Early last month, I sat down for a virtual interview with Momma’s primary singers, songwriters and guitarists, Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman hear their stories from performing at 2023’s Kilby Block Party and ask about their plans for the upcoming festival The duo takes my video call in a midwestern hotel they’ve stopped at on their way to a tour date in Ohio. Friedman is sporting a black Snail Mail tee and Weingarten’s fiery red hair is pulled back with a headband I can see the heart-shaped charm from the record’s cover dangling around Weingarten’s wrist I kick things off by asking if the two feel that Welcome to My Blue Sky is an extension of their previous trajectory and sound or if they view it as more of an artistic pivot Weingarten considers this for a second while hitting her vape It’s definitely an extension in the way that we just had as much time and resources as we needed to explore whatever we wanted to But it’s definitely a pivot in terms of overall sound it’s not as heavy or grungy as Household Name is.” we had like a legit indie label behind us to give us resources and opportunities to go into a studio with a lot of fun gadgets and amps and guitars and stuff that we could play around with and sound how we had always wanted to sound And I do think [Welcome to My Blue Sky] is an extension in that sense where it’s like What else can we mess around with in that playground?’”  And it sounds like no one was as ecstatic about the creative freedom afforded by professional recording equipment as Momma’s bass player, Aron Kobayashi Ritch who was the primary sound engineer and producer for Welcome to My Blue Sky “It’s like his happy place,” Friedman says about seeing Ritch at work in the studio “I feel like that’s where he really just shines When I ask them to summarize what the new album is about they both answer that it’s primarily about being on tour but it also deals with learning from your mistakes and growing beyond the things you regret “We sought to make a really personal and touching record and I think we accomplished that,” Weingarten says it’s about a very taxing tour cycle we were on in the summer of 2022 and all the heartbreak and love that unfolded And I generally think it’s just about learning how to make mistakes and be at peace with them while you’re learning how to put yourself first.” ‘I can’t believe we did that.’ That’s a song that we’re really “The point is that you can do things that might make you be like I didn’t look at myself that way.’ But you’re not necessarily defined just by that Sometimes mistakes bring you what you’re ultimately looking for even if you don’t know it As the perfect complement to the album’s travelogue elements the band actually took its title from a billboard they saw along the highway The billboard itself was just an ad for a gas station called “Blue Sky,” but it’s cryptic phrasing resonated with them “It’s interesting that the sign said ‘Welcome to My Blue Sky’ and not ‘Welcome to Blue Sky,’” Weingarten says It can be interpreted in a lot of different ways I didn’t know that it was for a gas station when I saw it so I just thought it was this really poetic phrase posted up in the middle of nowhere.” Friedman then weighs in about how they interpret the title A lot of the record puts into words what our new life is gonna be like who we’re leaving behind and who we’re bringing in I think that phrase definitely spoke to that.” I then ask them to tell me about when they played Kilby Block Party in 2023 and I should say I was actually in the audience for that show Seeing Momma live was one of my priorities for the 2023 festival as I had been listening to them for several months and my friends can attest that the band dominated my playlists all year I raced from the entrance to the Desert stage to secure a good view of Momma’s midday performance There was already a large crowd gathered by the time I got there but I was able to wedge close to the front before the band came on “And Karen O,” Friedman interjects with a laugh “Just seeing them going and getting their plates of food They’re both also looking forward to playing Kilby Block Party again in 2025 “We have the best day,” Weingarten claims enthusiastically “We have a lot of friends that are gonna be there so it’s literally just gonna be like a massive hangout.”  At this, Friedman’s face lights up behind their glasses, and they say, “We do have the best day! We got really lucky with our day. I’m very excited. Also, the line up this whole year is insane. I mean, Beach House and Rilo Kiley?” Rilo Kylie is like my dream come true,” Weingarten remarks I follow up by asking what Momma’s setlist will look like this year “I would say mostly stuff from the new album I think this whole tour we’re playing mostly new stuff You’ll get the hits from Household Name but we have written these new songs and we’ve sat on them for so long that we are really Blue Sky is the favorite daughter right now.” “My favorite song on the record is ‘Rodeo’ and my favorites to perform live are ‘How to Breathe’ and ‘New Friend.’” “I think those are both pretty fun to play because there are moments where we both get to step back and just focus on what we gotta do on the guitar.”  I ask if there’s anything else either of them want to share and Weingarten addresses the regrettable backlash popular bands always face when they tweak their sound “I just want people to know that we really love this record we’re going to be touring this record and favoring it for years to come but you gotta get on board because this is a really important record to us.” Wishy will also play the set before Momma on the Desert stage at Kilby Block Party the whole album really shows the love and care each member of Momma put into making it You rarely get to hear young musicians with so much talent pour so much of themselves into such a concise and accessible record and it makes Welcome to My Blue Sky an early contender for my album of the summer I can’t wait to hear Momma perform it live Donate $10 OR MORE to get a SLUG sticker pack SLUG Mag is one of Utah’s longest-running and most experienced independent magazines SLUG has given a voice to Utah’s community and continues to expand its coverage in both print and digital media DALLAS – Anthony Weingarten and Mikolaj Lis of the Kennesaw State men's tennis team earned Conference USA postseason honors on Tuesday Weingarten earned a Second Team All-Conference selection for singles Weingarten and Lis were named to the First Team All-Conference doubles squad Weingarten led the Owls with an 11-5 record He went 9-2 over his final 11 matches that were completed The junior clinched KSU's third point in the quarterfinal win over New Mexico State Weingarten and Lis led the Owls with a 6-4 record The pair began playing together in late February and picked up wins over Chattanooga Their 6-4 win over Feign and Snell clinched the doubles point for KSU in the Owls 4-1 win over New Mexico State in the CUSA Quarterfinals The Owls will return in August to begin prep for the 2025-26 season Thanks for visiting The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here Alex Weingarten serves as managing partner of Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s Los Angeles office and chair of the firm’s entertainment litigation practice He is a leading commercial trial lawyer who rep-resents clients in all facets of entertainment Weingarten spearheaded the launch of the firm’s Los Angeles office in 2021 and co-led its impressive growth from just three attorneys to over 100 today former Second Gentleman of the United States the firm partnered with Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services to help establish a new substance abuse disorder treatment center for children ages 12-17 Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative Teachers union head Randi Weingarten joined Fox News' Martha MacCallum on "The Story"; Tuesday afternoon Weingarten has spent much of the past five years campaigning for Democrat Party politics at every opportunity; relentlessly working to close schools and keep them closed during the pandemic Then following it up by making concerned parents the enemy; acting as if children become the property of schools and teachers when they enter the building Those concerned parents were treated as criminals by the Biden administration no doubt heavily influenced by Weingarten's teachers union and their desire to control behavior Speaking up at school board meetings was enough to warrant attention from the FBI Without any consideration for why those parents were speaking up.  extremely inappropriate books being made available to children.  finally admitted as much in Tuesday's interview the President of the American Federation of Teachers participates in a roundtable discussion at White Plains High School MacCallum asked Weingarten about some of those inappropriate books and the importance of parents being involved in their kids' education "But I would say that this is a hard case have rights in terms of educating their kids with such great distrust for what is being taught in a classroom or read in a class room I consider that a failure," Weingarten admitted Weingarten acknowledged that parents should have input in what their children are being told in schools bringing up the need for students to accept "sexual" differences in terms of what's being taught in classrooms And we're going to have to actually deal with how we ensure that kids have a safe and welcome environment and that we see differences and we accept differences whether those differences are religious or whether those differences are sexual," she said MacCallum brought up that some of the books being read to children are quite obviously completely unacceptable for young kids and asked Weingarten what age would be appropriate for this type of material told her that she agrees younger kids shouldn't be read those books "And I think that this will be shocking to you," Weingarten said "These would not be the books I would be reading as a classroom teacher to kids who are four to six years old." Weingarten went on to be combative about school choice and declining educational outcomes despite massive financial investments despite defending "woke" at every opportunity made a very non-woke faux pas by calling MacCallum "sweetheart." Weingarten once again exemplified why teachers unions have never been less popular: smirking condescension and dismissal of legitimate concerns about student performance As well as admitting that teachers and administrators have made inappropriate books available to children Then they became aggressively dismissive about it Unions have abandoned their primary objective: teaching kids fundamental concepts like math and reading They've focused on injecting their own ideology and political priorities And lashed out at anyone who criticizes them It's nice to see her admit some reality Ian Miller is a former award watching high school actor and trying to get the remote back from his dog You are agreeing to OutKick's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy DISCLAIMER: This site is 100% for entertainment purposes only and does not involve real money betting. Gambling related content is not intended for anyone under the age of 21. