Kamala Harris: Make Busing Great Again!
[guest post by JVW]
Surging in the polls after what was widely considered a successful debate performance this past Thursday night, California Senator Kamala Harris has decided that the issue she used to bash former Vice-President Joe Biden is ready to be rolled-out nationally. From The Corner on NRO:
On Sunday, Kamala Harris expressed support for new, federally mandated busing policies. “I support busing. Listen, the schools of America are as segregated, if not more segregated, today than when I was in elementary school,” Harris said. “Where states fail to do their duty to ensure equality of all people and in particular where states create or pass legislation that created inequality, there’s no question that the federal government has a role and a responsibility to step up.”
That ought to go over really well with that middle-class mom who is pro-Planned Parenthood, pro-Sierra Club, pro-Moms Demand Gun Action, and absolutely hates Donald Trump. Tell her that even though she and her husband pinched pennies to afford a home in Hancock Park, her fifteen-year-old daughter is going to be sent to Crenshaw High in order to appease the social justice diktats of bringing more racial balance to Los Angeles public schools. Let’s not even bother to speculate on how the LAUSD, which has no clue how they are going to balance their books in coming years, is going to suddenly find the money for — what? — up to a thousand new unionized bus drivers (for 1,000 schools and 734,000 students) and brand-new school buses. I suppose Sen. Harris will propose that the federal government pay for all of this, adding perhaps another $2-3 billion or so annually to the nation’s bar-tab.
This is such an odd horse for Sen. Harris to ride into battle that one gets the sense that (surprise! surprise!) she’s hadn’t given it anything other than the most superficial thought. With even anti-Trump journalists like Andrew Sullivan and Jonathan Turley trying to warn Democrats that they are heading off of the deep end on immigration policy, the last thing it would seem the party needs is to resurrect a divisive social program that we thought we had rid ourselves of 40 years ago.
(Hat tip to Powerline.)
– JVW
Bus the drugs from the projects to the money in suburbia.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/1/2019 @ 1:04 pmI personally know people who lived in Big City America and were subjected to busing in the 1970s. I’m sure that some, like Kamala Harris, feel that they benefitted from the program, but I definitely know people who had a bad experience with it. Like so many other government programs, busing is alleged to be enforced fairly and without favor, but all of that is quite naturally hooey and the well-connected usually find a way to get the outcome they desire.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/1/2019 @ 1:06 pmMy wife knows #1 is true, she saw it live.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/1/2019 @ 1:16 pmI think this is one of those situations where the impact is different in each state/region/city.
In St. Louis, this program was a net positive for the most part.
However, the big issue that no one is talking about is the opportunity for graft. The busing companies made many millions on this program where you can argue that the money would be better spent on the schools themselves.
whembly (fd57f6) — 7/1/2019 @ 1:25 pmWut?
whembly (fd57f6) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:03 pmI just deleted a comment that violated the house rules.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:05 pmI sent the preceding comment into moderation. Let me make a few things clear:
1. This isn’t a post he has written, and I’m not sure if he will read the comments here.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:07 pm2. The comment that was left here is personal in nature and is off-topic to this post.
3. Our host’s email address is in the right-hand sidebar and isn’t hard to find if you want to get in touch with him.
Dana killed it, ’cause she’s way more gangster than I am.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:08 pmhttps://www.thedailybeast.com/center-for-american-progress-puts-think-progress-up-for-sale?source=twitter&via=desktop
narciso (d1f714) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:16 pmLend her a stick of Beemans; she punched through the Biden Barrier and did a barrel roll.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:19 pmOh yeah, that’s sooo me, JVW. Great post, btw. I’m struck by this:
According to your link, Crenshaw High is 66% black and 32% Hispanic. So exactly how does her daughter attending the school improve the ethnic diversity and racial balance? Further, nothing like using your kid as a pawn in hopes of advancing your own political career.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:20 pmot, today is the 156th anniversary of Gettysburg, or twelve score and three,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:23 pmIts easy to be outraged, but this is good politics. D’s see Busing as attempted integration, maybe not the best policy, but well-intentioned. This will win Kamala votes, especially black votes, and continue to paint Biden as out of touch, and just too moderate on race issues.
In the General, this will all be forgotten. In fact, if Biden drops out tomorrow, Harris would drop the issue like a hot potato.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:38 pmPut another way. We’re only talking Busing because of Harris. And Harris is only talking Busing because of Biden. Once Biden goes, Busing as an issue goes.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:39 pmDana, at 11:
the quote you are quoting was prefaced by “That ought to go over really well with that middle-class mom who …”.
That is, it’s not *Kamala Harris* who’s fifteen year old daughter is going to be bussed to Crenshaw High in the hypothetical, it’s an abstract middle-class Obama-hating mom.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:42 pmThe thing aboutthat is, even though just about nobody supports busing any more, and berkeley cancelled the program in 1994, (or phased it out staring then) it’s still a Civil Rights issue that Democrats don’t dare argue against. Joe Biden made alimited argument but he never connected with what Kamala Harris said – if busing is good why shouldn’t the federal government force it?
