We Have Whitney Tilson to Thank for Betsy DeVos

So it is official. Betsy DeVos is the new Secretary of Education. God help us all.

I'm not shocked. Out with Duncan/King in with DeVos. It's all the same. Except the crazy God stuff that DeVos bring as well as her hatred of the LGBTQ community.

There are so many people to blame. Public education and the teaching profession have been under attack for 15 years now. Too many ignorant rich people and politicians have been doing everything they can to delegitimize us. Tell a lie enough it becomes truth.

One person I am going to put this is on is our old friend Whitney Tilson. Why Whitney? Simple, Whitney is whining about DeVos' nomination as well as Trump (YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW!)

Yeah, I know, I know. There are so many others to toss the blame at for DeVos, but Whitney just gets under everyone's skin.

Whitney was born with a silver spoon stuck up his ass and it will continue to be there for the rest of his life.

Whitney like DeVos has never attended a public school. Whitney like DeVos never sent his children to public school. Whitney like DeVos donates money to do what he can to destroy public education.

How dare Whitney complain about DeVos. Read this post from April 2010, (Of all the blog posts I've written about Whitney this stands out the most to me) almost seven years ago, in which I wrote about how Whitney completely disparaged a public school which is co-located with a charter. Whitney without any context, without any other information decided to see what he wanted to see. And lie about it as well. Kind of like our current president.

Whitney has spent years delegitimizing teachers. teachers unions, public schools, and worse, the families and communities of the NYC public schools.


Whitney can just delegitimize without offering any real solutions or worse, getting his hands actually dirty and seeing what is really happening.

Whitney just believes that everyone can just pull themselves up by their bootstraps and live in the kind of fantasy life he is safely ensconced in.

But when Whitney is whining and kvetching has he ever experienced what children and families of the South Bronx, in particular District 7, go through daily?

Whitney is Trump. Whitney is DeVos.

Whitney has no right to complain about either.

We Have Whitney Tilson (And His Ilk) to Thank for Donald Trump

STOP THE PRESSES!!!! WHITNEY TILSON AND HIS ILK ARE CULPABLE FOR GIVING US DONALD TRUMP BEING THISCLOSE TO THE PRESIDENCY.

Wait, I will make the case.

I have been thinking about this for awhile. I guess I am finally sharing what is on my mind for a few reasons. One, the blog post by Norm Scott about Neo-liberalism, the anti-Semetism of Donald Trump, and Whitney's whining of Trump.

 "I understand you fighting to maintain the Republican majorities in the House and Senate, but are you seriously still supporting Trump – even after what he’s said in the past two weeks?"

 "Trump was deeply associated with, “Cambridge Who’s Who, a vanity publisher promising ‘branding services’…” This led me to take a stab at compiling a list of all of Trump’s failed/scummy/predatory businesses and business practices."

Shall we show look at the failed/scummy/predatory practices of Whitney? But I am digressing.

What has happened since the Ed Deformers had come out of the woodwork in the last 15 years or so is that experience and knowledge mean squat bupkus anymore. Don't we see that from Trump? No experience and certainly no knowledge.

We have seen how Whitney and his ilk support the greatest lack of experience and knowledge with Teach for America. Sure, anyone can teach if they take a course for 5 weeks for a total of 50 hours.

Don't we hear this from the Trump cabal. "He has no experience in politics, it's a good thing!"

That remind me. I had this conversation with Dmitri Melhorn a few years ago in which we were talking about need for experience

@sms1016 @SoBronxSchool @MindyRosier @Kuhio_Kane @gailDrich Should teachers only be allowed to comment on pedagogy and curriculum?

— Dmitri Mehlhorn (@DmitriMehlhorn) July 18, 2014

I actually like Dmitri. At least he is not a giant p**** like Whitney.

I remember once asking Dmitri since I coached Little League successfully should I then be qualified to coach. Dmitri was like, "Why not?"

Look at what has become of principals and assistant principals. Where once these were leaders of schools with a wealth of background in education those positions have been dumbed down as well. Just cut a check to Touro or somewhere else and PRESTO! You are an administrator. Why have any knowledge in the field you have chosen. Whitney and his ilk believes ANYONE can do it.

Accountability for those in charge? Nope. It's the peons fault. Do we see Donald ever taking responsibility? Who does he blame? The Mexicans, the Muslims, the Jews, the foreigners are the new targets such as the teachers to hide how f***** up those that want to be in control are. Every hear Whitney and his ilk blame a non-teacher?

Want to scam those with promises of grandeur, get smart quick, graduate quick. We see it in Donald with all his scams, etc... as Whitney mentioned above. Whitney and his ilk wrote the playbook for what we are seeing now with Donald.

Whitney Tilson and his ilk have begat us Donald Trump. Whitney and his ilk have begat us ignorance, fraud, scapegoating, and scams.

Donald Trump one way or the other is going to wind up benefiting himself big time. Who has benefited the most from the Ed Deformity of the last 15 years? Whitney Tilson and his ilk.


Whitney Tilson and his ilk believe that they has the "GREAT WHITE PROTECTOR" see themselves as the knowledge of what those of color need to do even though before the Deform movement they did jack for them and will never allow them in the front door.

Donald Trump has never before lifted a finger for those who are supporting him and never would allow himself to be seen with them before and certainly won't ask them over to Mar-A-Largo to shoot the shit. See any difference?

Whitney Tilson and his ilk and Donald Trump believe that complex problems can be solved with simple answers. One in the same.

For both Whitney and his ilk and Donald Trump, knowldge is not power. In fact, it is quite a dangerous thing to possess.

It's All About Eva Moskowitz

OK, time to get things straight about all this charter school hullabaloo.

Yes, Uncle Mike pushed through co-locations and approval of charter schools at the October PEP. Nineteen of these co-locations were charter schools. As DNAinfo.com reported; 

De Blasio axed Moskowitz's plan to move into the August Martin High School complex in Jamaica, Queens, and Murry Bergtraum High School in Lower Manhattan, sources said. He also froze a plan to expand Success Academy Middle School to P.S. 149 in Harlem, officials said.

That's three schools out of seven that were reversed leaving Eva with 4 schools along with 8 other charters that are being co-located throughout the city. So Eva is batting .571. How many Yankee fans would have accepted that average for A-Rod in any post season series? Even Thurman Munson batted only .529 in the 1976 World Series!

But while we are on the Yankees, let's not forget that a new mayor overturning agreements made by the previous mayor is not unprecedented.

In the fall of 2001 Rudy Giuliani promised both the Yankees and the Mets brand new stadiums built partly at the city's expense totaling  $800 million, plus interest in bonds. Uncle Mike then became mayor and put the kibosh on it, as it was his prerogative.

Did the George Steinbrenner and Fred Wilpon throw hissy fits? Did Steinbrenner and Wilpon protest, get busloads of fans to protest? No. What did they do? They eventually financed their own stadiums, built with their money (Yes, the city threw some cash in and we see the disaster that has become the parking garages at Yankee Stadium with the city backed bonds) and sucked it up and acted like men. It is time Eva acts like a mensch.

We here at SBSB have nothing against charter schools. Open all the charter schools they want. Where we draw the line is at charter schools receiving public monies and free space, especially at the expense of traditional public schools they are co-located with.

