This is definitely a "can't help but looking while driving by a car accident moment." Unity/UFT has a blog. I hadn't known that, and I will welcome their blog to my blog roll. But we here at SBSB are disappointed, yet wonder why, the Unity/UFT blog has yet to enable the ability for one to leave comments. Would this not be a lively venue to debate the issues of the day? A place for Unity/UFT to have unfettered access into the minds of the rank and file?

The Crack Team has come across this most recent blog post of Unity/UFT entitled; "UNITY/UFT: Doing the Work Without the Drama!" Really? For real? Are you kidding? 

¡Uno momento por favor!

This blog post is so easy to take apart line by line, idea by idea. But let's just focuson two points being propagandized by Unity/UFT for now.

No drama? Let's just take a look at the first sentence of the blog post...

We have said it before and we will say it again – we sincerely believe in working together in UNITY. 

Where was this so called "working together" that the blog post espouses in switching retirees who were expecting Medicare when they were to retire over to the Medicare (Dis)advantage? 

There are tens of thousands of retirees right now that are scared shitless of what is about to happen. There are retirees with serious health issues that are extremely scared that the doctors and medical providers that will no longer be available to them. And don't forget their spouses as well.   They are being forced to blindly sign up for this abomination of a health plan, whilst those that control the union can only say, "Trust us."

What about those retirees who are fixed incomes? Living month to month by the seat of their pants, now must pay hundreds of dollars a month to keep their Medicare as they knew it? That they must choose between eating or dying. 

What of the retired teacher who dreamed of retiring to Wyoming? Think there will be doctors there that will be on NYC's Medicare (Dis)advantage? Doubtful, very doubtful.

There is no working together with retirees. There is only, "This is the plan. You can like it or lump it." That is not working together. That is not we teach our students. Why does Unity/UFT act in such a manner? Unity/UFT has created drama and perpetuated drama. 

Unity/UFT is taking it's most loyal voting bloc and who just happen to be the most vulnerable members and throwing them under the bus. Why would retirees wish to vote for Unity? 

Yet another contradictory and tone deaf statement from the blog...

No drama or theatre of the absurd. No spreading of misinformation. We speak to facts and facts only.

Really, Gracie? No theater of the absurd? No spreading of misinformation? Facts only? 

Then explain this Twitter troll:

I know, I know. The profile for the trolls says, "views are my own." But there is a pretty good idea who this person might be. This blog has been trolled by this person troll. So has another blog. But I enjoy his tweets and the comments. Keeps me and others laughing. 

Unity/UFT is projecting the drama they claim to hate.

About this remote teacher vs in person teacher thing happening, we need to be careful. Being home teaching is not all that it is cracked up to be. 

There are other people home, there are babies, there are other children, and pets that need attending. You don't get a real connection with your students. You really can't work one on one. I can go on. But remember this. There wouldn't be remote teachers if there weren't
remote students. Parents have made the choice that they don't feel the schools are safe for their students. That is their right. And it is our right as teachers that are susceptible to COVID to take the DOE up on its offer to teach from home. Heck, there might be even less remote teachers if the DOE had a real plan back in September. 

We don't need the New York Post to fan the flames. We don't need the ignorant politicians and neo-liberals to create shit storms. Worse, we don't need one of our own to knife teachers in the back.

 We don't need a 4th year non tenured teacher with a fake Bronx accent throwing teachers under the bus.

The Crack Team found this tweet by Stephanie Edmonds (@classdisrupti0n) of Bronx Law High School at the Theodore Roosevelt Campus in the Bronx. Let's have a look see.I believe this tweet was on or around December 12.

Wow! So Stephanie agrees that we, I would assume the rank and file of the UFT, are privileged? Privileged how Stephanie? Privileged like having everything handed to us? Privileged having grown up in one of the toniest areas of Fairfield County? Privileged to go to an exclusive boarding school for high school? Please, explain. We don't understand. Most of us were only born with a plastic spork in our mouths. We don't have yachts on Long Island Sound.

As for as I know, I, and every single remote teacher is doing their ACTUAL job. You're doing your ACTUAL job too. You are remote. Are you better than us? Know more than us? We're in the same boat. But I am sure you're still looking down your nose at "the remote teachers." 

Denial? Excuses? What am I in denial of? What are other remote teachers in denial of? I'm not denying that this situation is rough for all involved. That it would have been better to have had a plan had its genesis back in March. I, nor my union brothers and sisters, are unable to control the incompetency of Mayor De Blasio and Chancellor Carranza.

Are we (and again to be sure we are talking about remote teachers) making excuses for remote teaching? Stephanie, answer this question. I spoke to a colleague over the weekend I had taught with back in 2003. Our children used to play together. She is remote. Why? Her daughter, the same age as my son, has cancer. When one has cancer the immune system tends to get messed up. My friend sought, and received, an accommodation (thanks to UFT Solidarity and Bryan Glass) so she would not have to worry about being in a school or the Bronx. Avoiding a situation in which she could catch COVID and, God forbid, infect her daughter. 