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER By Tommy Schultz CEO of the American Federation for Children In a recent op-ed Randi Weingarten paints a doomsday scenario about President Trump’s attempt to dismantle the Department of Education and return education back to families and states through school choice She ignores the educational doom happening now and why the American people elected Donald Trump to make fundamental changes to fix it the Department of Education is “the only federal department dedicated to educational opportunity for all students in America.” Well the American Federation of Teachers aggressively lobbied to keep schools closed Long after we knew the terrible risks to learning her union and its affiliates pressured the CDC to revise its guidance and fought efforts to get kids back in classrooms many districts followed the schooling unions – to predictably horrific results especially low-income and minority students are still paying the price with an undeclared state of emergency in education The numbers are brutal. The bottom fell out everywhere with some of the lowest reading scores in 30 years and lower-performing students fundamentally unable to do basic math or reading and the endless refrain to “fully fund” public schools cannot explain why this educational disaster happened while schools got an unprecedented additional $190 billion from the federal government for K-12 education It’s little wonder that parents have increasingly risen up and demanded better electing a record number of legislators who have promised to expand school choice Although Weingarten and other defenders of the education status quo would prefer to fixate on a handful of confusingly worded ballot questions where overwhelming special interest money that poured in to try to confuse voters In election after election and poll after poll American voters make clear that they want more school choice and will vote accordingly Weingarten waves off proposals to devolve some ED responsibilities to other federal agencies saying they’re not equipped to handle them but offering little evidence for why that is the case – or any explanation for how the Department of Education has successfully carried out its responsibilities As any parent of a child with special needs can attest it’s clear what Weingarten’s real concern is – the prospect of competition from school choice programs She claims that 70% of public dollars for private school vouchers go to wealthy families who were already in private school Even the biased sources she points to can only cherry-pick early snapshots from when school choice programs launch and only private school families may know about them The reality is apparent for those who care about the data when the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program became available to every family in FY 2023 just 21% of new enrollees came directly from public schools nearly 62% of new ESA participants had been in public schools immediately prior This trend is seen in other states that expand school choice availability The idea that school choice recipients are wealthy is based on questionable ZIP code speculation Over the years that income-limited school choice has existed participants have naturally been lower and middle-income; as programs expand to be available to all we should expect participants to reflect the broader community School choice programs give parents a much-needed exit ramp when the system fails them That’s what Weingarten and her allies really fear — not the dismantling of the Department of Education but the dismantling of their control and the reality that parents will be able to get something different The schooling unions are slowly losing their last holdouts with Texas on the verge of passing a broad school choice program and the Educational Choice for Children Act – which would unlock school choice in every state and that the President has promised to sign into law – making its way through Congress It’s no surprise that Weingarten and other defenders of the status quo will throw everything they have – whether misreading of the data or pure political muscle – at trying to stop this progress And that’s great news for parents across America Tommy Schultz is the CEO of the American Federation for Children and AFC Victory Fund the nation’s largest school choice advocacy and elections organizations On Tuesday, 20 years after 2002’s pivotal Zelman decision, the United States Supreme Court handed down an exciting ruling for families across the Read More American Federation for Children5950 Berkshire Lane Phone: 1-202-280-1990Toll-free: 1-800-458-7313 Email:[email protected] Fellowships Federación Para Los Niños  Future Leaders Fellowship  Moms on a Mission © 2025 American Federation for Children Privacy Policy | Terms of Service Thanks for visiting Match Recap: Men's Tennis | 2/14/2025 7:15:00 PM | Hunter McKay Thanks for visiting Match Recap: Men's Tennis | 3/22/2025 7:43:00 PM | By Hunter McKay Thanks for visiting That was the one-sentence retort from a leading teachers union Wednesday following news that President Donald Trump planned to sign an executive order Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S the head of the American Federation of Teachers vowed to sue the administration if it moved forward with a mandate to obliterate the agency's limited federal role in the nation's schools Read more: Trump to order dismantling of the Education Department. But it's not closing entirely. The action is unlawful, she and others have argued, because only Congress has the power to close federal agencies. Still, the Trump administration has slashed the Education Department's workforce in half which is prompting widespread concern from students and schools about reductions in vital services Democratic state attorneys general and advocates for students with disabilities sued last week to stave off those cuts Read more: Can Trump eliminate the Education Department? Here's what the Constitution says. Multiple polls have shown that the idea of abolishing the Education Department is unpopular among Americans Read more: Trump's education cuts could lead to the problems he says he's eliminating Teachers unions have been at the forefront of litigation against the Trump administration's education policies in recent weeks and months. The AFT filed a separate suit this week accusing the Education Department under Trump of "effectively breaking the student loan system." The president plans to sign his much-touted executive order alongside Republican governors Thursday afternoon at the White House Lawsuits will likely follow once the full text of the order has been released Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele and Bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social Picking teachers’ union power over parents’ hopes for their children is a losing strategy It unequivocally states that the party opposes education-freedom policies that empower families Paired with Kamala Harris’s running-mate pick of teachers’ union loyalist Tim Walz over school choice semi-supporter Josh Shapiro president of the American Federation of Teachers This should serve as a red flag for parents—particularly the large numbers of historically loyal Democrats in low-income and minority communities who want to save their kids from failing schools While national Democrats kowtow to teachers’ union bosses They see that the overwhelming majority of public-school students—their own children in many cases—are struggling to learn and falling behind a crisis that has intensified coming out of the pandemic They also see that a growing number of other states are empowering families to find better schools for their kids Democratic leaders should worry that their voters will ask them why those states are different The honest answer is that these places are rejecting a unions-first made it clear they would rather vote for Ron DeSantis than be forced to return their kids to failing schools Democrats largely had Weingarten to thank for their loss two overwhelmingly Democratic cities in our respective home states also show that families haven’t toed the party line nearly 40 percent of students attend charters Democrats launched the nation’s first voucher program years ago providing a vital lifeline for students there three-quarters of whom are minorities and 80 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged both she and Walz now oppose any policy that would help low-income families—even those with children stuck in the worst public schools—afford to go to school elsewhere Democratic support for school choice generally has risen from 59 percent to 66 percent in the past four years It’s their own party bosses who remain the biggest barrier to their demands Democratic leaders will apologize for not using your preferred pronouns but they’re not sorry for requiring your children to attend a government school system that fails to teach what a pronoun is in the first place and they’ll increasingly wonder why the Democratic Party stands with teachers’ unions over struggling children The party ditched Joe Biden out of cold electoral necessity Maybe it should think about doing the same with Randi Weingarten Betsy DeVos served as the 11th U.S. secretary of education. Jeff Yass is managing director and a co-founder of Susquehanna International Group. City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI), a leading free-market think tank. Are you interested in supporting the magazine? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations in support of MI and City Journal are fully tax-deductible as provided by law (EIN #13-2912529). Copyright © 2025 Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Log in to comment on videos and join in on the fun. Watch the live stream of Fox News and full episodes. Reduce eye strain and focus on the content that matters. ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All market data delayed 20 minutes. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Penn math professor Robin Pemantle and Penn physics senior lecturer Bill Ashmanskas, both members of Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Innovation’s active learning seminar, present this interactive Science Café. The event will include a conversation about Pemantle’s new book, “There Is No One Way to Teach Math.” Register to attend. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker who’d ask their crowds to be respectful in the pit “It’s not controversial,” Weingarten insists Though they both have a playful relationship to social media they are highly aware of the parasocial relationships people have with bands which in turn creates pressure for artists to be an open book online without being too edgy people used to be so brutally honest in the press and they’re not anymore because everyone’s afraid of being canceled,” she says “It sucks to always have to censor yourself because it just makes you boring,” Friedman adds feuds and diss tracks are seemingly siloed to the world of hip-hop Songs like the Frou Frou-inspired “Bottle Blonde,” with its breakbeats and filter-swept production flourishes Though the album still is raucous and heavy they use a lighter sonic palette to blunt the edges of being in a burgeoning indie rock band in their twenties “My Old Street,” leans into anthemic Midwest emo vibes as Friedman and Weingarten sing about missing family and home on the road But it’s “I Want You (Fever)” and “Rodeo” that really dive into the thematic core of Welcome to My Blue Sky: infidelity The Big Muff-soaked tracks tackle the painful guilt of being the one who cheats a role that both songwriters never thought they’d play and we both historically only ever had our hearts broken,” Weingarten says both Friedman and Weigarten cheated on their respective partners unbeknownst to the other Finding out and processing together while writing the album was healing “As much as this record has to do with heartbreaking mistakes I think the through line is our friendship,” Friedman explains is iconically Piscean: two fish pursuing their own paths but coming back together to heal Ahead of the release of their fourth studio album Welcome to My Blue Sky Etta Friedman and Allegra Wiengarten of Momma spoke with Them about their first openly “lesbian” song You mentioned in an Instagram “ask me anything” that “How to Breathe” is a lesbian song is this the first Momma song that you feel like is explicitly queer Etta Friedman: That song is about my relationship with my girlfriend There are some really old songs that I’ve written about other girls but I haven’t ever said anything [explicitly.] A lot of that is because I just got into this relationship with somebody who genuinely made me feel really confident They’re always going to be supportive of me My dad actively was saying some bullshit [pauses] …sorry it just sucked “I actually love you so much that I can’t keep you from my family,” it just felt like I was fully coming into myself in a great way That song was just acknowledging and being grateful for that Do you feel like representation is important to you Why are you more comfortable writing about your queerness now E.F.: I’m just stoked that I can actually be myself in every aspect of my life I don’t think I’ve ever attached that much in terms of our songwriting because