How much money cash on hand does Eva have? Somehow one can assume a lot. She can't afford rent? Her schools need to be co-located? Why not pump the money cash she has on hand and pump it back into the communities she claims she cares about? Put Success Academy in store fronts or office buildings. Why must the co-located traditional public schools suffer, and they do, at the expense of what Eva wants?

Yes, Eva must be very proud of herself and her protest yesterday in Albany. Taking the Success students out of school for a day and schlepping them to Albany along with are other charter school buddies.

She must have been beaming that 11,000 students, parents, and teachers were there are the capital steps along with new BFF Governor Andy while only about 1,500 unionists showed up for their rally, according to the New York Post. But funny, FoxNews reports there were only 3,000 charter supporters in Albany yesterday.

But can NYC public school teachers just take the day off to protest in Albany? Can busloads of NYC public school students be bussed to Albany? Doubtful.

But what about this number? Mayor De Blasio ran on the fact that he would charge rent and put a moratorium in new charters. He just didn't squeak by in the election, it was a landslide, a MANDATE. So why the shock when De Blasio is doing what he promised and the voters OK'd it?

As for Governor Andy. So he can just decide to use our taxes to benefit his new BFF? Is this OK with the taxpayers of Columbia County? Of White Plains? Of Monsey? Corning? Elmira?

He claims that there are 200 failing schools throughout the state. He has been Governor for  over 3 years. Why then are they still failing if he claims to be the "lobbyist for children"? Haven't we had enough of his incompetent meddling in education?

But we know who Governor Andy serves. Whitney Tilson knows the truth;

 "...a HUGE shout-out to Gov. Cuomo, a great friend of Democrats for Education Reform." 

Yep, that just sums up Governor Andy, Eva, Whitney, and all the deformers.

Whitney Tilson Gets Caught Yet Again With His Pants Down

What a day yesterday was! The new phone books arrived, I, with other education bloggers, got to engage in a video conference with Diane Ravitch, and I found out that not only had Whitney Tilson finally make some sense, but he confirmed that he is in education for the moolah and lying hypocrite as well.


So Whitney, in a obvious display making up for some Freudian shortcoming shows just how smart
and investor he thinks he is. Remember, this is the guy who shorted Netflix.

I know the company and the space well (K12’s primary business is running online charter schools in 33 states and DC), and it’s a VERY high conviction short (meaning the funds I manage will profit if the stock price declines). I think that the company has run amok in many, many ways, inappropriately targeting the most at-risk students, with dismal academic results, off-the-charts student turnover, coming under increasing scrutiny. K12 reminds me of the subprime mortgage lenders and for-profit colleges when they were flying high – and the ending will be similar I believe.

Funny how this email was sent by Whitney at 9:32 PM, many hours after the official release of Diane's book. My bet is, and I doubt I am incorrect or Whitney can be that smart, is that Whitney read what Diane wrote in "Reign of Error" about K12 and decided to short K12 based on Diane's unveiling of their incompetency. We here salute Diane and her stock portfolio acumen.

Whitney goes on in a blabbering manner; K12's aggressive student recruitment has led to dismal academic results by students and sky-high dropout rates, in some cases more than 50% annually;

I wouldn't be short K12 if it were carefully targeting students who were likely to benefit from its schools – typically those who have a high degree of self-motivation and strong parental commitment

But K12 is instead doing the opposite; numerous former employees say that K12 accepts any student and actually targets at-risk students, who are least likely to succeed at an online school

But K12 is instead doing the opposite; numerous former employees say that K12 accepts any student and actually targets at-risk students, who are least likely to succeed at an online school

One former employee said: "K12's recruitment of inner-city and at-risk "last resort" students had another benefit – these students used up less of K12's educational and teaching resources while permitting K12 to collect full funding from the states."

Hmm, this sounds so familiar. This might not have been Diane's exact words about K12, but what Whitney has written is pretty much the gist from "Reign of Error." Plagiarism, Whitney? Copyright infringement? For shame

The Crack Team has commanded me to suggest Diane put a call into my brother in law who is a crack Copyright and Trade Dress attorney. He is a fine attorney, but he is suspended from the bar and hiding out in Thailand due to back child support and  teaching English. 

In fact The Crack Team believes that Diane has action for a lawsuit against Whitney for publishing an excerpt of  "Reign of Error" with out hers or Salon's permission. That excerpt does not fall under Fair Use.

More spewing from Big Head; There have been so many regulatory issues and accusations of malfeasance that I'm convinced the problems are endemic. Enrollment violations, uncertified teachers, conflicted relationships with nonprofit charter holders.

Gosh, diddly darn Whitless, you have just about described 90% of charters including your favorite run by the Sith Lord, Eva.

I have been looking for years and have not found a single K12 school that is free of scandal and posting even decent (much less good) academic results.

Guess who been saying that for years Whitless? Guess. That echo Whitney hears in his head are all the education bloggers and real teachers throughout the country.

 States (and the IRS) are waking up to what K12 is doing and the company is coming under increased scrutiny, which is beginning to impair K12's growth – and I believe this trend will accelerate

Oh please send the IRS into Success, Bronx Classical Charter, KIPP, Whitney Tilson's hedge fund, his palatial 5th Ave home. It is time to see the truth. Time the IRS goes after the charters instead of Mike Tyson or Jerry Koosman.

Face it Whitney, the jigg is up. It's time to find another toy in your Hamptons sandbox to play with. You have been exposed.

Whitney just exposed himself in that he is all about the money, has no loyalty, and really does not want those with learning issues anywhere near KIPP, Success, him, or anywhere lest he gets a case of hedge fund managers remorse.

For those who are not aware, Whitney has written some pretty mean and misogynistic stuff about Diane. He even created a website for the sole purpose of attacking her. Last night, I wanted to tease Diane that Whitney is her nemesis, her super villain. Then I thought better. Whitney does not have the brains or the class to be in the same league as Lex Luthor, or Bane, or Scarecrow, or Dr Octopus. He's just a street level stick up man, if that. Yeah, or a thug.

If The Corleone Family Were Involved In Education Deform...

So here I am on Saturday on I-81 driving north just outside of Binghamton on my way to Skaneateles. My wife is on her iPhone doing whatever as is my son. I am left alone to listen to flip between the Sirius channels.

One can do a lot of pondering in such a situation. I did. I pondered, or was it wondered, or was it

daydreaming, that the Godfather movie (or even organized crime) is a lot like what we are seeing now in education amongst the deformers. Think about it, we're fighting against a crime family.

So what if the Godfather movie and the Corleone's were involved in education reform. Let's take a look.

Be sure to read the last fantasy or parody all the way at the bottom.