Speaking for myself, I am type 2 diabetic. My BMI is where it should be as is my A1C. But I am 56, and for some weird reason don't wish to die due to COVID. Maybe if I was 30 years old I might think differently. But I am not.

Deflection and blame? Again Stephanie, (check your scorecard, we are still talking about remote teachers) what is it we are deflecting? Explain yourself. Who are we blaming? I've been with the DOE 25 years. There is incompetency all around. I'll blame De Blasio and Carranza. Try your know it all energy on these two dunces.

Yeah, the UFT has been wishy washy and inconsistent, but the mayor and the chancellor are the ultimate fartheads. 

You know Stephanie, when I started teaching I was told to keep my mouth shut and my ears open. Sadly, it's been the opposite for you. Perhaps you should concentrate on teaching instead of what you think is a quasi-media empire on You Tube.

Want to curse the union all you want? Go right ahead I'll be there supporting you. But attacking teachers, your union brothers and sisters, your colleagues, on social media that's just wrong. Do it privately. 

But what's most disturbing is this attitude you have of knowing it all. You know jack. You are in a situation you never were in before. You think you are "down" with your students? Think about what they are saying about you in Spanish. 

Don't think you have cred because you believe you teach in the South Bronx and are the reincarnation of Mr Kotter. You're not. Remember this from September...?

You do not teach in the Boggie Down Bronx unless you teach in the South Bronx. But Damn! There it goes again!! People coming in and changing things!

You're on Fordham Rd. That is not the Boogie Down Bronx. 

Lastly, Stephanie, get rid of the phony Bronx accent. You're from the country club set of Connecticut, you should sound like William Buckley. 

Would love to hear from remote teachers in the comments section. Please keep it unprofane and professional.

So through this summer and into September the MORE Caucus was advocating for either; a) 100% remote learning or b) a strike so there would be 100% remote learning or c) anything else as long as MORE was seen in a positive manner. None of what they overtly wished for came true. However, they did take credit for the version of remote learning we have now. But remember this for later in this post how they wanted the buildings closed.

This year has been toughest on the students of New York City. I can only speak from my perspective (I am co-teaching remotely in an elementary school). But I see the students in the students who do not have the proper devices, the students in shelters, the students with no structure nor support at home. It is tough and it sucks. 

I see it with my 19 year old son, coming home in March and having no structure and going to online class in his underwear. His grades were not great. There are also students who are thriving in this remote style learning. The boring and binding shackles of the school day are off and they can finally learn at their own pace. 

But what we can not do is to paint a picture with a broad brush. We do not know every story and we can't say because they are white, or they are of color, or because one is a member of this or that social class that X, Y, or Z will happen. 

That is unless we are talking about MORE and what it has become.

Nice. Aren't we trying to get above this MORE? Oh, please MORE, this is wrong and you know it. Want to say whiny little bitches, people that are out of touch, assholes, go right ahead. But this is not right.

We here at SBSB showed this tweet to one of The Crack Team's honorary members. This is what this member had to say; 

"MORE wants all remote which hurts black kids and parents who need work plus shelter kids. But since higher percentage of black parents keep kids home they play the race card that it’s the  white parent demands influencing de Blasio decisions which is partially true as they fear losing white parents" 

Several things pop into my head and the The Crack Team's response.  

MORE is and will always be opportunistic. It's like group narcissism over there. Whatever will benefit MORE in shining that positive blue light upon them that's what matters. They will say something on a Tuesday and contradict what they said the day before.

MORE also still is of the mind set that all people of color (Blacks and Hispanics) all have the same experiences, the same life stories, and the same wants and needs. Depending on your whether you are Puerto Rican or Domincan, African-American or Jamaican. (I can go on and on) Not every one of DOE's minority populations can be painted with the same brush. MORE, thinks they can do it. And their paint keeps missing the canvass. 

Why does MORE still proverbially continue to step in what the dog left behind? A couple of reasons. They are a top down, cult of personality organization. They have eradicated all democratic norms since the infamy of the Purge of 2018. And too many white, liberal, young teachers who teach at small, good schools. 

These younglings are mostly new and non tenured teachers that are in their 20's thinking they know what is best for boys and girls of color even though most of them have never socialized with people of color until they moved to Brooklyn on mommy and daddy's dime. They think they know the urban culture, they think they are down. They act all hip and down, but they're not. You can't be that way when you are shopping for artisanal mayonnaise. As one SBSB group put it, "Spend time in the BoogiedownBronx, and then you can talk!" 

With tweets like the one above how does MORE intend to sell itself as a viable alternative to a Unity run UFT? Yeah, it must be nice for the MORE upper echelon to feel like Jim Jones at a MORE meeting with the younglings sitting in awe. But that is not a way to build a caucus nor would it be a way to run a union. Do teachers that live in Staten Island wants to know or read such tweets? In Westchester? On Long Island? How is MORE showing any teacher it can lead and more importantly, make the right choices and decisions? 

MORE represents .005% of the rank and file with that tweet. They need to start worrying about the entire rank and file. But not to worry. It will never happen.

