Give the New York Daily News credit for surfacing a video which originally appeared at Ed Notes Online, a publication whose "about" page says it opposes "the education corporate-based reforms ... undermining the public school system" and exposes "the motives behind the education deformers."
The video shows Michael Mulgrew, the president of New York City's United Federation of Teachers, threatening to "punch you in the face and push you in the dirt" if you oppose the nationally imposed and controlled Common Core standards, and from all appearances laying claim to America's children as the property of its teachers. Give the rest of the establishment press — which routinely pounces on inflammatory statements coming from the right and distorts others into making them appear to be — demerits for almost completely failing to expose an education tyrant. Video and excerpts from the Daily News's coverage follow the jump.
First, the video (Mulgrew's speech is the first 2:45 of the video's 12 minutes; the over-the-top remarks begin at 0:57; the transition into the threats begins at 1:35):
The full video is worth a look, because the opposition to Common Core coming from some of the teachers speaking at the event in the video's later minutes was vehement — but not personally threatening like Mulgrew's.
Now to the Daily News story by Ben Chapman and Stephen Rex Brown (bolds are mine):
Michael Mulgrew defends Common Core: ‘You sick people need to deal with us and the children that we teach’
Teachers union honcho Michael Mulgrew unleashed a venomous screed directed at anyone who would dare threaten his beloved Common Core agenda.
“If someone takes something from me, I’m going to grab it right back out of their cold, twisted, sick hands and say it is mine! You do not take what is mine!” the head of the United Federation of Teachers shouted in a speech at a convention last month in Los Angeles.
... “And I’m going to punch you in the face and push you in the dirt because this is the teachers’!” added Mulgrew.
“These are our tools and you sick people need to deal with us and the children that we teach. Thank you very much!”
The remarks came during a heated debate on a resolution regarding the American Federation of Teachers’ continued support of Common Core despite the union’s disappointment in how it was rolled out nationwide.
“I’ve heard the stories about how Eli Broad, Bill Gates, Joel Klein and a flying saucer full of Martians designed these things to brainwash us all,” said Mulgrew, mocking critics who deride Common Core as being imposed by billionaires and corporate bigwigs.
“It was scary,” said (an audience member) ... “People were saying that he shouldn’t be around children.”
A search on Mulgrew's full name at the Associated Press's national web site comes up empty. A Google News search on ["Michael Mulgrew" common core] (typed exactly as indicated between brackets; sorted by date) returns roughly 15 relevant items mentioning his rant. Only three of them are from establishment press outlets: The Daily News item excerpted, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and an item at MyFoxNY.com.
The MyFox item headlines Mulgrew's speech as an "aggressive rant." No, it was a physical threat.
In the video, an audience member is heard saying "He'll pay for that" after Mulgrew's "Martians" reference.
Odds are that he won't, because the education union protection racket known as the mainstream media won't let it be widely seen or heard.
On substance, the Common Core standards are not more rigorous. They are the opposite.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