Michael: My credit good enough to buy you out?
Moe Greene: Buy me out?  [Fredo laughs nervously] 
Michael: The school, the playground. The Corleone Family wants to buy you out. 
Moe Greene: The Corleone Family wants to buy me out? No, I buy you out, you don't buy me out.  Michael: Your school loses money, maybe we can do better. 
Moe Greene: You think I'm skimmin off the top, Mike? 
Michael: [Michael shakes his head] You're unlucky. 
Moe Greene: You goddamn guineas you really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you're having a bad time, and now you're gonna try and push me out! 
Michael: You took Freddie in because the Corleone Family bankrolled your charter school, and the Molinari Family on the Coast guaranteed his teaching position. Now we're talking business, let's talk business. 
Moe Greene: Yeah, let's talk business, Mike. First of all, you're all done. The Corleone Family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The Godfather's sick, right? You're getting chased out of New York by Barzini Charter School and the other Families charters. What do you think is going on here? You think you can come to my charter school and take over? I talked to Barzini - I can make a deal with him, and still keep my charter school! 
Michael: Is that why you slapped my brother around in public? 
Fredo: Aw, now that, that was nothin', Mike. Moe didn't mean nothin' by that. Yeah, sure he flies off the handle every once in a while, but me and him, we're good friends, right Moe? 
Moe Greene: I got a business to run. I gotta kick asses sometimes to make it run right. We had a little argument, Freddy and me, so I had to straighten him out. 
Michael: You straightened my brother out?  Moe Greene: He was banging erasers against the board two at a time! Students couldn't get any work at the table! What's the matter with you? 
Michael: I leave for New York tomorrow, think about a price. 
Moe Greene: Sonofabitch! Do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders! 
Fredo: Wait a minute, Moe, Moe, I got an idea. Tom, you're the Consiglieri and you can talk to the Don, you can explain... 
Tom Hagen: Now hold it right there. The Don is semi-retired and Mike is in charge of the Family business now. If you have anything to say, say it to Michael. 
Fredo: [Moe Greene leaves] Mike! You do not come to Las Vegas and talk to a man like Moe Greene like that! 
Michael: Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.


Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out as a teacher, he was signed to a personal services contract with this big high school. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. But the principal wouldn't let him. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. So my father went to see this bandleader and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the principal said no. So the next day, my father went back, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, he had a signed release for a certified check of $1000.
Kay Adams: How did he do that?
Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay Adams: What was that?
Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.
Kay Adams: ...
Michael: ...That's a true story.
Michael: That's my family Kay, that's not me.

Tom Hagen: Sollozo is known as the Turk. He's supposed to be very good with a number 2 pencil . But only in matters of business, or of some sort of reasonable complaint. His business is testing. He has the field testing in Turkey, where they create the tests. In Sicily he has the plant to print the tets. He needs cash and he needs protection from the communities for which he gives a piece of the action, I couldn't find out how much. The Tattaglia Family is behind him here in New York so they have to be in it for something.
Don Corleone: What about his prison record?
Tom Hagen: Two terms, one in Italy, and one here. He's known as a top testing man.
Don Corleone: Santino, what do you think?
Sonny: There's a lot of money in that testing.
Don Corleone: Tom?
Tom Hagen: Well, I say yes. There is more money potential in testing than anything else we're looking at now. If we don't get into it, somebody else will, maybe one of the Five Families, maybe all of them. And with the money they earn they'll be able to buy more deformers and political power. Then they come after us. Right now we have the unions under control and we have the charters and those are the best things to have. But testing is a thing of the future. If we don't get a piece of that action we risk everything we have. Not now, but ten years from now.
Sonny: Well, what's your answer gonna be, Pop?

Don Zaluchi really hits the nail on the head in what the deformers, the politicians, the principals without souls, the TFA's, the TC's really think and believe. 

Don Zaluchi could be anybody we know. Uncle Mike, Sock Puppet Walcott, Governor Andy, Lucy Calkins, a pretentious principal, Whitney Tilson, Evan Stone. The list can go on and on...

Don Zaluchi: I also don't believe in Ed Reform. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, "I have Ed Reform; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment, we can make fifty thousand distributing their programs." So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable.
[slams his hand on the table and shouts]
Don Zaluchi: I don't want it near charter schools! I don't want it sold to affluent communities! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people, the coloreds. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.

Whitney Tilson: Hates The USA, But Loves Ignorance and EAG News!

It's been some time since I ripped Whitney Tilson on these pages, hell its been almost a year! But The Doucheney again is letting his really, really tiny head do the thinking for his not much bigger head as he still shows us he does not know when to speak or shut up or whom to trust.

Whitney in today's convoluted and mentally twisted he mass emailed, lamented how the unions, and I am sure he means the UFT most of all, protect sex offending teachers. Even more disturbing, Whitney looked to EAGnews.org as the true arbiter and defender of those that are sexually abused and tormented by those, TEACHERS, that do the abusing.

But a little background. What or who is EAGnews? EAG is run by real estate agent and FOX News favorite Kyle Olson. Kyle is loved by the likes of Rush Limabaugh, Sean Hannity, and the poster boy for mental health, Glenn Beck. Hey Whitney, Olson is meshuga, and so are his buddies. Do some research first.

How are we at SBSB aware of EAG? About a year or so ago,myself and Shaun Johnson aka The Chalk Face, got into it pretty good with Kyle on Twitter. This lasted a good month or so until one day Kyle took his ball and ran away and blocked us both. Oh well. Truth can hurt some people very much.

So what is Kylie like? Olson and his partner Ben Velderman (in fact, Velderman looks like Corky) eschew such rants as this one directed at Shaun and his good friend Tim Slekar deriding their lack of patriotism and insinuating a belief that Shaun and Tim are attempting to turn Kindergartners into Godless communists.

So what has my knickers in a knot tonight? For it is Whitney and this line of **** from his email;

 ...about how the union protects sexual predators in its ranks and fights legislation to make it easier to remove them really burn me up;

No asshole, that is not how it works. Pardon my French, but it needed to be said that way.

 What unions do Whitney is to ensure that each and every teacher is afforded the right to due process. Nothing more and nothing less. If the charges do not merit dismissal or are unfounded, then the teacher keeps his or her job.

Let's play pretend for a moment, m'kay? Say one day Whitney is alone, bored, and looking for companionship. He gets in his car and starts traveling the interstates and byways looking for an appropriate rest stop to take care of those needs and urges he gets. Sadly, Whitney is unable to score any action and heads home.

Instead of heading on the interstate to 5th Ave he takes the back roads instead. After about 30 minutes of driving he comes upon what appears to be an abandoned farm with a lone farm animal, a donkey, alone in the field. Whitney pulls over, looks around and hops out of his car and walks towards the donkey.

Before you know it, Whitney is buggering that donkey pretty good. Soon enough Old Man Jones sees what is happening and calls the law.

The state troopers arrive and arrest Whitney and haul him off to county jail. The next day Whitney's attorney (thanks to the magic of the 6th Amendment),  bails (thank you 8th Amendment) Whitney out of the slammer. Whitney is then afforded a trial by jury (oh there is that pesky 6th Amendment again) and if found guilty doesn't have to spend the next year getting buggered in county or picking up the donkey's doody (again, the 6th Amendment).

And all this happens because in our great country each and every person has the right to due process thanks to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

Oh, and before Whitney, Kylie, and the sycophants at EAG start kvetching how those in the real world don't have these employment rights, well those in the real world are not employed by a government entity. That's how it works.

I think it is time for Whitney, and Kylie, and the rest of the EAG sycophants to go back and watch Schoolhouse Rocks.

What's This Lying Around Shit?????

In the fall of 1962 Faber College senior and pre-med student Eric "Otter"Stratton received a phone call to from Babs Jansen that Mandy Peperidge wished to meet him at the Rainbow Hotel late in the afternoon. Sadly, Doug Niedermyer, Greg Marmalard, and the rest of Omega House were waiting for him and subsequently beat him, and the dozen roses, to a pulp.

Meanwhile across town in Dean Wormer's office, Flounder, Bluto, D-Day, Hoover, and Larry were being told that they, and all of Delta House, were being expelled and were to leave Faber on Monday morning. Exacerbating their woes they were informed that their local draft boards were to be notified that they were now all eligible for military service. Flounder then vomited on Dean Wormer.

