editors often are pretty cool people.
- Tirion Morris, Web Editor
Tags: Book , review , questions , answers , flowcharts , comic , cartoons , letter , mail , delivery , dear reader , Image
Friday, August 17, 2018
Banner - UMC Tucson was named number one in Tucson, number three in all of Arizona and ranked nationally in three specialties: number 36 for gynecology, 49th for pulmonology and 50th for nephrology.
"We are honored that U.S. News has recognized the hard work and dedication of our caregivers, educators and researchers at Banner – University Medical Center Tucson. Our team's continuing commitment to our patients and our community is unparalleled," said Sarah Frost, interim CEO of Banner – University Medical Center Tucson.
This year U.S. News and World Report ranked more than 4,500 medical centers across the country, with 25 specialties.
Banner - UMC Phoenix ranked number two nationally, and placed among the best in five categories including geriatrics, pulmonology, nephrology, cardiology and heart surgery, and neurology and neurosurgery.
"To be among the medical centers recognized in five specialty areas is a significant accomplishment, and is a testament to the work that our team does every day in support of building the relationship between our college and Banner," said Guy Reed, dean of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix. "Let us continue to raise the bar for our students and patients, the community, and one another."
Read the full report here.
Tags: Banner - UMC , hospital , ranking , healthcare , education , UA , Tucson , Phoenix , Image
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Doug Ducey and his Republican legislative cronies had $56 million in federal money waiting to be spent to help cover the cost of child care and early childhood education for low income families. They refused to spend it.
The state didn't have to put up a penny. All it had to do was add a $56 million line item to its budget, and more low income children would have access to child care services. Ducey and the Republican legislative leaders knew the money was there, they were urged to put it in the budget by child care advocates and by Democrats in the legislature. They just decided not to do it.
When a story in the Sunday Star brought the unspent $56 million to my attention, I contacted Michelle Crow, Southern Arizona Director of the Children's Action Alliance, for more details. Next I talked to Democratic Rep. Randy Friese, who represents LD-9, my legislative district, to find out why the money didn't make it into the budget. The more I learned, the worse things got.
In March the federal government included $5.2 billion in its budget to increase the quality of child care and early childhood education across the country. Arizona's cut of the funds is $56 million, which is supposed to be added to the $125 million Arizona already receives to subsidize child care and early childhood education for children from low income families.
Right now, there's not enough money to subsidize child care for all the children who need it. As bad or worse, the amount the state allocates per child doesn't cover the child care provider's costs. The state Department of Economic Security's "Reimbursement Rates for Child Care" schedule is based on what the services should cost. The problem is, the reimbursement rates haven't changed since 2000. The state is still using an 18 year old rate schedule created at a time when the minimum wage was $5.15 an hour. Today it's $10.50.
It's actually worse than that. The DES reimbursement is only 75 percent of going rate in 2000. It's no surprise Arizona has among the lowest reimbursement rates in the country.
Tags: Child care subsidies , $56 million , Department of Economic Security , Michelle Crow , Rep. Randy Friese , Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley , Image
Monday, August 13, 2018
Are you tired of all those political robocalls and calls from earnest volunteers? Did you know, they're tired of talking to you too?
Are you tired of all those glossy, oversized postcards from candidates touting their accomplishments — and maybe running down their opponents? Did you know, they're tired of sending them to you too?
Just vote. When campaigns find out you've sent in your ballot, they'll leave you alone. No more (or almost no more) calls. No more (or almost no more) oversized postcards. You can sit back with the beverage of your choice and watch the political circus unfold before your eyes, knowing you've done your patriotic chore. Better yet, volunteer for the candidate(s) of your choice and be one of those phoners or the doorbell ringers helping to get out the vote.
Send in your ballot!
Friday, August 10, 2018
Thursday, a post on Blog for Arizona by Larry Bodine sent minor shockwaves through the Democratic primary race for governor. Bodine wrote a scathing review of a book David Garcia wrote titled School Choice, which will be published September 28. According to Bodine, Garcia's book is pro-school privatization and, in the words of the headline "a Blueprint to Dismantle Public Education."
Bodine's post was the first I heard of the book. I asked him if he would share his review copy with me, and he did gladly. I read the book — or to be completely honest, I read the beginning carefully, then skimmed the rest of the 196-page book attentively enough to understand its content.
Bodine's depiction of the book is, in a word, wrong.
Of the people who have had a chance to read the book and comment on it in the media, I probably have the most experience reading education books. I have amassed a significant number of postgraduate units in the field, and I've continued reading education works, ranging from blog posts to articles to books, on a daily basis. Though I have expressed my support for Garcia, I also know how to read these kinds of texts for content and possible political leanings without letting my personal opinions interfere.
What Garcia has written is a book on the history of school choice beginning in colonial days and continuing through 2017. It is meant to be an objective overview of the subject, and it succeeds in that regard. If I had never heard of David Garcia and read this book, I wouldn't know his personal opinions on the subject. Though it is written for general consumption, it would be a valuable book to assign in any college course on the history of education, from Education 101 through graduate school.
I'm not the only one to arrive at the conclusion that Bodine's post is a distortion of the contents of Garcia's book. Brahm Resnik, one of Arizona's top journalists, came to a similar conclusion. So did Maria Polletta of the Arizona Republic. I'll quote some of what they wrote at the end of the post.
Tags: David Garcia , Blog for Arizona , Larry Bodine , School Choice , MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series , Image
Thursday, August 9, 2018
We finally know a little more about the future of the station—and it appears that the new owners are going to be giving local talk a big opportunity.
Once again proving that he has more lives than a wildcat, John C. Scott—who has hosted a local talk show on a variety of stations since the late ’80s in this town—will be returning to the airwaves from 4 to 6 p.m. daily. While the details are still being sorted out, Scott will also be helping develop new local talk shows at the station. He's in talk with various local political and sports personalities about hosting shows.
"Every time I pay for funeral expenses in advance, I kick myself," Scott told the Weekly. "I'm not dead yet."
Buckmaster, who had a long run as the host of PBS-6's Arizona Illustrated before moving on to talk radio in 2011, will continue to host his show from noon to 1 p.m., and morning talker Chris DeSimone is expected to keep his show, Wake Up Tucson.
"I am really excited about Dr. Bustos' vision for local talk radio in this town," Buckmaster told the Weekly. "This is a win-win for everyone involved with the big winner our community to have a radio station where all voices will be welcome on the air."
Tags: radio , local , talk radio show , KVOI , Tucson , Image
