DL Open Thread: Monday, January 13, 2025

Bannon Vs. Musk.  Can we root for two losers?:

President-elect Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon is ramping up public attacks on billionaire Elon Musk amid an intensifying debate on the right about Musk’s influence in the incoming administration.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera this past week, Bannon said Musk “should go back to South Africa,” where he was born, and be denied privileged access to the West Wing. Bannon has also criticized Musk’s support for a skilled-worker visa program that led to a bitter rift last month between far-right activists and Trump’s tech executive supporters, who see the program as a crucial lifeline for Silicon Valley.

Bannon told the newspaper: “Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, White South Africans … making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?”

Bannon added he would “do anything” to keep Musk out of the White House.

FWIW, my money’s on Musk.  Because he has what Trump wants–money, and more of it than anybody else.

How Zealots Have Transferred Public Funds To Private Christian Schools.  What You’ll Learn:

• The Ohio Model: Rarely seen letters show how the voucher movement started in the 1990s as a concealed effort to finance urban parochial schools and expanded to a much broader push.
• Helping the Affluent: An initiative promoted as a civil rights cause — helping poor kids — is increasingly funneling money to families who already easily afford private school tuition.
• The Voucher Deficit: Expanding programs threaten funding for public schools and put pressure on state budgets, as many religious-based schools enjoy new largesse.

Must-reading from ProPublica–especially if you’re an education policy-maker.  An excerpt:

What happened in Ohio was a stark illustration of a development that has often gone unnoticed, perhaps because it is largely taking place away from blue state media hubs. In the past few years, school vouchers have become universal in a dozen states, including Florida, Arizona and North Carolina. Proponents are pushing to add Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and others — and, with Donald Trump returning to the White House, they will likely have federal support.

The risks of universal vouchers are quickly coming to light. An initiative that was promoted for years as a civil ­rights cause — helping poor kids in troubled schools — is threatening to become a nationwide money grab. Many private schools are raising tuition rates to take advantage of the new funding, and new schools are being founded to capitalize on it.

Here Are The Education Challenges Delaware Faces:

Realistically, 2025 is shaping up as a year of intense discussion on the education front, with decisions having significant long-term impact likely deferred into 2026. That’s especially true for two of the most controversial topics – funding reform and redistricting to end the Christina School District’s role in educating students living in Wilmington.

Other items ripe for discussion this year include the oversight of dysfunctional school boards and districts, the long-term impact of charter schools and choice programs and the intertwined issues of underused schools and district consolidation. In addition, Meyer’s plans include expanding pre-kindergarten education, increasing teachers’ pay and improving academic performance by empowering principals and teachers and addressing school climate and disruption concerns.

Must-reading from Delaware Public Media–especially if you’re an education policy maker.  Or an educator, an administrator, a school employee.

JD Vance Pisses Off Trump Supporters??:

JD Vance is learning what it’s like to be a target of Trump supporters.

Chaos in MAGA world ensued after the Vice President-elect toldFox News Sunday host Shannon Bream that not all insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 will receive pardons from Donald Trump.

“It’s very simple,” Vance claimed on the show. “If you protested peacefully on January the sixth, and you’ve had [Attorney General] Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned. If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned, and there’s a little bit of a gray area there, but we’re very much committed to seeing the equal administration of law. And there are a lot of people, we think, in the wake of January the sixth, who were prosecuted unfairly, and we need to rectify that.”

Trump backtracks on that in 3-2-1.

Perhaps more later after a trip to the dentist,

What do you want to talk about?