Back at Delta House as Flounder was being comforted that he threw up on Dean Wormer, not in front of him by Boon, Otter walked in bruised and beaten with D-Day helping him to the couch. Upon sitting down Otter when asked who did that number to his face said,

"It was Greggie and Douggie... and some of the other Hitler youth."

And he then found out they were all kicked out of school. 

Get the analogy? Yes, teachers, we are Delta House. Dean Wormer is Mayor Bloomberg. Marmalard is Little Evan (Is it supposed to be this soft?) Stone, and Niedermyer is Whitney Tilson. Oh, and I am Bluto with the 0.0 GPA and 7 years of college down the drain. But I have digressed. Shall we continue? Oh, I wrote something like this a while back if I recall. Back to the meanderings of my mind.

At this point Bluto gets up and screams,

Hey, what's this lying around shit?!?!?!

To which he was told that the war is over and Wormer dropped the big one. He went on a lovely soliloquy asking was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and that it is not over now. He asked,

"Who's with me?"

And ran out the door excited only to come back and ask what happened to the Delta House he had known.

"We're too afraid Bluto, we might get in trouble."

It was Otter who stood up and supported Bluto. Otter told everyone it would take many lives, many years, but that only a real stupid act by Delta House would win the war. At this point Bluto exclaimed some choice words for Wormer, Marmalard, and Niedermyer. D-Day and Boon said they were in, and Bluto encouraged the charge to arms.

Now, I am not advocating any stupid acts as were done in Animal House, but looking at Chicago we need to get our act together, stop being reactive and being proactive.

Yes, it is nice to start a group, give itself an acronym name and meet, but there is so much more to do.

For quite a while I have been advocating the informational picketing of Whitney Tilson 5th Avenue mansion and/or office and the E4E offices. But do not leave the picketing to their homes or offices, but wherever that might appear. Yes, I keep hearing from well meaning people who I have the utmost of respect for that these two (among many others) are just the symptoms. Yes, they are the symptoms, but so were Marmalard and Niedermyer and they were targeted, along with Dean Wormer.

If one has a cold, does one not treat the symptoms? I had root canal several weeks ago. The pain I experienced before and after the procedure were symptoms, yet they were not ignored. They were treated appropriately with pain pills. That's what must be done with both E4E and Whitney. Take care of the symptoms. When these two symptoms are done with moved on to other symptoms.

Yet, for some reason we allow these two to continue to do what they do. Is it possible that if we shine the light on these two symptoms that like roaches when the lights come on they will scurry away and never come out again? I don't know, but it is worth a try.

What is another lesson advocacy groups can learn from Animal House?

Delta House took their act on the road. They went to check get dates at Emily Dickinson College, they went to a supermarket, they included dorks like Flounder in their fraternity, Flounder's girlfriend Cissy drove up from Lancaster to visit him, and they even had a fun filled toga party. They were a diverse and well traveled fraternity

The acronyms see lower Manhattan as a base for some reason. Lower Manhattan is nice if you live down there, or Brooklyn, or don't have a car. Has anyone tried to drive downtown on a weekday at 4 PM, or having to head back to Jersey, Westchester, or LI at 6 or 7 PM.

There is a life beyond the LES and Brooklyn. The Bronx is up, the Bronx, Queens, and Westchester, anywhere above 125th St is ripe for picking, yet gets ignored constantly. This is where people live. This is where people have their families, children, etc... Sometimes we are too busy in our lives after school. There is such a thing known as weekends.

Meetings don't need to be seemingly so convert or seem like a late 50's Beatnik poetry reading while everyone is sweating their balls off.

It is time to truly reach out beyond the "base of operations" and be more inclusive. This means recruiting more from elementary schools and the outer boroughs and suburbs.

This is no way an indictment against those that are spearheading the acronym advocacy groups. I know these people are well meaning, have our best interests at heart, and work their butts off. But, it is time to hear others out.

It's nice to picket with Con Ed, but Con Ed is not putting food on my table or putting my son through college or baseball training.

Whitney Tilson Makes a Fool Of Himself Yet Again

I'm late to the game and didn't catch all of what Alexander Russo wrote about Violet Nichols, but I sure read what Whitney Tilson had written in response. As usual Whitney, the Harvard grad has no idea how to write or think critically.

I feel like I am chasing a windmill every time I write about this asinine hedge fund manager that is Whitney. He is just so in love with his voice and his perturbed thoughts through his mangles thought process that I don;t know whether to laugh, cry or be angry. I know somewhere I read that DFER wished he could shut up for ten minutes.

Am I wrong for exposing Whitney's lack of higher order thinking skills and his inability to be empathetic to others? Or am I wrong to continually to go after him for it is so easy to show how warped and cursed his mind is. It's like me challenging a 2 year old to a 100 meter race. It's just not fair.

But anyway, all must be constant in the Universe and Whitney must yet be defiled and degraded again. Why? Because just like those nuts who must slow down every morning their is an accident on the Deegan, you just can't help it.

Whitney commenced his mental blabbering thusly; Ending LIFO is a critical first step to getting to what’s really necessary: that every principal has the full power to hire and fire every adult (not just teachers) in the school and he/she sees fit, just as managers in 99% of all businesses/organizations in America do (of course with protections for age, race, gender, etc. discrimination), including KIPP and most other successful schools I’ve seen.

Yeah. Every principal has the right to hire and fire whom they want. Sometimes its their best friend that can't manage a classroom. Sometimes it someone who has the correct, or rather, a more agreeable religion, skin color, sex, person who performs sex, kiss ass, etc... Get off your freaking high horse Whitney. A principal has the power. They just choose not to use it or use it properly. 


But education is not a business. Education is, well it is education. We're not selling widgets. I put this to Whitney Tilson, and I have asked this of your disciple Larry Sands countless times, do you support the end of LIFO for cops, firefighters, paramedics, sanitation workers, Post Office Employees, air traffic controllers? Oh the list can go on. But the reason there is LIFO is we take less pay for more job security.


Oh, and please do not bring KIPP up. The shit I heard and will expose in the coming weeks about the KIPP Academy in Concourse Village in The Bronx will not look good. 

Violet Nichols’ case highlights the Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter’s Tea party nature of the current system, in which all teachers (after 98% get tenure after 2-3 years) have a guaranteed job for life unless they convicted (not just indicted) for a major felony. In Nichols’s case, you seem to buy into the unwritten assumption that in order to let her go, there has to be an airtight, extremely well documented case against her – in other words, the burden of proof is on the principal/district to PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’s grossly incompetent.

So Violet Nichols never should have received tenure? Is this what Whitney is saying? Tenure is nothing but the right to due process. The above mentioned jobs have due process, they just don't call it tenure. I think Whitney might have some credibility if he walked up to a cop, or the next time his chauffeur got pulled over, and said to that cop, "LIFO for NYPD officers must end." Then, and only then will Whitney be allowed into the "Men With Testes Club."


Whitney, though a Harvard grad has yet to master the United States Constitution. THE GOVERNMENT, must prove its case against those charged. As American's we do not have to prove our innocence, the government must prove our guilt. Dang, I graduated from a SUNY school and know more than Harvard boy Whitney.

Ironic that Whitney is being investigated by the SEC and hopefully the US Attorney's office. One might wonder if Whitney is hiding behind a cadre of lawyers and those inconvenient rights that he deems not worthy of working class people like teachers.

