Even on “reality TV” the firing is done in person. Trump seems to want to play things both ways—hiring and firing at random and then those ousted find out when someone in the news or working in the West Wing takes the trouble to forward a tweet. Really? Is that any way to run a country?

Tillers is replaced by CIA Director Pompeo, which ought to scare many of us. Similarly Pompeo’s replacement is the person who oversaw torture. Nice that she’s a woman, the first woman Director of the CIA. Not so nice it’s . . . her.

Speaking of not nice woman, DeVos is still thrashing around in the Department of Ed. like the proverbial bull in the china shop. She was on 60 Minutes the other night and seems not to have learned a thing about public education since she was given her position via a tie-breaking vote from Pence. From The New York Times:

“Speaking to DeVos, [Leslie] Stahl compared situations in which white kids are punished for classroom disruption by a trip to the principal’s office, while for black kids, ‘they call in the cops.’ DeVos refused to say such a discrepancy is wrong: ‘Arguably, all of these issues or all of this issue comes down to individual kids.’ Stahl pressed her on whether this ‘disproportion in discipline’ constitutes ‘institutional racism.’ DeVos said she was committed to ‘making sure students have opportunity to learn in safe and nurturing environments.’

“The comparison Stahl offered was a hypothetical, but it captured the heart of the issue. Black public school students are suspended at 3.8 times the rate of white students. That discrepancy alone doesn’t necessarily demonstrate discrimination, but there’s evidence that students of color are punished differently from white students for the same infractions. Lhamon told me about one elementary school where a black girl was suspended for poking a student with a pencil. When a white girl in the same grade threw a rock that hit another child in the head and broke the teacher’s sunglasses, she was made to help the teacher clean the classroom during lunch.”

It is likely that in most cases teachers are completely unaware of their own bias. Studies of disproportionate attention given to grade school boys over girls are rarely believed by the teachers studied until they watch videos of themselves.

David Brooks of The New York Times might have suggested she had a look at public school success stories such as Chicago, which has increased its graduation rate to 77.5% from 56.9% and those attending collage after graduation to 63% from 50%. The current superintendent gives credit to principals. Maybe. (Most research suggests that the only people who really make a difference are parents and teachers.) Perhaps this works when principals support those efforts toward a shared goal of high standards and consistency.

“Research suggests that it takes five to seven years for a principal to have full impact on a school, but most principals burn out and leave in four years or less. Chicago has one of the highest principal retention rates of any large urban system, 85 percent. Principals are given support, training and independence. If you manage your school well for a couple of years in a row, you are freed from daily oversight from the central office.

“But the big thing is transforming the role. Principals used to be administrators and middle managers, overseeing budgets, discipline, schedules. The goal was to be strong and decisive.

“Today’s successful principals are greeting parents and students outside the front door in the morning. That Minnesota-Toronto study found successful principals made 20 to 60 spontaneous classroom visits and observations per week.

“In other words, they are high-energy types constantly circulating through the building, offering feedback, setting standards, applying social glue. In some schools, teachers see themselves as martyrs in a hopeless cause. Principals raise expectations and alter norms. At Independence Middle School in Cleveland, principal Kevin Jakub pushes a stand-up desk on wheels around the school all day.”

Brooks also gives partial credit to the leadership of people like Arne Duncan, but since this improvement occurred since 2006, I tend to disagree. Duncan was a lousy Secretary of the Dept. of Ed. Except he looks positively brilliant compared to the current Secretary.

DeVos supports school vouchers and using public funds to pay for private schools. She never attended public schools, does not support them, has not visited a school struggling to improve, and cannot explain why schools in her home state of Michigan, a state which has instituted her policies, now performs worse than it has in the past. What does she care? Unless there is a profit for herself or a friend . . .

In the mean time officials insist Russia now has more intelligence agents in London than during the Cold War. They at least attempted to interfere in U.S. elections and according to the British Prime Minister, Russia recently poisoned two ex-pats (not for the first time). And what has Trump said condemning Russia’s dirty tricks?

Not

a

single

word.

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