About 10 days ago, James Eterno on the ICE blog shared a story from Politico how the Democratic Socialists of America is planning to infiltrate and then take over the unions of New York City with the UFT seen as the ripest to fall first.

Some highlights from the article include (with a few comments by myself in red)...

The New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America presented its members with a strategy last year to gain entry into some of the city’s most powerful labor organizations and ensure they are adhering to the “militant” principles that the group felt had been diluted over time.  

...members approved zeroing in on six of those labor groups 

The organization also identifies ways outsiders can access jobs that would allow them entree into the labor groups.

Another target is the United Federation of Teachers, a nearly 200,000-member union representing teachers, social workers, secretaries and other school employees.   

UFT is the largest local of one of the largest unions in the country. It has the potential to be extremely influential in electoral politics,” the group wrote. “It is extremely internally undemocratic, but there is a reform caucus, MORE, which has many active DSA members.” MORE democratic? Surely, they jest.

“With more DSA teachers, we could bolster and significantly support the internal movement for democracy and militant organizing within the union but it will likely take years to reform the UFT,” Too fucking funny. 

In yesterday's New York Post there was an article pertaining to some bashing on Twitter that
Campbell Brown fell prey to last week.

As the Post reported;

"Former CNN anchor Campbell Brown, a leading opponent of teacher tenure, accused her pro-teacher-union foes Sunday of using soft-core Twitter porn to shamelessly smear her."

Smear? Harsh, but one must read on. Accusing "pro-teacher union foes"? Even harsher.

First let's go on record here that we here at SBSB do not condone in any way, shape, or form the alleged vulgarities tossed Campbell Brown's way. We find it abhorrent and certainly not helpful We also do not condone any attacking of her children personally.

As for as her husband, Dan Senor, we feel that since he is a public figure, has served on the board of StudentsFirstNY, and is culpable for the mess in Iraq, he is fair game. But right now that is neither here no there.

The Post also mentioned a real anti-Campbell Twitter account and it's corresponding website in the article. Why they lumped that in is clear. Seems the Post wishes to discredit a real site aimed at real issues that had to be debunked by the Post's propaganda machine.

But something reeks in the State of Denmark vis a vis the Post and Campbell's stories.

We here became of aware of this on Friday, and pointed it out to many (That all was a hoax), when we saw tweets from @datadiva;



Now the stench is getting stronger.
One tweet seems to come from right wing, Tea Partier Congressman Louie Gohmert, but the handle is different than the congressman's. The Crack Team at first thought that someone had either hacked or spoofed the congressman's account.

The same with NewsMax Health, @mort_mcgirt, alleging to be NewsMax Health. For those that aren't aware, NewsMax is a right wing weekly news magazine.

So what you have is tweets from two accounts appearing to be from right wingers attacking the right wing dream; no more tenure for teachers, a stink bomb, no? And even if they were super-duper hard left liberals, we here at SBSB have never seen such invective from such people.

Yet, on the same scale, neo-liberal, Elevate New Mexico commented even though not one of these tweets were directed to him, nor even found on his timeline or tweeted to any of his allies (The usual cast of deform characters), was able to locate these tweeters through all of the 1000's of tweets.

A new member of The Crack Team, Wanda, representing the Southern Tier of New York State accessed the SBSB computers and came to the conclusion that all the accounts above, including @derpjonson, all used the same syntax. The Crack Team found out all are followed or followers of @gomurica as well. Perhaps they all can very well can be the same person?

OK, fine, if they are the same person, or not, why? What is the point. And why was Randi Weingarten mentioned in the tweets? How coincidental that these tweets were out within a few days of the launch of "The Real Campbell Brown" website? A website in which Campbell's lackeys are whining about profusely and can't even refute any facts.

Wanda, along with the rest of The Crack Team and many others have opined that this was all a set up. That these tweets, these twitter handles, were all devised by Campbell Brown's people to not only discredit the righteous, but worse, to make Campbell Brown a victim and to garner sympathy. This alone just goes to show how low Campbell Brown will sink to have her name bandied about in a flattering manner. Nothing, is about the plaintiffs in this Wright V New York State. It is all Campbell, all the time.

Why, and we have it on good authority that the United States Capitol Police have been notified, that USCP has not shut down the accont impersonating  Congressman Gohmert? Why haven't the twitter accounts of the offending tweets mentioned in the Post been shut down? Without a doubt, the rules of Twitter have been violated. So who can be behind all this?

Only someone with the connections of Campbell Brown along with the powerful PR handlers on her side can orchestrate such a devious plot. A plot to shine the blue light of sympathy upon her and to shame any and all connected with teachers unions. This is a new low for Campbell Brown, but sure enough will be followed by new even lower lows. How else to explain how the Post got all over this?

And if this were a real attack on Campbell Brown we here at SBSB feel those behind it are the lowest of the low and have done damage. But everything seems all too coincidental.

One way or the other something smells like crawfish cooking in Acadiana. Right, Alma?