This is ridiculous. It’s a privilege, not a right, to work in a school and teach children. If you want to guarantee mediocrity (or worse) across any organization, then set up a system in which everybody keeps their jobs, year in and year out, despite being mediocre (or worse). The key, of course, is to make sure that at the same time you give principals greater power to hire and fire, you also have to hold THEM accountable. I’m fully aware of how terrible some principals are and how some might abuse this new power, but it’s hard to see how a tyrannical principal who unfairly drives out great teachers, plays favorites, hires buddies and family members, etc. could ever have a successful school – so if you have a good system of accountability for the principals, then bad principals can be identified and removed, just like teachers.

It's a privilege?  What a condescending, patronizing, rich white boy, bullshitter turd blossom Whitney is. You sound worse than your BFF, or whatever weird pathological identifier you have for each other, Gideon Stein. Is it a privilege to have a 3rd grader throw a chair at your head? Is it a privilege to have a 14 year old threaten to shoot you after school? Or better yet, is it a privilege for others to entrust their life savings to Whitney and watch him piss it all away?

The problem is Principals, and those that are above them, do not get fired, they get promoted when they fuck up. Teachers are ostracized when we make a mistake. Dang, teachers are the waiters. The principals and administrators are the chefs who are putting the meal together. Whitney, when you truffles and caviar come out a tad askew do you blame the waiter or the chef?

You also seem to be buying into the unwritten assumption that schools exist primarily to create good middle-class jobs for adults when you write “No one wants to see middle-aged teachers moving in with their 20-something children, or going on welfare.” If your point is that we have to be cognizant that these issues are important from a public opinion and political standpoint, then I agree with you, but I’d hope we can agree that we should be hiring, evaluating, promoting, and, if necessary, firing teachers based on their performance, not how tough their life might be if they lose their job.

This will be a simple response. If you are going to fuck up someone's life you better do it for good reasons and not petty bullshit.  You better be damn right and have done everything in your power as a principal to have forestalled any termination. OK, 'nough said. 

The people who work for me understand that their continued employment depends on me being happy with them. If they fail to add value, have a bad attitude, aren’t team players, or just irritate me, then I can let them go AT ANY TIME AT MY DISCRETION. This may sound like a harsh system and I acknowledge that some employees are treated very poorly by tyrannical bosses, but that’s the way it is in the U.S. job market. If you are squeamish about it, consider the alternative: the sclerotic labor markets in Europe…


The people who work for you think you are a dick. OK? The Crack Team knows this. But it is your company, and more importantly, IT IS A BUSINESS!!! We are talking apples and oranges.  But T2 keeps on going down the toilet, when will Whitney do the honorable thing? As for the "sclerotic" labor market in Europe it is because of the Whitney's of the world have manipulated the financial markets. We have Whitney Tilson to thank.

I know Whitney is just a symptom of the deform pooh pooh heads. But I am done. There must be some kind of show to expose Whitney. There needs to be an organized march at his  5th Ave home to let his neighbors and everyone see what a truly mean, nasty, megalomaniac person Whitney is.

Why Does Whitney Tilson Associate With A Known Convicted Criminal?

Every now and then we here at SBSB get an email throwing someone under the bus. Lately, we have a source that is giving away the farm on the machinations of Whitney Tilson. We here at SBSB wish to thank this brave source.

In the latest email from our source, we were told to goggle the phrase; "paragon of integrity Whitney Tilson gets laryngitis" It sure did wet our collective whistles here at SBSB to read such a cryptic phrase. However, like Curious George we just needed to find out what this was all about and where, once we found what we were directed to google, what would it mean?

So we found what it is. A blog article over at Deepcapture entitled; "Paragon of Integrity Whitney Tilson Gets Laryngitis" written by Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne,  who happens to be leading the charge against naked short selling, back in April of 2011. Hmm, we must read this cracked the Crack Team. And we all did.

It seems that Whitney invited Patrick Byrne to speak to the 2nd Annual New York Value Investing Congress back in November of 2006. At the last minute, hedge funders Jim Chanos and David Einhorn (yes, that David Einhorn Mets fans!), that Byrne not be allowed to appear and naturally Whitney "caved and disinvited" Byrne. But why one might ask.

Now bear with me for a moment. Back in 2008, Whitney slammed Byrne, while defending Einhorn. But, Byrne and Deepcapture kept on chugging along. They soon began writing about Sam Antar, the former Crzay Eddie CFO and Barry Minkow, both "hardcore felons." But soon it became evident to Deepcapture that convicted felon Barry Minkow was working for Whitney Tilson, claiming to be doing Whitney's research.

As noted by Florida Judge Gill Freeman;

Fact No. 29: Minkow withheld documents he perceived to be harmful to his case. Among other things, the concealed documents demonstrate:

• that Minkow’s investigators questioned the accuracy of statements of fact he included in his report on Lennar;

• the perfunctory nature of Minkow research and investigation before he accused Lennar and its executives of operating like a ponzi scheme, giving its COO a disguised kickback, being a financial crime in progress, and other statements;”

Deepcapture soon learned that Whitney Tilson had paid $40,000. But as Deepcapture and Byrne asked, "to do what?" And, "What was Whitney paying Minkow for?" In March, 2011 Barry Minkow was arrested, and last week plea bargained his way down to another five years of jailhouse stew.

On March 17, 2011 Patrick Byrne wrote this on Deepcapture; 

Barry Minkow spent last week in plea negotiations regarding a federal indictment on which he is hoping to receive only 5 years, says his lawyer. (LA Weekly: Barry Minkow to plead guilty to insider trading).  In December, 2010, a Florida judge threw her proverbial book at Barry Minkow, and it glanced off Sam Antar, who had been paid Barry’s paymaster to the tune of $250,000, Barry had testified. In addition, the judge found as a matter of fact that Sam Antar destroyed documents necessary for her trial. Minkow also gave sown testimony that well-known New York hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson paid him $40,000: more on this below.

Sam Antar, generally not short of opinion, has suddenly developed laryngitis.

Barry Minkow and Sam Antar are two of the most remarkable swindlers in recent American history, each guilty of frauds measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Two decades ago their names gave off the same foul stench that Bernie Madoff’s does today.

Whitney Tilson is invited to explain to DeepCapture’s audience why he would join legendarily convicted financial criminal Sam Antar in making payments to also-legendarily convicted financial criminal  Barry Minkow, who now is pleading guilty to his 58th financial felony. (You know how to reach me, Whitney. DeepCapture will give you 250 words, with no editing. But we may provide commentary.   )

 Then on March20, 2011 Byrne emailed Whitney;

From: Patrick Byrne
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 7:32 PM
To: ‘WTilson@T2PartnersLLC.com’
Cc: ‘feedback@tilsonfunds.com’
Subject: RE: Request for comment on news story

Dear Whitney,

While I am at it, I have two other questions:

1.       You wrote a story ( http://seekingalpha.com/article/80997-nyt-smears-david-einhorn-again ) in which you said:

L) All this is a bit unsatisfying for those who would want to regulate short sellers. But unfortunately, bad news is part of any financial system.

Davidoff is becoming more and more incoherent as he tries to wrap up this hatchet job of a post. He appears to be saying that because the market sometimes (he asserts) is a sucker for media hype (by, I assume, market manipulating short sellers?), there are people who want to regulate short sellers and prevent them from ever saying anything negative about any company. Other than Patrick Byrne, who are these people?