He faces accusations of racism if he argues it is bad, And beinbg a Democrat he can’t support the voucher system instead.
Of course Kamala Harris’ attack was planned.
It is a little like the way trump hopes to trap people.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:42 pmKamala Hrris knows no Democrat can arge=ue it was bad idea. At least they don’t know how to, without endorsing racism.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:43 pmBiden couldn’t even point out it’s been abandoned.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:44 pmThose damn Replacements gotta song for everything…
https://youtu.be/yDH6W-bU8wo
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:49 pm@12. Swell. Thanks for the reminder of being ‘singed’ by the barrel of an old cannon in a sensitive spot sitting straddled on top of it in the hot sun 56 summers ago for photos when dragged there by dear ol’Dad. 😉 Still have and use the Blue & Gray cast iron soldier souvenir bookends we got there.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:49 pmThis will win Kamala votes, especially black votes, and continue to paint Biden as out of touch, and just too moderate on race issues.
In the General, this will all be forgotten. . .
I see your point, rcocean, but one thing that differentiates Trump from other GOP candidates of the past is that he will harp on this throughout the general election cycle. Progressives and Harris will of course want the matter to be conveniently forgotten, and will find it distasteful and, why, downright racist that Trump keeps talking about her affinity for busing, but Trump (unlike other GOP candidates) won’t care and won’t be bullied out of making Kamala Harris the face of the next wave of busing. Should she end up the nominee, I will be very interested to see how this stance plays out for her.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:52 pmit’s history, and it’s a reminder (or it should be) when people speak facilly about civil wars, the next such occurrence wouldn’t be on an open plain, it’d be more like Beirut, Sarajevo, Damascus,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:52 pmHeh, thanks aphrael. Not sure how I missed that…
Dana (bb0678) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:56 pmWhen has Joe Biden ever fought the Left? He’s had a 100 percent ADA rating forever. And despite all the attacks on him, voted AGAINST Thomas, Roberts, and Alioto. He was also a leader in “Borking” Bork. Anyone expecting Slow Joe to Turnaround and counterattack Harris or Warren on immigration, Gov’t paid abortions, Medicare for all, reparations, etc. is mistaken. Joe will stick up for Wall Street (he’s big buddies with Golden Sachs) and crony capitalism, but that’s about it.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/1/2019 @ 2:57 pmDon’t forget, once its served its purpose, she can modify her position. She can say: “Look, I’m not pushing Busing in 2019, its not on policy agenda, I haven’t talked about since Joe Biden dropped out. And lets be clear, I’m not bringing back busing. But I do support integration. Which Mr. Trump doesn’t. Trump is a racist who constantly….blah..blah.”
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:01 pmwhen do they get around to looking at her record,
https://fortune.com/2019/06/26/kamala-harris-clergy-abuse/
narciso (d1f714) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:16 pm“This will win Kamala votes, especially black votes,”
Not sure about that. It’s showing signs of backfiring.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/30/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2020-1391212
JRH (4be6f7) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:23 pmCrenshaw High is 66% black and 32% Hispanic.
The fact of busing in Los Angeles is that even schools in the heart of upper-middle-class Anglo L.A. are majority black and Hispanic. It’s quite possible that the Hancock Park public schools are disproportionately black and Hispanic.
In my old neighborhood where houses go for between $1.5 and $3 million, the neighborhood schools are less that 10% local kids, the rest are kids whose parents care enough to bring them to a distant school in a safe area, and nearly every kid is some shade of brown.
Why is this? Is it because of busing, which ended over 30 years ago? Well, those Anglo kids ARE going to private schools, but the busing thing is only historical — LAUSD has made itself into something that is shunned by all who can. Quite a few African-American parents use private schools, and are big customers of charters and magnets.
Busing won’t help. The only way to get kids back into LAUSD would be to outlaw all alternatives — something Senator Harris has suggested for the medical field already. She won’t say that here and now, but that’s what a modern busing program would require — otherwise there are no white and Asian kids to use as pawns.
Kevin M (61459c) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:33 pmhttps://laraec.net/los-angeles-unified-school-district/
How is busing going to help?
Kevin M (61459c) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:37 pmwho is their strategist, wile e coyote,
https://dailycaller.com/2019/07/01/poll-illegal-migrants-health-insurance/
narciso (d1f714) — 7/1/2019 @ 3:52 pmThe only way to return to busing would be to bus across county and city lines. This was tried by the liberal judges and BARELY defeated in early 70s. IRC, the SCOTUS decision was 5-4. If President Harris replaces Thomas with another “Wise Latina” you could see a return of busing. But this time with Every city and school district in Orange and LA County being affected and “integrated”.
Of course, I suppose LA metro has bad traffic and long distances, so that might limit the range of any inter-city busing. But it would certainly affect someplace like Detroit and Wayne County. Or NYC. Or Some Texas/Southern cities which have black cities surrounded by white suburbs.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/1/2019 @ 4:17 pmwile e coyote vs yosemite sam. A match made in Hollywood.
Kevin M (61459c) — 7/1/2019 @ 4:38 pmIt’s quite possible that the Hancock Park public schools are disproportionately black and Hispanic.