we’re just so much of a duo that we have our own experiences that we can kind of meld together There is something to be said about [being] in this moment of a bunch of lesbians in music right now and [who are] making everyone feel comfortable I will say that we went on a tour with Girl in Red it kind of felt like that was one area where they were able to be themselves and do their thing I hope that we can provide some type of space where these kids who maybe aren’t ready to come out — or if they’re just questioning or exploring — where we can cultivate a really safe space for everybody The times that we do get to play in front of primarily queer young people has been an amazing thing to witness Avery NormanThe album deals with the tumultuous and transformative experiences of your twenties Allegra Weingarten: We’ve been through a lot as a band in the past four years And it’s something that neither Etta nor I are proud of at all I think being able to look at ourselves as imperfect people and have our ideas of who we are as people completely shattered was really formative We both got different things out of that experience Etta was able to fall in love and be in a super loving relationship So mingling those two opposite sides of the spectrum and figuring out how to write about that together was really interesting We also had to kick out a band member a couple of years ago A.W.: That was probably the number one most traumatic thing that’s happened to Etta and I in the past couple years and we felt really protective of our voice and our music after that happened We couldn’t go there without laying out every single detail E.F.: That’s totally a huge part of the reason why we were just writing the album together was because even throughout that experience we actually could lose our business.” So we choose to surround ourselves with people who really understand our dynamic and can tap into it like Aron [Kobayashi Ritch] and Preston [Fulks] but ultimately [Allegra and I] have to stick together And the idea that that was going to get taken away from us in any sense or we would’ve had to completely start over something because I feel like I don’t even necessarily think about how much that did inform our writing process Lucy Dacus Might Regret Being This HonestThe musician opens up about finding love with Julien Baker and her new album Forever Is a Feeling.Did your experience with infidelity help you gain a better understanding or some perspective of past partners or others who have hurt you A.W.: I was in such a selfish state of mind when that was happening So I don’t think I had any type of emotional analysis of anybody else That thing happened almost three years ago now I get it.” Sometimes you just have to be selfish and do what you have to do I think I was in a very selfish state as well And I think that that comes from a lot of suppressed hurt “Do you feel like you can understand the people who’ve hurt you in the past?” I don’t think I put myself in that context because I genuinely felt really shitty about it I think there is a way that I had to face those things and I think writing this record with Allegra helped me through that Is there something you’ve noticed in each other that’s changed over the years of your friendship A.W.: Our friendship has definitely changed I’ve known Etta was gay since we were 16 years old So being able to see Etta be their truest self and actually live their life as themself has been huge Do you think you are each other’s soul mates This conversation has been edited for length and clarity Welcome to My Blue Sky is available April 4 via Polyvinyl Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page by JACKSON WALKER | Crisis in the Classroom WASHINGTON (CITC) — American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said Sunday her union members "don't really care" if President-elect Trump decides to abolish the U.S Trump has vowed to eliminate the department suggesting it has devolved into a needless bureaucracy while depleting crucial government resources His proposal would hand the department’s role to states who supported Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign said such a change would not have a significant impact on teachers across the country She described herself as taking a “wait-and-see” approach to Trummp's proposal my members don't really care about whether they have a bureaucracy of the Department of Education or not,” Weingarten said during an appearance on MSNBC Al Shanker and the [American Federation of Teachers] in the 1970s were opposed to its creation!" “We thought it should stay within [the Department of Health because of the whole child," Weingarten added a prime figure in the history of teachers unions was the president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1997 saying it would do away with crucial funding for low-income children “What he does is he gets rid of the money for poor kids We need federal dollars to help level up opportunity for children.” Weingarten expressed a willingness to work with Trump education secretary nominee Linda McMahon "We will try to work with anyone who puts the aspirations of our students families and communities first,” Weingarten wrote of McMahon “That means strengthening public education Voters made it clear that’s what they wanted in November’s down-ballot elections." "Will Linda McMahon support us as we teach students to read?” she asked so that everyone in a school feels welcome and can learn?" Weingarten said "We don’t know the answers to these questions." Trump's second administration is prioritizing the reduction of government spending His newly created Department of Government Efficiency will seek to slash federal budgets and save taxpayer dollars Leading that agency will by X owner Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is slated to lead a congressional subcommittee to support the department's work Follow Jackson Walker on X at @_jlwalker_ for the latest trending national news Fox News host Martha MacCallum snapped at American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten during a segment on school choice who has long opposed school choice in order to protect her union workers’ jobs has low National Assessment of Educational Progress scores during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’s The Story with Martha MacCallum “So you’re saying if we can find other areas around the country where the proficiency levels are also abysmal and should be embarrassing to any education or innovation then we can start to make assessments and say that ‘oh it’s because of choice’ or ‘it’s because of money,'” MacCallum said “We know that money does not equate to a better outcome because in Newark per-capita expenditure that is one of the highest in the country and you have a very difficult outcome.” “Please don’t call me sweetheart,” MacCallum said some of the conservative folks who used to say that money doesn’t matter actually have changed their mind.” they want it to go to different programs and choice programs and be able to give it to parents who want to homeschool their kids,” MacCallum said which prompted a head shake from Weingarten The pair continued to argue about focusing teacher training on LGBT policies while literacy rates are dwindling I suspect that you and I agree on more than we don’t I know you don’t believe me,” Weingarten said FLORIDA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS ARE COMPETING. THE REST OF THE NATION SHOULD TAKE NOTE The AFT has over 1.7 million members in its union and Weingarten has been at its helm since 2008 Randi Weingarten, head of one of the largest teachers unions in America, cemented herself throughout COVID as one of the pandemic's biggest villains.  Weingarten and her political partners in the Biden White House and CDC along with Democrat Party allies in state leadership across the country helped keep schools in blue cities and states closed for well over a year Sensing an opportunity to grab more money for her union while demonstrating her fearless commitment to pseudoscience and political activism Weingarten helped set back a generation of children with her disregard for the importance of education as attitudes around the pandemic change and more people realize that mandates and Follow The Science expert worship was wrong And Weingarten during a recent interview lied about what she said during the early part of the pandemic President of the American Federation of Teachers speaks during a March for Our Lives rally against gun violence on the National Mall June 11 Weingarten appeared on one of her many partner CNN shows this week to defend herself against reality with zero pushback from a sympathetic answer In an effort to blame Republicans for the disastrous drops in educational achievement in recent years Weingarten hilariously said that she was actually fighting to get schools open in April 2020.  "COVID was a terrible time for us and as you know because I was on our show a lot and other shows I wanted schools to be reopened as early as April 2020 the issue was the fear and the issue was the safety issues," Weingarten said "COVID has really hurt in so many ways But this has been a Republican talking point for a long time and in fact it was routinely put up in the Congress and 60 Republicans voted against it the last time it was put up The real issue is how do we make sure that kids have the funding that they need and make sure that every single kid has a safe and welcoming environment and is one that is engaging and relevant." It's hard to find the words to describe Reingarten's statements here As just one example of how inaccurate this is media site grabien in 2023 put out a video demonstrating Weingarten's commitment to keeping schools closed She ferociously posted, repeatedly, criticism of the Trump administration's urgent plan to reopen schools in the summer of 2020. Teachers in Florida accused Gov. Ron DeSantis of murder staging fake deaths while saying that reopening schools was "wholly unacceptable and irresponsible."  "The reckless endangerment of our children across Florida is wholly unacceptable and irresponsible," as a teachers union representative in Florida families and communities to be unnecessarily exposed to Covid-19." well after it was clear that schools were safe That COVID posed virtually zero threat to children or teachers including Sweden where schools never closed Weingarten also spoke out in 2021 against the CDC for saying that it was safe for children to return to schools And because Biden's CDC was focused on Democrat Party politics first and science second they immediately acquiesced to her demand to keep nonsensical unsupported "social distancing" metrics in place for school reopening Making it all but impossible to get classrooms back open Then even when her left-wing partners did open schools, sometimes over a year and a half later, they forced children to wear masks. Despite overwhelming evidence that masks don't work.  Yet Weingarten chooses to lie about it anyway Now she has the gall to act as though children and education are her top priority.  In a new town hall with House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) Weingarten went off on another rant against President Trump and Elon Musk while railing against changes to the Department of Education.  