When you wrote this, did you really believe that I “want to regulate short sellers and prevent them from ever saying anything negative about any company.”

a.       If so, on what basis did you ascribe that belief to me?

b.      If not, why did you ascribe the belief to me?

2.       Do you consider Barry Minkow’s plea bargaining to a 5 federal-year prison term (per his lawyer: see Minkow in Plea Talks With U.S. Prosecutors Over Fraud Case, Lawyer Says) an  inappropriate attempt by the federal government to “regulate short sellers and prevent them from ever saying anything negative about a company”?

I look forward to the courtesy of your response. I trust 72 hours will be sufficient.

If you choose to respond on your own blog, I predict you will be so unconfident of your response that you will find a circumlocution to avoid mention of “DeepCapture” (just wanted to get that on the record now).

Very respectfully,

Patrick Byrne

Journalist, DeepCapture.com

Whitney has yet to answer, and as far as we know Whitney will not answer.  Why would Whitney Tilson be associating with people like Barry Manikow ?  Surely Whitney will be the first one calling for a teacher's head if that teacher so much was accused of passing gas in the incorrect manner, so why does Whitney get a free pass.

The Crack Team passed a resolution calling upon Whitney Tilson to explain himself to those of the United States of America and in particular to all those who have lost money due to Whitney alleged mismanagement. We also call upon the SEC, the FBI, and any and all law enforcement agencies to look into Whitney's dealings. Justice must be served. Not tomorrow, not next month, not next year, but now.

Oh, unlike Whitney we hear at SBSB are a bunch of teachers who leave financial stuff to the experts. If anyone would care to expand on the implications and ramifications of Whitney foibles reported here please do not hesitate to email.

Little Evan Stone Meet Whitney Tilson of T2 Partners LLC. Or Have You Two Met?

Not too long ago, in fact earlier this month, Whitney Tilson was involved in some sort of funny business with Barnes and Noble stock. We here at SBSB reported on it and called for an SEC investigation.

Today the Crack Team here at SBSB has learned through sources that Whitney Tilson is under federal investigation. We do not know if it is because of his imbroglio with Barnes and Noble, or his other famously inept Netflix issues, but the sources have confirmed that Whitney is being investigated.

Yes, it can be anything, it can be standard operating practices, and the Crack Team is working 24/7 to get more information. Perhaps the information we wish for will be revealed in 6 months? However, we here at SBSB can put 1 and 1 together and the pieces of the puzzle do seem to fit. We look forward to the day that Whitney Tilson is hauled off in handcuffs and being passed gen pop around for a pack of Newports.

But something else piqued the interest of the Crack Team. As reported back in October, Little Evan Stone shared with a mole sent in by the Crack Team at one of E4E's parties that;

funding from the Gates Foundation, Little Evan told the mole that funding comes from The Robing Hood Foundation and Carnagie.

Ah, but there is more, more that Little Evan did not share. A certain hedge fund has laid a lot of money on those self anointed defenders of education. Care to guess? Yes, none other than T2 Partners LLC. Oh yes it be Whitney Tilson.

Curious, why neither Whitney, Little Evan, or Princess Sydney have ever shared this info. But it does lead one to wonder if Whitney Tilson and his partner over at T2, Glenn Tongue (any wonder that Whitney chooses a tongue?) have been doing some funny things with insider trading, then it would make sense that any monies they derived are not only tainted, but the same goes with any donations they might make to a "grass roots" education organization.

The Crack Team calls on the federal authorities to quickly and forthrightly investigate any dealings between T2, Whitney Tilson, and the children of Educators 4 Excellence. Only once a full investigation is completed can justice be truly served.

For those that wish to know, the Crack Team will be doing all it can in the upcoming summer months to find learn how much monies T2 and Whitney have donated to E4E. The public wishes to know.

Deep Inside Whitney Tilson and His Future Issues With the SEC

Sometimes you create your own luck, sometimes it just falls right on your lap. Today, it fell on our lap. A person deep inside Whitney Tilson's organization contacted the SBSB newsroom to share some of of what Whitney Tilson truly is. We here at SBSB wish to applaud this deep background source on his feeling the need to expose Whitney for what he truly is.

We vetted this person and all checks out that he is quite familiar with Whitney and his antics. In fact, the source's first words to us here at SBSB were,

"Whitney is such a blow hard, and always felt he was so full of shit, elitist, and a self proclaimed expert on everything" 

Hey, who can argue with this?

Our source seems like a stand up person. He had no issue with sending his children to NYC public schools, whilst on the other hand Whitney sends his children to one of the most exclusive private schools on the Upper East Side. This has been well known throughout the blogosphere for sometime, but one might to ask oneself if Whitney would stand for his children having 30 kids in the classes of his children? Would he subject his children to test prep in favor of instruction? Of course not. It is only right for boys and girls of color to be subject to such horrors. For this is the liberal white man showing what he thinks what is best. According to our deep source Whitney;

"claims to be an expert in education and the extreme hubris he has by claiming he is going to reform the educational system in this country is galling."

Our deep source is irked that not only

"If KIPP is so amazing he should send his kids there , so many things wrong with this guy,  I cant even believe there are people who are listening to this fool."

That is a good question. Why doesn't  Whitney send his children to KIPP? At least Whitney's BFF Gideon Stein has the ability to put his money where is mouth is and send his children to Success Academy, though not in Harlem where is just might be too dark for Gideon's tastes, but at least he does. And it shan't be mentioned how Gideon can afford a private school a thousand times over for his children yet decides to take a seat away from a child of color.

Before we get to the juicy stuff, we here at SBSB wish to address that we had opined that Whitney is an anti-Semite. Gideon Stein, Whitney's BFF was appalled and shared that he is in fact married to a Jew. We here at SBSB upon learning this took steps to renounce our Judaism, but did point out that Thomas Jefferson though a racist in owning slaves did find the time to shag Sally Hemmings. But that is neither here nor there. What we do find interesting is how this child of two teachers became so rich. Apparently, our deep source shared that Whitney;

"married into a rich family who basically gave him money to start his fund.

Dang, always good to marry a Jew. But bad for us, for we have to accept people like Whitney into our synagogues. Oy vey.

But our deep source saved the best for last. We were pointed to last Tuesday's New York Post in which it was announced that in a deal that Microsft made with Barnes and Noble's nook, Whithey Tilson;

"appears to have reaped a single-day bonanza of more than $20 million on a stake he acquired just last week."

Now according to our deep source;

"He made a move last week that will no doubt be investigated by the SEC." 

Interesting, the same man according to our deep source that

 "Can't even manage his own fund, i.e he was down 24.5 % in 2011, he is known for famously shorting Netflix and telling everyone to do the same." 

Hmm, something seems amiss here. Bill Gates and Whitney Tilson run in the same circles. Whitney Tilson is desperate for cash infusion for himself and his fund. Whitney Tilson is a self absorbed attention whore. Hey, why not? It's karma, baby!

We here at SBSB call for a full SEC investigation into this matter between Whitney Tilson and Barnes and Noble. We also pledge to the federal authorities and regulators that we will be cooperative in any information needed to help get to the truth of what went on between Whitney Tilson, Bill Gates, and Barnes and Noble.

Could Whitney be the first domino to fall? Could Whitney wind up in prison being passed around for a pack, or even a loosie, of Newports? One can only hope.

