The massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was horrific. I can't imagine what the parents of the children are going through. I am sick of the gun culture in this country and sick of this phallic desperate need for guns. I have no problem with anyone owning a firearm. But there have to be background checks and more regulation
for owners and sellers. Why does anyone need an AR-15 other than making up for some Freudian physical shortcoming?

I was in my fourth year of teaching when Columbine occurred. It was shocking at the time. Twenty four years later and too many mass school shootings later as well I am now completely numb. I've gone from, "How can this happen?" to "I'm not surprised it has happened again." But as long as the ammosexuals are appeased and the fear of the NRA continues to pervade, it's going to happen again. And again. And again. 

But guess who is getting blamed. Teachers! Anyone surprised? From yesterday's Washington Post Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw blabbered...

...video surveillance shows a teacher propping open an exterior door at 11:27 a.m. May 24. That was right around the time Ramos had crashed a truck into a nearby ditch, and then emerged shooting at bystanders. The teacher then went to their classroom to retrieve a cellphone and at 11:30, though it’s not clear from where, they called 911. Within two minutes, Ramos was firing at the school building, and a school police officer had arrived on the scene. McCraw did not say what happened to the teacher...

Let's go to the video tape. Fellow blogger, honorary Crack Team member and SBSB fanboi NYCDoenuts shared his opinion in a tweet. An opinion I 100% agree with. He and I both want proof! Where's the proof? Show the video. Name the teacher. If the teacher did this, it shouldn't there be a crime? We demand proof!

Yep, let's blame the teachers. But in the meantime... LET'S ARM THE TEACHERS (smh)! Yes, the same teachers who have are being blamed for the non existent teaching of Critical Race Theory. The same teachers who are not allowed to say gay in Florida. The same teachers who are supposedly grooming four year olds. The same teachers that will soon need pre-approval from parents for lesson plans. The way to solve this problem is for teachers to carry? Where's the money going to come from? Will teachers be trained? Who will supply the guns? 

But...but... we can do like Ted Cruz said. Only one door per building. Good idea. That'll work well for fire drills, dismissal, and all other times. 

 But Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw as he blabbered whilst scapegoating teachers; two teachers died were slaughtered in that school. I will bet everything I have that those two teachers did everything tin their power to come between the students and the the bullets. 

Who were the heroes? The teachers. The cops were the ones that were chicken shit. 

I'm sick of this shit. It's senseless. These shooters hate life so much just go in the bathroom and put the barrel of the AR-15 in their mouths and pull the trigger. It worked for Pyle. 

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1530219824156139523?s=20&t=_x56KIbx75lNgOY9KCSqTAhttps://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1530219824156139523?s=20&t=_x56KIbx75lNgOY9KCSqTA

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1530219824156139523?s=20&t=_x56KIbx75lNgOY9KCSqTA

Fear is a mighty strong emotion. We all have some fears. Some are rational and some are not. But these are OUR own fears. We have ownership over our fears and only can either decide to cave to our fears or fight back against the fears that inhabit our souls. But there is something, or rather, someone worse than our fears.

Who could it be you ask?

These types decide to manipulate and feel the need to pour gasoline on our fears for their own self-aggrandizement. Such types can be labeled sociopathic, psychotic, narcissistic, manipulative, or if a male, in possession of a Freudian physical shortcoming, in which they feel is grossly inadequate and to make up for the lack of size and find the only way to "feel big" is to make others feel small.

One can even say that this type of person is so overcome with their own fears, that their fears  control them, that the only way to make themselves feel a modicum of being fearless is to project their fears onto others, to make themselves feel powerful and important. They feel it is better to bring others down to their level of living in the gutter, rather than trying to move out and letting the sunlight expose them for what they really are.

As ATR's we are constantly living with our antennae in a constant state of alert. We go around wondering if this is the day they are going to get us. Is this the right school I am in? Will the principal or field supervisor judge me objectively? Will I have a bathroom key? Am I still a good teacher? Am I still an adequate human being?

Are the DOE and the UFT in cahoots against me and my fellow ATR's?

Yes, we need reassurance while needing the ability to be in control of our destinies. It is a powerful balancing act. How do we toe the line between the two? How do we "play the game," while at the same time keep the dignity we so deserve along with the ability to stand up for ourselves?

I know of one thing that does not accomplish either goal. Fear mongering.

Sadly in our ATR world there are, or is it "is," an entity so bereft of any empathetic values, so attuned into itself that the only way It feels it can succeed is by scaring the shit out of others and look down at the carnage It has created with a smile.

This disturbing email addressed to ATR's came across the desk of The Crack Team recently.