we are fighting it because we are fighting to ensure that all kids have the opportunity to thrive that all kids are in a safe and welcoming environment every single day and that all kids end up having what they need to ensure that they have relevant engaging curriculum," Weingarten said "go to pay for tax cuts for Elon Musk." Now that the public has turned against her and her party she's denying reality and denying the record And she's not going to get away with it Elizabeth is a journalist and applied behavioral scientist who works at the intersection of science and storytelling A graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism she has worked on the editorial staffs of The Atlantic and was Managing Editor of Behavioral Scientist Her writing has appeared in publications including The Atlantic She has led research programs at the think tank New America she has shared her work and conducted workshops at venues including SXSW She lives in Northern California with her husband and son Log in to comment on videos and join in on the fun Watch the live stream of Fox News and full episodes Reduce eye strain and focus on the content that matters the president of the American Federation of Teachers discusses the Trump administration's plan to abolish the Department of Education CNN Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins gives an inside look on the grounds of the White House for the week of President Trump's first 100 days of his second term '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Professor Karen Weingarten joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V Ganeshananthan to talk about a new anthology she has edited Abortion Stories: American Literature Before Roe v Weingarten reflects on the complicated history of abortion abortion’s ties to eugenics and state control of bodies and the rise of the anti-abortion movement She discusses how access to abortion facilitates other kinds of resistance and explains how the book came to include authors like Maria Sybilla Merian and Eugene O’Neill alongside oral histories from formerly enslaved persons and groundbreaking politicians like Shirley Chisholm She talks about the stories she hopes to see represented in post-Dobbs writing and reads from her foreword to the anthology Ganeshananthan: We always have to talk about “Hills Like White Elephants” when we talk about abortion You’ve chosen this much more eclectic set of readings It has this incredible range in the ways that it portrays abortion to represent the period that we’ve just been discussing The book starts with Merian and ends with Shirley Chisholm I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about what themes and histories you wanted to make sure to include you don’t allow abortion to be portrayed as a simple thing but it’s in a very complex way that’s portrayed across all of these readings because the decision not to include Hemingway’s story was intentional and I wanted to show the history of abortion through its representation I was hoping that the text that I chose showed how people changed the way in which they understood abortion but in order to really understand the history of abortion in the United States you need to see how it intersects with race which is one of my favorites—it’s a tragedy that it’s not more well known and I knew I had to include it in this collection Someone might pick that story up and think is this an anti-abortion story,” because the character who has the abortion dies in the story I actually think the story doesn’t comment on whether abortion is a good or a bad thing It’s showing how abortion can be used as a coercive tool to support racist and xenophobic ideologies that were circulating at the time You started this question with your comment about looking at the anti-immigrant policies of today and I think we need to do more in this current moment to connect the anti-immigrant policies to the anti-abortion rhetoric that we stay circulating We don’t often see these two things in conversation with each other “sending people back” who are not wanted in this country and controlling the reproduction of women in this country to encourage so-called “true Americans” to have more children that also means sending women back into their correct place in the domestic sphere One of the things I wanted to show is how that ideology has a long history Sometimes when we look at how abortion is represented historically some of these connections become clearer than when we look at them in our particular moment So that’s one of the things I was hoping to achieve: to show all the different ways that abortion is connected to other social and political issues for our listeners who haven’t read the story yet could you just go through the plot of that Langston Hughes piece if you just know what happens in the story so the story is about a black woman named Cora who works as a housekeeper in a small town Her and her mother are the only black family in town but she becomes very attached to the youngest child of this wealthy white family that she works for Jesse falls in love and has a love affair with a young Greek man in the town and becomes pregnant and the mother decides that the son is not good enough for her daughter because they are “the white elite” of this town everybody pretends that she just died of some kind of stomach ache No one talks about the abortion—the illegal abortion that killed her unashamedly comes to enter the funeral and tells everybody in the town what happened She speaks that which should not be spoken But I don’t think she shames the mother because Jessie had an abortion I think she shames the mother for not allowing her daughter to marry a man that she loved even though it was against the norms of white society in that particular town VVG: So one of the things that’s so good about this story is that so much of the time when you see abortion in a story and it becomes representative in a way that it actually shouldn’t and doesn’t need to and that flattens the discourse in a certain way the other thing is that Cora has had her child out of wedlock “Cora Unashamed,” is due to the fact that she’s not ashamed of it So there is a reproductive choice that she made and that is the foil for what happens to Jessie because you’re not allowed to just choose one of the situations and morally align yourself with it you have written about and spoken about the ways in which the conversation about abortion is dominated by euphemism You mentioned in the forward as well that even Biden couldn’t bring himself to say the word I was thinking about all the ways that so much of the literature of abortion is about writers writing subtext You have to understand the euphemism of things like she’s in trouble,” or even the word “choice” is a euphemism So were you looking specifically for pieces that would rupture that kind of silence KW: One of the striking things to me is that actually one of the first literary works to feature abortion is Eugene O’Neill’s one act play called Abortion It was hard for me even to find a copy to replicate in the collection I wanted to find representations of all kinds of abortions I wanted to find it in ways where it was in the subtext I included an excerpt from The Country of the Pointed Firs and abortion is not mentioned there at all and she mentions women coming to her door in secret I also wanted to show readers that actually it was actually talked about in quite open ways sometimes in the literature that people did mention abortion and were quite explicit about it even when it was illegal even when admitting that they were having illegal abortions could have gotten them into political trouble So I really did want to show a range of its representation VVG: I also like the ways that the pieces force you to separate notions of ethics and legality I had never read any portion of Peyton Place before reading this book it’s this juicy story.” It was very controversial at the time And it’s actually super transgressive There is a choice that is portrayed as ethical and also illegal: for someone to provide an abortion in that story It’s just interesting to think about the ways that the law and common morality do not intersect at all KW: Yeah Peyton Place is another example that I knew I needed to include No novel had sold as many copies as it when it came out and the fact that it had an illegal abortion really worked to change Americans minds and to get them to realize maybe outlying abortion is punishing women the story features a woman who was raped and then has an illegal abortion because there’s both a rape and incest It showed how punishing it could be when abortion is outlawed and when people read that scene and millions and millions of Americans read it it really opened up a conversation about what illegal abortion was doing to people and changed the conversation VVG: Yeah and it made me really want to read the whole thing WT: What I was thinking about when reading this is that it’s a complicated subject morally and so therefore it has been part of literature as you were talking about Fast Times at Ridgemont High It’s thought of as this funny teen movie the main plot is about the main character having to have an abortion and being able to So I found that the literature side of this I wanted to put in a word for a story that I had not read before by Genevieve Taggard called “Engaged,” which is this stream of consciousness of a woman who’s trying to figure out whether she wants to be with this guy that she’s gotten pregnant with and the way that she’s thinking about it She’s writing these poems and deciding whether she likes them or not and someone told me about it as I was putting the collection together And I loved it because it really takes you into the mind of someone who’s struggling with the decision And I thought it was different than anything else I had included it shares some similarity to the nonfictional piece and we haven’t really talked that much about the nonfiction There’s an essay by someone who published under the pseudonym Mrs I love that piece because she is explaining how she went about getting an illegal abortion A lot of people wonder if abortion was illegal How did you know how to find an abortionist That piece goes to show how even when abortion was illegal women were finding ways to access abortion And that’s what I was finding over and over that it was actually in some ways not that hard to access as long as you were willing to talk to people just a few years before Roe v Wade legalized abortion a million American women were having illegal abortions a year So that’s a lot of women having illegal abortions and it means that chances are you knew someone who had an illegal abortion you could probably be connected to a doctor who was willing to do them women went to Puerto Rico and Mexico for their illegal abortions if they weren’t able to find someone in the US Karen Weingarten Abortion Stories: American Literature Before Roe v. Wade • Pregnancy Test • Abortion in the American Imagination: Before Life and Choice, 1880-1940 Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature Masthead About Sign Up For Our Newsletters How to Pitch Lit Hub Privacy Policy Support Lit Hub - Become A Member Lit Hub has always brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall you'll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving Trump’s anti-DEI policy “seeks to undermine our nation’s educational institutions,” the plaintiffs say A group of educators is suing the Department of Education over its recent “Dear Colleague Letter,” (DCL) which gave K-12 schools and federally funded colleges roughly two weeks to stop considering race as a factor in admissions financial aid and hiring — or risk losing federal funding The challenge was brought forward by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) which represents approximately 400,000 higher education workers The plaintiffs argue in the complaint that the department’s letter appears to classify “a wide variety of core instruction and pre-K institutions as illegal discrimination “This vague and clearly unconstitutional memo is a grave attack on students, our profession and knowledge itself. It would hamper efforts to extend access to education, and dash the promise of equal opportunity for all, a central tenant of the United States since its founding,” Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, said in a press release The plaintiffs also argue that the letter’s “unprecedented weaponization and undermining of civil rights laws” could allow the Trump administration to threaten federal funding cuts for institutions that teach accurate history “It would ban meaningful instruction on slavery, the Missouri Compromise, the Emancipation Proclamation, the forced relocation of Native American tribes, the laws of Jim Crow, Brown v. Board of Education, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act,” Weingarten said In the complaint the plaintiffs explain that to avoid enforcement they would need to censor discussions on diversity eliminate related student groups and programming and halt any campus activities that could be seen as addressing these issues “The overbreadth and vagueness of the law, and the content-based restrictions it places on speech and expression, will force Plaintiffs’ members to choose between chilling their constitutionally protected speech and association or risk losing federal funds and being subject to prosecution,” the complaint says The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to rule the guidance unconstitutional and block its enforcement “Federal statute already prohibits any president from telling schools and colleges what to teach. And students have the right to learn without the threat of culture wars waged by extremist politicians hanging over their heads,” Weingarten said in a press release “Our suit exposes these harms and shows how this memo’s arbitrary and capricious reasoning flies in the face of both American values and established law.” Organizations such as the American Council on Education (ACE), EdTrust, and the American Association of University Professors have advised colleges and universities to stay calm and not to overreact to the guidance “To be abundantly clear, Dear Colleague letters are not law. They are simply statements of intent by executive agencies about how they intend to interpret the law,” Ted Mitchell, president of ACE, said at a policy briefing The strategy needs to be much more considered Jon Fansmith, ACE’s senior vice president for government relations and national engagement, emphasized in the same briefing that the vague directive is likely meant “to sow chaos” and “create fear.” “The idea that every institution in this country could meaningfully come into compliance with this interpretation, even if they wanted to, even if they should … is just ridiculous. It would be impossible for most institutions, let alone all institutions to comply,” Fansmith said On Tuesday, the ACE sent a letter to Craig Trainor the acting assistant secretary of civil rights “In order to support students and combat discrimination, OCR ought to engage relevant stakeholders in a consultative manner to ensure that institutions of higher education are in compliance with their legal obligations under Title VI and federal nondiscrimination law,” the letter says we are witnessing a terrifying array of anti-democratic tactics to silence political opposition increase surveillance and expand authoritarian reach Truthout is appealing for your support as Trump and his sycophants crack down on political speech Nonprofits like Truthout could be caught in Trump’s crosshairs as he attacks dissenting groups with bad faith lawsuits and targeted harassment of journalists these attacks come at a time when independent journalism is most needed The right-wing corporate takeover of media has left reliable outlets few and far between with even fewer providing their work at no cost to the reader Who will be there to hold the fascists to account We ask for your support as we doggedly pursue justice through our reporting Truthout is funded overwhelmingly by readers like you Please make a tax-deductible one-time or monthly donation today Zane McNeill is a trending news writer at Truthout They have a master’s degree in political science from Central European University and are currently enrolled in law school at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law They can be found on Twitter: @zane_crittheory As Trump and his sycophants work to silence political dissent independent media is a key part of the resistance Support our work by making a one-time or monthly donation to Truthout today Randi Weingarten discusses the significance of Labor Day and how Project 2025 and MAGA extremists are threatening U.S joins the show to discuss the significance of Labor Day and American workers as well as how Project 2025 and MAGA extremists are threatening teachers Daniella and Colin also discuss shifts in the 2024 presidential race and Donald Trump’s disastrous tax plans Welcome back to “The Tent,” your place for politics but apparently it’s pumpkin spice latte season I feel like it gets earlier and earlier every year because it’s literally going to be—I think they’re saying it’s going to be 100 degrees today There is no pumpkin spice latte needing to be had right now and I heard you had a really relevant discussion this week We talked about the importance of labor organizing as we get ready to celebrate Labor Day We also talked about MAGA extremist attacks on public education and how to address the root causes behind teacher shortages Her speech at the [Democratic National Convention] was really great Seeberger: We do. And speaking of the DNC, it’s really set a groundwork for what’s going to happen throughout the course of the next 60-some odd days as we barrel toward Election Day in November. Several polls have come out since the DNC showing that Vice President [Kamala] Harris has got about a roughly four-point advantage over Donald Trump, according to an average of polls on FiveThirtyEight and those several battleground state polls showed that that race is even closer in those states We’re seeing that Vice President Harris has really expanded the map, put states that were favoring Donald Trump previously—like Arizona, or Georgia, or Nevada, or North Carolina—has put them into really fierce competition. She’s actually, according to FiveThirtyEight ahead in every single one of those states except for Georgia we’re really seeing that this race has changed dramatically over the course of the last six weeks The polls also show that she’s erased Trump’s advantage among independent voters which is going to be really crucial over the course of the rest of the election and will play a huge role in some of those states that I previously talked about Harris is also continuing to see a surge of support among women And that’s why she’s been able to put these states in the Sunbelt region of America into play It’s because they have a disproportionate margin of those voters we’re really seeing a transformation in the polls but we’re also seeing that translate into a transformation in voter registration Tom Bonier from Target Smart—recently, I saw him tweet out earlier this week some new voter registration data have seen registration rates that are like 175 percent higher than they were last year And so it’s clear that this energy that we’re seeing embodied at the DNC is also starting to translate into real hard voter data registration The polls are also showing that the favorability rating of the candidates on the two tickets are diverging quite dramatically [Tim] Walz have either neutral to positive favorability ratings while Donald Trump and JD Vance are going down The more that the American people are seeing of them And Harris and Walz are really generating an excitement that’s engaging more Americans in this election the DNC actually had about 15 percent more viewers than tuned in for the RNC just a few weeks prior And it’s a testament to people being interested and excited and enthusiastic about the case that Democrats are putting before the country Walz clearly have a message that is resonating with the American people They’re out there talking about how they’re going to grow the middle class by lowering costs supporting workers who are bargaining for better wages and taking on corporations who are cheating or price gouging consumers And I think they’re doing an excellent job of laying out the stakes in this election, too. In her acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination, Vice President Harris called Trump an unserious man—which made me kiki—but noted that the consequences of putting him back in the White House would be serious how does a candidate for president pull what Trump has pulled this week about a prospective debate he nearly pulled out of debating Vice President Harris for more than 24 hours I wouldn’t be surprised if he does this a few more times before they’re slated to debate on September 10 He doesn’t care about helping Americans make informed decisions at the ballot box based on the candidate’s stances on issues He doesn’t want people to clearly understand his policy positions because his radical vision for the country on issues from abortion to education is wildly out of step with the majority of Americans He’s worried the cracks will show on live television remains committed to actually having a debate it’s no wonder that Donald only does interviews with conservative propaganda outlets like Newsmax and OAN He only wants to go where he can control the narrative He calls into programs whenever he can to presumably read from notes throughout his interviews and he lashes out at real journalistic outlets like ABC which he called “ABC fake news” this week in response to them hosting a debate Seeberger: If you need more evidence of how dangerous and out of touch Trump’s ideas are you need to look no further than his tax policies—the ones he’s enacted in the past or the ones he’s talking about enacting in the future if he were to win New analysis from our colleagues at the Center for American Progress Action Fund shows that Trump’s tax legislation signed in December 2017 significantly reduced federal revenues because it cut taxes overwhelmingly for the richest Americans Federal revenues are way below the levels that were projected before the enactment of the 2017 [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] legislation These tax cuts finished the job that President George W namely breaking our tax system by giving handouts to the wealthy in the form of tax breaks federal revenues should be much higher than what we’re seeing right now That would have been unheard of before President Bush took office They’re the dollars that the federal government uses to fix roads and bridges provide benefits for veterans who bravely served our country Yet Donald Trump is willing to sacrifice all of that so he can hand out more tax cuts to his rich friends Gibbs Léger: Yeah, it’s a really harrowing analysis, especially when you look at what he plans to do if he’s elected to a second term. Our colleagues at the Center for American Progress also analyzed Project 2025’s tax plans which align closely with Trump’s radical vision Project 2025 aims to raise taxes on low- and middle-income households to finance deeper tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations Gibbs Léger: The plan also aims to replace all individual and corporate income taxes with a consumption tax in the long term This could take the form of a value added tax well above 45 percent—I repeat 45 percent—which would produce an enormous one-time burst of inflation and raise prices here’s the bottom line: These plans overwhelmingly shift the tax burden on some middle-class Americans They would result in an average $5,900 tax increase annually for the middle 20 percent of households and an average $2 million tax cut for the top 0.1 percent There’s no reason we shouldn’t believe that Donald Trump will enact this harmful tax He’s already given massive tax breaks to the wealthy in the past at the expense of a good chunk of our federal revenues And many of the people who drafted these new plans are his former staff a haphazard tariff plan that would raise costs for a typical family by $3,900 a year on average His approach to taxes has already been designed to do one thing and one thing only: shift burdens onto lower- and middle-class Americans so he can give big tax breaks to his billionaire buddies but I did the math on that one and you’re 1,000 percent right about that that is all the time that we have for today If there’s anything else you’d like us to cover on the pod Seeberger: And stick around for my interview with Randi Weingarten in just a beat Randi Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers she served as president of the United Federation of Teachers and worked as counsel to prior UFT presidents She got her start in education teaching history at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn thanks so much for joining us on “The Tent.” Randi Weingarten: I am so glad to be with you Nobody better to talk to this week because Labor Day is on Monday I wanted to start by hearing from you about what’s the significance of Labor Day for your members can you talk about your experience as a teacher and kind of how you got into organizing work May Day is close to the end of the school year Labor Day is close to the beginning of the school year many folks are back into schools the week or two before Labor Day And then you have