Whitney Tilson Turns Trayvon Martin Tragedy About Himself

What happened to Trayvon Martin is nothing less than a tragedy. As a parent, I can't imagine what Trayvon's parents are going through and I hope I never will. As a person who is white I can't, nor will I ever, imagine what it must be to be an African-American male in this country, or just any African-American and have to deal with idiots like George Zimmerman. 

But that is all I will say and can say, other than that my thoughts are of Trayvon Martin and what his family are going through. I don't have this burning need to make this all about me, all about what I am and what I do. However, there is one whitey in America that feels that he must make this about himself.

That person is Whitney Tilson, the Great White Hope for the boys and girls of color. Whitney, of course had to make this tragedy about himself and KIPP. Unfortunately, Whitney is no longer updating his blog (I wonder why?) and I only have the screen shot from his email, but here it is (click to enlarge).

Whitney blabbered, 'Another story from the annals of “this sh*t doesn’t happen to white people in this country.” Yes, Whitney, we know. This does not happen to white people in this country. But, discrimination does happen to certain subsets of the white community. Jews, in particular come to mind. Irish, Italians, Catholics, etc... so please, don't act as if you are the Great White Hope and Deity.

But Whitney, where is your outrage at the children killed, rather shot down, in front of their school in Toulouse, France? Does this not bother you? Where is your outrage? In fact, I have never once read in any of your emails your outrage about any Jew being killed. Oh yeah, I know, Whitney is married to a Jew (another reason to renounce my Judaism), but if one were to recall their history, Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner and a racist but he found nothing wrong with Sally Hemings. Perhaps, if these students attended a KIPP school they never would have been shot down?

But Whitney, I can just imagine your feigning your white caretaker outrage at what transpired in Florida. Oh, I am not saying you are not pissed about this, that you didn't care. No, that would make you inhuman. What I am saying is that you have this need to have everything turned back to you, to show that ONLY WHITNEY knows and wants what is best for boys and girls of color. 

But of course in this tragedy Whitney must throw in a shout out for KIPP. Whitney moans, "it could have been a KIPP student." Yes, it could have been a KIPP student. So Whitney is only sad in cases such as Trayvon's if the student was from KIPP? So apparently Whitney only cares about KIPP students. Furthermore, his reaction is that it ONLY could have been student from KIPP. Not just a student, not a brother, or a son, or a friend, or grandson, or a nephew. But he only seems to bemoan those students that attend KIPP. So pathetic Whitney.

Apparently Whitney only seems to care for those who are African-American if he can feign outrage and if these students either attend KIPP or pay homage to Whitney and all the good things Whitney thinks he does for such students. Whitney is a charlatan, a fraud, a scheister. Beware of Whitney Tilson.

The last Great White Hope appeared 30 years ago this June. Gerry Cooney had his bell rung by Larry Holmes. Cooney was shown to be a fraud. The 2012 version is showing what a fraud he is each and every day. Whitney, save your crocodile tears for the scum at the Harvard Club which acts as if you are fascinating. There is nothing different between you and a $3 bill.

Whitney Tilson Thinks He's In The Army

Imagine much to my surprise as I am eating breakfast this morning at Denny's on Wolf Rd in Albany this morning as I open up my email and come across the depraved and confused mind of Whitney Tilson's ramblings. What a way to start off a new year. Hopefully, 2012 we'll hear less and less of Whitney as he becomes more and more exposed for what he is, racist, condescending, patronizing, self-absorbed, and not intelligent. Oh, and I have forgotten, Happy New Year!

Whitney really came up with a humdinger of an idea his email today;

One important analogy is the U.S. military, which I think has a lot of lessons for our schools – both are enormously large, sprawling bureaucracies, but one is, by far, the best in the world, while the other is, at best, middle of the pack.  And the U.S. military wasn't always this way – after Vietnam, it was a broken, demoralized institution, just like our schools today.  How did it turn itself around?  What are the lessons we can apply to our schools?  If someone reading this wants to research this and write up something on it, I'll fund it!

Debunking this blabbering is like child's play. It is not fair and it is too easy. To make it a challenge I should find a one cell life form that just might have a 1% chance in not being able to simply state the fallacy of Whitney.

The irony of Whitney using the military is laughable. This coming from someone who if he ever did join the service would be immediately fragged by his troops (look, I'm not stupid, no way Whitney goes in as an enlisted man) the first night in country. Him also lauding the military is ironic considering how some liberal family member of his snagged his way out of the draft and Vietnam and instead "served" in the Peace Corps. This family member should have at least had some backbone like Muhammad Ali, or been a conscientious objector. Not a little pansy that runs to the Peace Corps.

But one can see how Whitney's military analogy is correct, at least in his mind.

KIPP is run like a boot camp somewhat. All students conform to a a proscribed behavior delivered in a drill instructor manner. Students use cadences in the classroom, sit with backs straight, heads held high, and walk in lock step with one another in silence through the halls. If students can't cut muster they are quietly encouraged to leave, or just told to. The same method as in boot camp or Office Candidate School. Anyone recall An Officer and a Gentleman and the DOR( Drop on Request)?

Students in KIPP, and let us not forget other thoughts of education, ***COUGH*** Success Academy schools, ***COUGH*** in which students as young as Kindergartners are forced to assume punitive drills to correct non-conforming behavior.

Now, I am too young to remember much of Vietnam. I was in 3rd grade when the war ended. But do recall wearing a POW bracelet during all of 3rd grade. But I think I am more school on history than Whitney.

The reason Vietnam was such a mess was not because of the military, but the same reason education is screwed up now. Politicians and the outsiders. The generals should run the military and education should be run by teachers. Now there is an analogy.

But as Whitney's ilk likes to say, just throwing money at a problem is no solution. If we use Whitney's analogy about the military one of the things that got us out of our post-Vietnam funk was the lavish spending of the Reagan administration on the military. See, money can solve problems.

But what really got us out of that funk was Desert Storm, which the politicians steered clear of. It was not until the last ten years, especially from 2001-2009, in which the politicians needed to make up for the Freudian shortcomings and fucked up the military again.

But think, is it possible, even probable, that a graduate of the Naval Academy would command a aircraft carrier let alone a ship? NO WAY! Yet in Whitney's mind a young one from an elite college (and I'll take Annapolis over any Ivy League school) that just graduate and had 50 hours of training is good enough to be a teacher. Yes Whitney, let's use that military analogy.

But let's fast forward to the cold war. I recall reading that even though the Soviets had vast military superiority, that the US and its allies would win the battles and the war. Why? Because the Soviet military drilled their troops in a rote style, that there was no use for individualism. Not the US military, in which the troops were taught to think for themselves on the bsattlefield, or as the Marines likes to say, "Improvise, adapt, overcome." Think we are teaching students this with all this test prep? NO!!! Yeppers, let's use the military as an analogy!

What about these school leaders and central administrators that always demean teachers? Do they follow the military principle that the grunts are the backbone of the service? I don't think so. Ask any admiral, general, colonel, major, etc... You find the brass the men go through a horde of gunfire for are the officers that respect their men, work with the ones that need improvement, and leave the ones that can do it alone. They eat, shit, shower, and don't ask the men of anything that they won't do themselves. And more importantly, not counting Abu Grahib, and other dumb ass stuff the last ten years, take responsibility for their actions. Give me a boss like Gunny Highway! Yep, there is another military analogy that can be used at the DOE.