From: It <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 2:12 PM
Subject: IMPORTANT- 1 minute ATR Survey
To:

Good afternoon,

     Whether you are now still an ATR, provisionally placed or just hired permanently this year, please take a quick moment to fill out this important ATR Survey. There is chatter that the DOE is releasing the names of all ATRs to a hedge fund backed parent group looking to attack ATRs in the press. They have already started last year in an effort to paint ATRs as sub par educators. We to counter their attacks and false claims with the truth.

Click here and take the survey by Friday please. The data we collect will mean less if only a few us contribute. Your names and email addresses will not be shared out. Results are listed at the bottom of the survey page.

CLICK HERE FOR SURVEY

Let's make one thing clear. This chatter, this thing that hedge funds are seeking out the names of ATR's is clear bullshit. Actually, this movement is being led by Students FirstNY and you can read the FOIL request here.  Even if the hedge funds are seeking out the names the DOE will not provide them voluntarily. This information comes to The Crack Team from very high up. Do not worry. Do not let the darkness of It control your emotions.

It had lofty goals, lofty plans, and worse, lofty promises. What has It had to show for all It has claimed? A .000 batting average. Nothing. Zero. Bupkus.

As Kirk said to Khan...

"but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target! 

 What ATR's are getting in this email is a falsehood sent by a false self-anointed deity and just a desperate method to sign up others to It's flailing failure of a movement.

ATR's will not be played for fools or marks, and certainly won't be the targets of grifters or scheisters.

I, along with a few others, were on the receiving end of a love letter sent by UFT Solidarity last
month. I had just woken up and was in the bathroom as I was reading it. I laughed so hard I fell off the bowl and almost cracked my head open.

So without further ado, the love letter written in full with commentary (In red).

Look, you guys poke fun Yeah, its so easy that I occasionally contact MORE to work together, Occasionally? It's bordering on some type of Fatal Attraction contact but the truth is MORE has fallen short in supporting the individual members. And how has the UFT Solidarity method risen above that? Have any of the 70 odd members of UFT Solidarity who have been discontinued, shat upon, etc... succeeded? Is the support that UFT Solidarity supposedly accorded its members genuine, specific to the member, or just a way for someone to make up for some major Freudian shortcoming? OOOH. We send emails to principals. We've all see how well that has worked. We try to come in and do that work, try is the key word just as we thought you can do the work we don't concentrate on. If you're going to continue mocking us for trying then we will just have to say no to MORE, move forward and up our social justice game. Social justice at UFT Solidarity? It's about chasing a windmills for the benefit of just the one.

Then we won't need to reach out to work as a coalition. Really? Awww, that sucks. Maybe UFT Solidarity should share with its 70 odd members the truth at what really transpired at that ICE meeting in June. 

If I may, a sidebar of what was posted on the super duper secret UFT Solidarity lackey site; http://uftsolidarity.slack.com It's free to join! Prizes are given away every day to the most sycophantic comment.

"The meeting started out tense, because of miscommunication on all sides. There was a lot of confusion as to which group was really represented at the restaurant. Was it ICE or MORE? At the beginning of the meeting several members from the other caucus expressed their distrust of UFT Solidarity and the intentions of Solidarity as a caucus. As the meeting went on and members of all sides were able to voice their personal concerns and feel that they were heard and their voice mattered the tension started to dissipate. As the walls of distrust came down, all caucuses involved were able to move the matter of creating a slate forward in a productive manner. There is still much work to be done, but the meeting was a great first step in the right direction."

There was no confusion, ICE is ICE, MORE is MORE. Walls of distrust never dissipated, in fact if anything they grew. There was no great step. It was dead in the water. Wake up, get over yourselves and enter reality.

The ridiculous conversations that took place below remind me why I created a different group. Yeah yeah, someone is OCD enough to save every little thing. Yeah, there was a internal donnybrook but what group never has one? MORE is like a Jewish family at times and when emotions get high they kvetch and opine loudly but when the dust settles all goes back to normal. I guess this is because MORE is not a top down organization relying on ONE to guide it and make its decisions.

Accept it already. Work with us or don't,Does this mean MORE is either against you and with you? Didn't work for W, why should it work for UFT Solidarity? but using Zucker to take jabs is a poor play.  Hey, that's me! Nobody is using me. Nobody is instructing me. I have stated again, and again, and again why I have taken the path I chose. Please stop and for once listen. 

Zucker remove your ridiculous posts and move forward. Remove? How so. Remove them from where? Is this a request or a demand? I'm telling you this will not go well. Like how? How won't it go well? Like that law suit? I've added your email and number to spam blocker weeks ago so I don't know if I could even see a response. As Herman Munster used to say, "Darn, Darn, Darn!"

 In Yiddish there are two words, schlemiel and schlimazel. The schlemiel is one who spills the soup. The schlimazel is the one who the soup spills on.

UFT Solidarity is the Schlimazel Caucus.