places like New York City which is traditionally the day after Labor Day it is both a celebration of collective bargaining and labor and workers’ rights but it’s also completely jittery because it’s the start of the new year—completely a sense of both aspiration and anxiety But it’s also so much of a hope for a new year And Labor Day is about a hope for a new future And so I often tease and laugh when people say Labor Day is about the sales because for teachers who take so much money out of their own pockets but it’s also about how we celebrate and conceive of what work looks like today and tomorrow about what we do as labor to actually create the better life and the brighter future that our families and our communities need Seeberger: You talked about that better future There’s a real need to improve working conditions for teachers in this country And in response to the nationwide teacher shortage we’ve seen some states are trying to put forward real haphazard “solutions” like reducing qualifications for teachers Can you talk about the root causes behind the shortage and how reducing qualifications won’t actually address fixing those problems and what policymakers should be doing instead Seeberger: We’ll probably err on the side of the latter And the reason I say that is because there’s—in the two-minute version think about this: Would we ever in a million years when somebody in our family was going through some really intense surgery Weingarten: “We’ll just teach on-the-job training.” People would say of course not.” If it was an airline pilot the apprentice can just come in and hasn’t had very much flight lessons.” People would say of course not.” The level at which society doesn’t think that teachers need qualifications and skills is at the root of the shortage every parent understands when a teacher has a skill and knowledge to be able to lure out of a child that child’s confidence like [psychologist Jean] Piaget used to say of understanding well-being and child development Classroom management requires a lot of skills how many of us have had to actually manage 30 adults Could you imagine managing 30 children or 24 children because we’ve all gone to school—and frankly our teachers make it look easy—we don’t really truly understand the skills that are required to be a great teacher at the root of the shortage is that misconception And the other root of the shortage is something that’s actually really good about America but both bad about America which is that there are very few other things we do in America to create broad-based opportunity But because we don’t have the muscle of saying it’s not just the concept of public education It’s what it actually means to provide a great public education,” we don’t actually pay for what we need to pay for the sense that we make it easy or we make it look easy so people don’t understand it And the second is that we say we want to provide it to everyone but we don’t actually fund it for everyone So then what happens is teachers are paid these days about 20 to 25 percent less than what they could get for the same skills and knowledge in the marketplace Teachers go into teaching because they want to make a difference in the lives of kids They actually have to provide for their own families And it should be a decently paid middle-class job but we need to increase the pay so that people can actually have the lives that their families need And then the other piece is that this notion of teacher working conditions are actually students’ learning conditions if you don’t have what we fight for—during COVID we fought to actually be able to breathe in schools to be able to deal with having a respiratory illness An asthmatic student understands why ventilation is important A teacher understands why ventilation is important And then if you’re wearing masks on top of it And how many of our buildings are still not air conditioned or are freezing in the winter and hot as hell in the summer lower class sizes—all of these things that are children’s learning conditions and teachers’ working conditions So no surprise that teachers take out somewhere between $500 and $1,000 a year for books and supplies for our kids Our union has actually just given out our 10 millionth book to kids We take the money to buy these books out of dues but that’s because kids don’t have libraries at home So we have tried to do some of this work to actually spark the love of learning and the love of reading Seeberger: You touched on a lot of the preexisting challenges facing our education system we’ve also got these novel and imminent threats to our children and educators And those are really living and breathing in—I’m sure what you’re familiar with—Project 2025 where we see far-right extremists laying out plans to eliminate the Department of Education Can you talk about how these institutions actually help support the education of our kids And what does it look like to completely do away with them instead of actually helping make the system even better It’s like every single bit of the culture wars that the extremist right wing has wanted as well as people that don’t want to pay taxes for other people’s children have wanted They use the bureaucrat-ese so people wouldn’t actually know what they meant “eliminate the Department of Education,” so people who don’t know what the Department of Education does say they’re saying eliminate what the Department of Education does let’s just take what I just said about we want to help all kids How did we get to a Department of Education frankly—even though the department came about a few years later—it started as part of HEW And it started with [former President Lyndon] Johnson’s war on poverty Lyndon Johnson was a teacher before he was president of the United States of America There are a couple of other jobs in the middle And what he saw was his kids walk to school without shoes but they were so bereft because of the poverty they needed to have something that could level the playing field It’s leveling the playing field so that the federal government is giving funding for tutoring we try to level the playing field so that they can have the opportunity that middle class or rich kids have if you need glasses and you can’t see a board then you’re going to have a problem in school learning If you don’t have enough food at home and you’re hungry as a child If you have a toothache and that tooth is really this notion of how we level the playing field even more shocking than getting rid of Title I—to me I had to scavenge for chalk sometimes in the high school in which I taught the Individuals with Disabilities Act—they want to take that away So all the things that are about leveling the playing field And then what about when a kid faces bullying or discrimination What the Department of Education also does is make sure that somebody is calling balls and strikes so that those kids are not back in the basement again What about a kid who—take the right wing who looks at and sees anti-Semitism all over That’s what the Department of Education does We have all these programs to try to say first generation second generation of kids who want to go to college go to college.” What about those kids who go into teaching are supposed to have public service loan forgiveness They want to get rid of anything that levels the playing field that levels the playing field so that poor kids have the opportunities of rich kids and middle-class kids How do you create that kind of promise of America if you don’t do that for our children “And if there’s money going into education we know it from the program in other states who send their kids to private schools already—those are the people who are actually taking the vouchers Because what are these private schools doing They’re hiking their tuition so only the people who were there already are getting it We need more stuff so that kids can actually learn the technology that is facing us and don’t help the kids who actually have special needs but it’s not the only attack that we’re seeing from MAGA extremists who really have made clear their plans to make things like book banning or censoring curriculum a key federal priority in policymaking Can you talk about what those sorts of attacks—how those actually play out and affect teachers as well as the quality of education that our kids get and what that really means for our broader democracy what I’ve been talking about is basic financing what it actually costs to educate children and what it actually costs for us to have the best and the brightest teachers to make a decision that they’re going to go into teaching as opposed to go into something else But these issues are even more venal than the funding issues is they try and create fear instead of hope the telling teachers that they shouldn’t have contracts or that they should always be scared about what’s going to happen—all of this basically breaks the bond between teachers and kids and teachers and families as opposed to we should actually have a community Take the law in New Hampshire that we went to court on The New Hampshire school education department has appealed it Because they always want teachers to be on edge about can I answer that question of kids or am I going to get in trouble Think about what happened during McCarthyism I’m not proselytizing.” But don’t you think kids don’t you think kids need to know what you’re talking about don’t you think kids need to know what that was about if you don’t talk about the slavery and the effects of slavery and what happened in Jim Crow how do kids actually have a sense of how to understand history and how to understand knowledge the censoring of history—it is intended to keep teachers in compliance instead of meeting the needs of kids and it is limiting the knowledge that kids have from school disinformation and misinformation from other sources that then they don’t know how to navigate through It creates the indoctrination that they accuse us of You are very concerned with the safe working conditions of your members One of the ideas that we have heard Donald Trump talk a lot about over the course of the past year year and a half or so is actually stripping federal funding from schools that require students or educators to get vaccinated against communicable diseases Can you talk about your concerns with plans like this and what you think the practical impact would be if he got elected and actually tried to pursue Weingarten: The arc of history has actually bent towards more knowledge and more justice and understanding of what hurts us about COVID and about respiratory issues like asthma What has happened is there is always a little seed of truth in virtually everything others advocate for And I think what happened here was people didn’t know But we had a very bad zig-zaggy response to it But we really should learn from how to do a better response to pandemics we need to open schools for kids and they need to be safe But there wasn’t a general sense about what makes them safe and how to do this and how to actually help make sure that we have a welcoming and safe environment That is part of the conditions that we need to do for kids and for the people who staff schools Weingarten: When I say there’s a seed of truth in the issues so what ended up happening is a lot of us said these vaccines will help reduce illness in schools Let’s make sure that everybody gets vaccinated.” Just like we had programs for the vaccinations for measles But the difference is also the disinformation and the social media disinformation and the fact that any information that is out there could be used and weaponized One of the only things I think he did well during his administration was rush these vaccines to get them out to market But then he walks away from it because he has no morals to say that what they did was good And what we have right now is such disinformation about this that we may actually take huge steps backwards in terms of the onslaught of child communicable diseases which we had long since thought we had ended because how do you teach truth to people when people will say But this notion that civics taught that there are certain things that we hold as inalienable rights including that kids and teachers should be safe at schools that there are some things we know from health