Fairfax High, where I would assume a kid living in Hancock Park would attend if they and their parents chose to go to a public school, is indeed 56% Hispanic, 20% Asian, 17% black, and only 6% white. And 84% of the students are on free or reduced lunches.
So my presumption is probably mistaken, and Hancock Park mom and dad will be trying to get their daughter into one of the charter schools that sit atop the district’s rankings, if they don’t decide to go private. But of course, the unions are trying to strangle those in the crib, aren’t they? A good question for the Senator is if she plans to mandate busing, does she also believe that charter school offerings within LAUSD should be expanded.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/1/2019 @ 4:43 pmI assume the buses will all be elecrically powered vehicles. And that the power will come from random lightning strikes rather than fossil fuel generated electricity. A question for the next media extravaganza, aka “debate.”
Gary Hoffman (7ec1de) — 7/1/2019 @ 5:40 pmThe buses will be a hybrid, powered both by random lightning strikes, burning PG&E substations, and the combined psychic energies of every angry California Democrat whose straight-ticket vote was in excess of those needed to carry California again for the 2020 Democratic nominee, i.e., the “disenfranchised.”
They will be lubricated, though, by a special confiscatory tax on tears — collected in 55-gallon drums — shed by the top 1%ers whose combined personal fortunes were exhausted by the first six weeks of “Medicare for All.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 7/1/2019 @ 6:07 pmNarciso and I, have at times feared that vouchers could become 1-way busing, hence his apprehension about DeVos
urbanleftbehind (82d2e3) — 7/1/2019 @ 6:24 pmWell it’s more about the curriculum, the system from my experience in it, needs an overhaul, but wannabe Olivia Pope isnt the answer
Narciso (f0d08f) — 7/1/2019 @ 6:59 pmTo be fair, it’s not really about bussing. It was about her pwning sleepy Joe and getting a foot hold to get support and raise money. Also to make her look like someone who can take on (her former donor) Donald Trump. And yeah, get the black vote. @27. I was very wrong about it backfiring, That was Biden spin.
JRH (4be6f7) — 7/2/2019 @ 1:54 amHe should have borrowed a line from his ex-boss and said, with a glancing creepy glare,
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 7/2/2019 @ 8:11 am“Sen. Harris, the 70s want their education policy back”.
There’s a new poll out today.
Of course, polling nowadays, when you have response rates probably well 10%, is more an art than an a science.
But it still can be done pretty well, if someone is good at making assumptions, not trying to rig the poll results, and there are no new factors that the polltaker hasn’t spotted that make previous correlations no good in that election.
It shows Kamala Harris gaining in that debate. She’s now second, at 17% and Biden is at 22%.
Sammy Finkelman (0d0ca8) — 7/2/2019 @ 9:58 amTwo parties, no serious candidates. Blofeld smiles.
Kevin M (61459c) — 7/2/2019 @ 10:47 amThree polls released after the debates showed Kamala Harris coming in second to Joe Biden (the closest being 22-20) and the top five candidates ranked in all polls in the same order: Biden, Harris, Warren, Sanders and Buttigieg.
Buttigieg was in the mid to high single digits, Sanders in the low double digits, just coming in behind Warren.
Julian Castro, whio called some attention to himself, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, nor does anyone else, except both Biden and Bernie Ssanders are dropping as people become familiar with other choices.
There will be the same terms for qualifying in the next debate. The second debate might have almost the same group of candidates, but the pack will be shuffled a different way.
but the third debate requires double the contributors and double the percentage in at least three polls (2%)
They might get less than 10 candidates, maybe even as low as seven for the thrid debate.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/5/2019 @ 12:41 pm42. Kevin M (61459c) — 7/2/2019 @ 10:47 am
Who is Blofeld?
I found on Wikipedia that that;s the name of fictional character:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Stavro_Blofeld
The one thinbg that occurs to me about that nameiis that itis very simliar to James Earl Ray’s alias: Eric Starvo Galt. So the assassin of AMrtin Luther King must have been reading James Bond novels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Earl_Ray
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/5/2019 @ 12:48 pmKamala harris is not actually endoring busing.
What she seems to be doing is daring Joe Biden to say that some court decisions were wrong.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/5/2019 @ 12:49 pmhttps://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/twenty-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-marianne-williamson
Like St. Paul, she’s a Jew who created her own religion.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/5/2019 @ 1:15 pmBlofeld was named after a famous cricket commentator.
Narciso (fddec8) — 7/5/2019 @ 1:18 pmhow does that help comment #42 make sense?
Not the part about Two parties, and no serious candidates.
The part about Blofeld smiling.
I’m not sure there’s any one of them I would want pay $1 to get into the debates. Maybe if I listen more closely. Surely there’s one of them who can make things make more sense.
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 7/5/2019 @ 1:27 pmIt’s a substitute for putin, sammeh, he would have to be the puppet master, he was based on the likes on real life villains like zahatiff.
Narciso (fddec8) — 7/5/2019 @ 1:40 pmZaharoff and the one in the movie m
Narciso (fddec8) — 7/5/2019 @ 1:42 pm