care about how to create safety and how to create good health care—that all of this stuff is at risk So I think it’s not just the issue about vaccines I think the root of the problem is that we’re a post-truth society and this whole issue of who you trust actually means more than what the evidence is And we have to create ways of creating unity and American patriotism again and a sense that what unites us is more important than what divides us that is part of what Kamala Harris and Tim Walz’s appeal are this notion that we’re there for each other this notion that we’re going to keep each other safe and we’re going to keep our neighborhoods welcome,” I think that is the root of the issues around vaccines and the root of this issue around fear and this issue around hate I think you got to a positive note there at the end of your answer and we on “The Tent” like to end on a positive note when we can but I wanted to talk about what are some things that you’re feeling hopeful about this Labor Day Are there some recent victories or wins that you think are really making a difference in the lives of teachers and students Weingarten: I don’t think you can be a schoolteacher I don’t think you can do the work that I do if you don’t see hope and light but I see a future and see a country with a future I feel hopeful about the excitement that Kamala Harris is bringing to this election about the energy that Coach Walz is bringing to this election I feel hopeful every single day we have a new school year and the hope and aspiration that brings I feel hopeful that our union has actually organized 185 new units in the last two years People want what comes when you do things together which is possible for regular human beings We fight for a better life because of economic opportunity We fight for a better life because of education opportunity And we need people in office that are going to fight for regular folks I see us giving out books as other people ban books “I want to be a teacher.” I see kids going into different fields When Kamala Harris talks about the promise of America I think that was the perfect note to end on Thank you so much for joining us on “The Tent.” please go back and check out previous episodes because I am not fully done with the second episode this week But on Monday when she called Marcus last for the last rose but something tells me that the producers are like so why don’t you call Marcus last?” Because there is no way that that girl feels that Marcus is on the bottom of a list Their chemistry has been so evident from the very beginning is that the producers made her pick Marcus last because I will confess this has been a much harder season for me to keep up with between the Olympics and work and other things but I did hop in and see hometown dates last week And it’s funny because I didn’t think that Marcus was going to make it through So maybe it’s just I’ve missed so much over the course of the season and I’m just trying to play catch up we also have to talk about another leading lad I don’t know if he’s pleading for his life or looking for sympathy or is just really in need of attention Seeberger: If you’re the bachelor or the bachelorette you never want to have a contestant come do that especially not one of your close to finalists but I don’t know if you need to be.” It was very Gibbs Léger: I understand that when you tell somebody you love them I also would like to remind Devin that he signed up to be on “The Bachelorette.” why do all these people lose their minds at the end blah.” This is the game that you were playing And so why are they surprised when this happens at the end Other things that drive me bonkers—I know you didn’t get to watch “The Men Tell All,” but for those of us who did you’re never going to find somebody if you don’t change your ways I will definitely have to watch that tonight because he is— ooh If somebody deserves dragging on national television Saying “I love you” to two guys usually doesn’t work out very well I do have to say I’m glad that they didn’t do the episode “The Men Tell All,” and then the finale spread out over the course of three weeks I’m glad that they’re kind of packing it in here Seeberger: There’s other things that we have to catch up on Gibbs Léger: “The Golden Bachelorette” is coming “The Tent” is a podcast from the Center for American Progress Action Fund The positions of American Progress, and our policy experts, are independent, and the findings and conclusions presented are those of American Progress alone. A full list of supporters is available here American Progress would like to acknowledge the many generous supporters who make our work possible @dgibber123 Stay updated on our work on the most pressing issues of our time Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" The Center for American Progress Action Fund is an independent nonpartisan policy institute and advocacy organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans as well as strong leadership and concerted action Our aim is not just to change the conversation Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Learn about our sister organization, the Center for American Progress an independent nonpartisan policy institute dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans ©2025 Center for American Progress Action American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten dialed into her New York roots while addressing the Empire State Democratic National Convention delegates in Chicago on Tuesday praising the work of New York State United Teachers to help get Democrats elected to Congress and flip the House Before stepping into her national role nearly two decades ago Weingarten served as the president of the United Federation of Teachers She still lives in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan and grew up in Rockland County – and she had nothing but good things to say about the statewide teachers’ union this election cycle “NYSUT is doing an incredible job in terms of understanding what it means to win the Congress,” Weingarten said “We need to win the Congress through New York.” NYSUT has been active so far in supporting key congressional Democrats around the state recently rolling out its endorsements in a series of coordinated events as they had candidates sign the union’s “Common Ground Over Chaos” pledge “I think most Americans understand that we gotta break this fever of hyper partisanship,” said congressional candidate John Avlon at NYSUT’s Long Island endorsement event last week “We got to get to a place where we can reason together again to solve our common problems because that's what Democracy depends on.” when he flipped the 3rd Congressional District back to blue He ran heavily on his bipartisan bonafides and cross-aisle problem-solving capabilities and ended up with a larger margin of victory than many initially anticipated The race was the first major test for New York Democrats after a disastrous 2022 cost the party control of the House In addition to the endorsements and the accompanying support that will come with it, NYSUT also announced at least $2 million in independent ad buys to support competitive Democrats, the largest investment the union has made in congressional races. NYSUT President Melinda Person told Politico New York that the state union has historically deferred to the AFT when it came to federal races “We’ve mostly focused on the state races and relied on our national unions to do federal races in the past,” Person told the outlet we think it’s important enough that we get involved and throw ourselves into these races.” – With reporting by Samantha Olander News & Politics Policy Personality Opinion NYN Media List Nominations First Read Magazine Resource Directory Events Jobs About Merchandise Awards, Plaques & Permissions Help us tailor content specifically for you: Thank you for subscribing! Please check out our other newsletter offerings on our Newsletter page. For all but Mason county until 4 PM. Storms capable of all severe weather hazards could also produce a few tornadoes RADARTeachers union boss wishes Trump a happy Thanksgiving: 'Grateful for this country'by KRISTINA WATROBSKI | Crisis in the Classroom WASHINGTON (CITC) — The leader of one of the largest teachers unions in the U.S wished President-elect Donald Trump "Happy Thanksgiving" on Thursday American Federation of Teachers (AFT ) President Randi Weingarten responded to an X post by Trump in which the president-elect wished a good Thanksgiving holiday to all Americans He added that his sentiments were also extended to "the Radical Left Lunatics who have worked so hard to destroy our Country." proud to be an American!" Trump wrote Weingarten noted in her reply she is likely someone Trump is not fond of which included Weingarten's voice claiming the two "want to destroy public schools." In a statement following this month's presidential election Weingarten noted that Americans saw "fear and anger" win on Election Day would have.’ But the bottom line for most people who voted—and we saw many of them as we crisscrossed the country—was ‘who will help us improve our lives the lives of our families and our communities?’" the union president wrote “We believed it was Kamala Harris; more people believed it was Donald Trump." Department of Education and send all education power to individual states She said on Sunday that AFT members "don't really care" if the president-elect follows through on the vow noting the union in the 1970s was opposed to the creation of the department because of the whole child," Weingarten said UpFront Discover our collection of on-line only podcasts Advanced Search Hard Knock Radio By In a compelling episode of Hard Knock Radio host Davey D sat down with Randi Weingarten President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) for an insightful conversation on the future of public education and the pressing challenges facing teachers and students in the United States Weingarten began by examining the impact of recent elections on education policy She raised alarms about efforts to dismantle the Department of Education which she described as vital to securing resources for public schools She pointed to the persistent political push to defund public education which threatens programs supporting students with special needs “People didn’t vote for the destruction of education,” Weingarten remarked emphasizing how voters in states like Colorado and Kentucky recently rejected school voucher proposals that would divert funding away from public schools underscore a public commitment to investing in public education A significant portion of the discussion focused on disinformation campaigns targeting teachers and unions Weingarten addressed accusations that unions like the AFT obstruct educational progress countering that corporate interests and political agendas are often the real culprits undermining public schools “It’s not teachers who are the problem,” she asserted She also highlighted the growing influence of corporate-backed politicians advocating for privatization particularly in states like Texas and Florida are part of a broader effort to erode public education Weingarten noted examples of bipartisan efforts where rural Republicans and Democrats have united to protect school funding Weingarten celebrated the essential role of teachers in shaping society describing them as “the most incredible people.” She lauded their contributions to education and social justice tying the fight for fair wages and working conditions to the broader labor movement’s goals of improving life for all working-class families “Unions protect the dignity of work,” she explained highlighting the importance of collective bargaining in securing fair pay Weingarten urged working families to demand better “The American dream should not just be available to billionaires.” Weingarten called for a renewed focus on grassroots organizing and workers to build coalitions to safeguard public education and push back against corporate influence “We need to listen to the voices of parents and teachers and work together,” she said underscoring the importance of community-led efforts to ensure equitable funding and protections for public schools Weingarten concluded with a powerful rallying cry: “We have to fight for the America we believe in and for a better life for every working family in America.” This dynamic conversation between Davey D and Randi Weingarten spotlighted the urgent need to defend public education Weingarten’s hopeful vision for the future hinges on continued advocacy Republicans and Democrats have successfully come together to protect public school funding Weingarten underscored the critical role that teachers play not only in shaping the future of education but in the broader fight for justice and equality “Teachers are the most incredible people,” she said praising their daily contributions and highlighting the dignity of work that unions protect Weingarten also called attention to the value of collective bargaining and retirement security for teachers and other union workers She stressed that the fight for better wages and working conditions for teachers is intrinsically tied to the broader labor movement which is aimed at improving the lives of all working-class people “The American dream should not just be available to billionaires,” she declared urging working families to unite and demand fair treatment Weingarten emphasized the importance of grassroots organizing and workers across the country to build coalitions and fight for the educational system that every child deserves She highlighted that organizing at the local level much like the efforts of past labor movements will be key to ensuring that public schools are adequately funded and protected from corporate interests “We need to listen to the voices of parents and teachers and work together,” Weingarten said expressing hope that through unity and determination progress could be made in defending public education Weingarten offered a rallying cry for the future: “We have to fight for the America we believe in This discussion between Davey D and Randi Weingarten highlights the urgent need to protect public education and preserve the rights of workers in the face of increasing political and corporate pressure With continued advocacy and grassroots organizing Weingarten believes that the fight for fair and equitable education will endure Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday) a community radio station without corporate underwriting FCC Applications KPFA FCC Public Files & KPFB FCC Public Files. Yearly EEO Reports Pacifica designated agent to receive notice of claimed infringements Jason Weingarten talks about bringing new “magical dining experiences” to Chicago and the world There were no giant “under new ownership” banners hoisted outside the Alinea Group restaurants after Nick Kokonas announced he sold his ownership stake earlier this month. A server at Next Restaurant laughs at the suggestion The Alinea Group is arguably Chicago’s most decorated restaurant group and includes Michelin-starred Next, three-Michelin-starred Alinea, a cocktail lounge called the Aviary, and Roister Jason Weingarten, 47, who Chicago restaurant followers know from Oliver’s, an LA supper club restaurant in South Loop that opened earlier this year, and Entree a meal-kit delivery service that debuted in 2022 Weingarten compares partnering with chef Grant Achatz — the chef who helped make molecular gastronomy a household term — with “getting to partner with Michael Jordan back in the heyday.” “Chef Achatz and his team — they are the best in the world; you don’t mess with success,” Weingarten says “I absolutely have zero plans or intentions to change anything that has worked so brilliantly for 19 years and we’re incredibly excited and thrilled and honored to celebrate the 20th anniversary next year.” He declined to share the financial details of the transaction Weingarten also turned to Alinea Group restaurants when he wanted to entertain clients A native of suburban Skokie who grew up in Highland Park Weingarten attended Miami University in Ohio where he studied marketing between Lincoln Park High School and Whitney Young High School where his two kids attend Achatz credits Weingarten with bringing a fresh perspective to the business: “He has the ability to recognize gaps and identify and seek out growth opportunities in and outside of TAG and use his business acumen to help us grow,” the chef says the Italian beef stand that inspired Season 1 of The Bear The Alinea Group has tried to expand outside of Chicago in the past with a New York location of the Aviary at the Mandarin Oriental Weingarten complimented the hotel and didn’t rule out partnering with it in the future any future partnership would mean to ensure that “we’re completely aligned on what the goals are and that the incentives are properly set for both parties.” “I think there’s room for a number of opportunities for fun and unique and magical dining experiences in a collaborative way,” Weingarten adds it doesn’t have to be just the typical classics.” anyone thinking of taking a managing stake in the group would need to earn the trust of its most famous chef “The Alinea Group is something I have been working relentlessly on for over 20 years now it is woven into the fabric of who I am so tightly it’s impossible to separate,” Achatz says The chef adds: “I felt it was crucial to partner with someone that would engage in positive discussions about significant decisions as we roadmap TAG’s growth plan over the next 10 years.” While Michelin stars and mentions on the World’s Best Restaurants list have already bolstered his profile Weingarten sees “unlimited potential” in Achatz and would like to see the chef more widely recognized nationally: “In my opinion that we’re excited to go out and go out and get,” Weingarten says but it would appear Weingarten has plans to fine-tune “This team has focused on building the world’s best restaurant and achieving that and now we’re trying to build the world’s best restaurant group,” Weingarten says (The Lion) — Teachers’ union head Randi Weingarten is spouting fury over the Trump administration’s recent Education Department workforce slashes calling them “evisceration by a thousand cuts.” “I’m so mad, I’m spitting mad about this because it’s hurting the people who can’t vote; children don’t vote,” Weingarten, who leads the American Federation of Teachers, told MSNBC in a recent interview Her comments come as the Trump administration announced a “reduction in force” last week Education Secretary Linda McMahon defended the cuts as a way to ensure the department’s resources are directed “where they matter most: to students “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system,” McMahon said of the layoffs The department is facing a lawsuit over the cuts by a coalition of Democrat-led states, as the Lion reported which are arguing the executive branch overstepped its constitutional authority Weingarten, who has faced national scrutiny for lobbying to keep schools closed longer than necessary during the pandemic said the Education Department is an “opportunity agent” for children from the first moment that Johnson did the War on Poverty until now is about getting poor kids some money for a reading specialist when you’re trying to deal with literacy and helping a poor kid,” she said adding the department also helps kids with disabilities and low-income college students it levels the playing field so all kids can have opportunity and that is what they are cutting,” Weingarten said “And when they cut half the people it’s like evisceration by a thousand cuts.” Weingarten told CBS News getting rid of half the workforce would mean “you can’t get things done” and the “federal role in education will just collapse.” McMahon is “a good person,” Weingarten added but she has often said she is just doing the bidding of Donald Trump and Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he wants to abolish the Department of Education The Education Department didn’t return The Lion’s request for comment but McMahon has repeatedly said her vision is aligned with Trump’s as she hopes to return education back to the states and embrace school choice “As a mother and grandmother, I know there is nobody more qualified than a parent to make educational decisions for their children,” she said earlier this month noting review of the department’s programs is “long overdue.” “The Department of Education is not working as intended taxpayers have entrusted the department with over $1 trillion yet student outcomes have consistently languished,” she said adding millions of students are trapped in “failing schools” as teachers are leaving “the profession in droves” because of red tape “The reality of our education system is stark and the American people have elected President Trump to make significant changes in Washington Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the president they elected who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education – a momentous final mission – quickly and responsibly.” Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information president of the American Federation of Teachers said eliminating the Education Department won't make the federal role in schools more efficient and risks creating more inequality nonprofit news organization that produces award-winning journalism By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org Weingarten is married to Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum and describes herself as a “mother by marriage” to Kleinbaum’s two children Since J.D. Vance was tapped as Donald Trump’s running mate, journalists and activists have unearthed a series of clips in which he denigrates people without children, famously referring to them in one instance as “childless cat ladies” and in another as “sociopaths.” The latest clip to resurface: Vance deriding Randi Weingarten the second-largest teachers union in the United States “So many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids trying to brainwash the minds of our children. That really disorients me and it really disturbs me,” he said in a 2021 speech to a Christian event according to audio that has recently circulated online If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone.” Weingarten is married to Sharon Kleinbaum, the recently retired senior rabbi of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and describes herself as a “mother by marriage” to Kleinbaum’s two children Weingarten said that Vance “lacks an empathy gene” and referred back to her leadership of a teachers union “I am blessed to be a mom by marriage, but it’s irrelevant to whether any of us care about children,” she said in the statement as teachers are digging into their pockets to pay for school supplies and welcoming kids and parents into their classrooms we should all be celebrating the hope and promise of a new school year Vance’s spokesperson, Taylor Van Kirk, doubled down on his comments about Weingarten in remarks to NBC News Tuesday night saying Vance “will continue to loudly call this crap out to defend our kids.” “There is no bigger threat to American children than the left-wing indoctrination being peddled in our schools by radicals like Randi Weingarten with the support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Van Kirk added Vance has disparaged a series of prominent Democratic politicians is a parent to the children of her Jewish spouse In a response to Vance on the social network X Weingarten wrote that his comments were “Gross!” She also invoked Vance’s religion many of whom teach and who do not have children She wrote “JD Vance’s comments are sad and insulting to millions of modern families and school teachers including Catholic nuns none of whom should be targeted for their family decisions.” “Teachers who are in back-to-school mode right now help other people’s children every single day,” she added “Those who virtuously serve our communities should be lauded JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Ross Weingarten joined Steptoe as a partner in its investigations and white-collar defense practice in New York, the firm announced Wednesday Weingarten joins from the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut where he was an assistant United States attorney he investigated and prosecuted fraud cases involving accounting This story was produced by Bloomberg Law Automation workflow tools and premium legal & business news Log in to keep reading or access research tools