Hey, I, and other like minded smart people always say that as teachers each day is different, each child is different, therefore since we as teachers can not control what comes into our classroom we should not be judged for matters that are not in our hands. Same as the military. They leave base to go on patrol the troops have no idea if they will come back alive. Hell, when they leave home and kiss the wife good-bye they have no idea if that is the last kiss ever. See, teachers and the military can't control outside forces. Yes, you guessed it. Another good use of a military analogy in education.

I wish to thank Whitney Tilson for sharing his thought on this first day of 2012. Again, he shows what happens when one does not think before putting fingers to keypad. And also what happens when one is so full of himself.

Whitney Tilson Embarrasses Himself Yet Again!

Ugh. Whitney stuff tonight. I just can't help it, especially when he emails contradictory, convoluted, half baked, foot in his mouth blabbering diatribes. If you have not yet subscribed to Whitney Tilson's newsletter or listserv or whatever you wish to call it, I suggest you do. Mention SBSB in the request email and you win a prize!

So Whitney wrote today;

The issue of teacher evaluations has come to the forefront all over the country.  Everyone – even the unions at least pay lip service to it – agrees that there are huge differences among teachers that have an enormous impact on students, so it’s critically important to attract, train, and retain talented teachers – and improve or get rid of ineffective teachers.  To do so, there needs to be a robust, fair system of evaluating teachers, which is REALLY hard to do.  Many smart people are working hard on this – a task made more difficult by the unions, who have effectively taken the position that if an evaluation system is unfair to even one teacher, then it’s unacceptable.

Yep, the unions are paying lip service to it because we know it is flawed, unproven, stupid, and a myriad of other reasons. But as usual, we shall take Whitney's words and show how ignorant and ill informed he always is.

there are huge differences among teachers that have an enormous impact on students,

Yes, I agree. There are huge differences between teachers. A teacher who is teaching for the first time is way different than a veteran teacher. A male teacher can have a different type of impact on male students than a female teacher can. Some teachers really suck up good and are favorite pets. Some teachers have class sizes over 35 kids in a 5th grade class and have about half a dozen serious behavior problems that consistently takes away from any education process going on. And when that teacher asks for support from the administration, the collective administrative heads plop into the sand. Or maybe one teacher has many ELL students. Or students living in shelters. Or students that are abused. So yes, there are differences. Differences that no matter how bad we wish to control, we are unable to control.

But Whitney shows his true colors here;  so it’s critically important to attract, train, and retain talented teachers



Code for white, elitist, young teachers. I think by retain Whitney means that the TFA candidate will complete their two years.

there needs to be a robust, fair system of evaluating teachers, which is REALLY hard to do.

Face palm statement of the year.

Many smart people are working hard on this 


Where? Whom? Teachers? Of course not, who care for the input of teachers?

 a task made more difficult by the unions, who have effectively taken the position that if an evaluation system is unfair to even one teacher, then it’s unacceptable.

Whitney, in all the do gooding that you do to feel better over your white liberal guilt and to show that as a hedge fund manager you have not raped and pillaged this country would you not be the first person in line to whine that the death penalty is unacceptable if ONE, just ONE person is executed that just might be guilty? Would you not whine your Whitney whine if just ONE, just ONE family is denied health coverage because of affordability or availability? You are such a hypocrite.


More blabbering from Whitney, disguised as a love letter to Steve Brill;

This is a really interesting conversation, especially your P.S. Steve.  It's the UNIONS that are responsible for the testing/value-added system that EVERYONE knows is quite imperfect – even the biggest defenders of the very best testing/value-added system admit (yes, publicly) that some teachers and even entire schools engage in "teaching to the test" to the detriment of real learning, there's a meaningful error rate, the results can be unstable year to year for some teachers, and it's useless for granular distinctions between, say, a teacher in the 55th percentile vs. 45th.  (I do maintain, however, that a teacher that is consistently in the bottom 10% is almost certain to be really lousy.)

Steve's suggestion is 100x more sensible, but the unions are so distrustful of the system and principals (to be fair, with good reason in many cases) that they're forcing an excessive testing regimen upon the system – and then, ironically, endless criticize that very system.  That's why so many people like me think that their real agenda is to not have any accountability at all: they think and perpetuate the myth that all teachers are equally wonderful, which is an insult to teachers in my opinion.

In my business – and in virtually any business in the country – I can fire whomever I like, if I am dissatisfied with them for whatever reason, even if they're good at their job – if I don't like their attitude or aren't a team player, for example (obviously within the bounds of the law: I can't fire someone because I don't like their ethnicity, age, etc.).  Does this sometimes result in someone being fired "unfairly"?  Sure.  (And if it violates the law, that person can sue me.)  But the alternative – what we have now in our schools, is far worse.

It's the UNIONS that are responsible for the testing/value-added system that EVERYONE knows is quite imperfect

The unions are responsible? How? Yet you are now admitting that EVERYONE knows that VAA is quite imperfect. Whitney, would you allow yourself to use an imperfect system to pick companies to long or short? No. Would you allow an imperfect system to evaluate you as a hedge fund manager? Yet, you know the system sucks, yet why do you advocate for it, yet blame the unions?

that some teachers and even entire schools engage in "teaching to the test" to the detriment of real learning, there's a meaningful error rate, the results can be unstable year to year for some teachers,

The teachers that teach to the test do it for two reasons. One, and most foremost is the pressure they get from ABOVE!!!! Yes, the administration with their asses online the line pass the anxiety down to the teachers. Secondly, when you have a family to feed car payments, braces to pay for, a mortgage, college tuition to pay for, and the truss to help your mother in laws sciatica and your pay and job rests on TEST SCORES, well what the hell, short of cheating, do you think a teacher is going to do? Whitney is part of the system that is enabling the very thing he decries!!!

That's why so many people like me think that their real agenda is to not have any accountability at all: they think and perpetuate the myth that all teachers are equally wonderful, which is an insult to teachers in my opinion

Oh thank you for taking our side. Please, will you purchase tickets to the upcoming Educator's Ball?


In my business – and in virtually any business in the country – I can fire whomever I like, if I am dissatisfied with them for whatever reason,


Yes, Whitney, we know that. You are a private company. A business. There is a difference. One, education is not a business and two, you are private. You do not have to deal with that pesky little thing in the US Constitution known as the due process. Guess what? Cops can't get fired for no reason, neither can firefighters, sanitation workers, parks employees, highway workers. Deal with it.


if I don't like their attitude or aren't a team player, for example (obviously within the bounds of the law: I can't fire someone because I don't like their ethnicity, age, etc.).  Does this sometimes result in someone being fired "unfairly"?  Sure.

I am sure you sleep very well at night Whitney. Flippant ******e

Whitney, it appears you are straddling the fence here, playing both sides. But I doubt it. As usual you just continue to embarrass yourself, loving the idea of your own thoughts and lack of conviction.

Whitney Tilson Strokes It To A Different Drummond

Arnold Jackson, and his older brother Willis, were poor boys of color that lived in Harlem. One day, their mother died and in her will she bequeathed them to a rich white man on Park Ave, her former employer Phillip Drummond. Funny how at no time did she consider family for the boys to live with. She knew that only a rich white man could do good by her boys. Sound familiar? Think about it for a minute.

Now yes, I know Diff'rent Strokes was a TV show, and in reality it was the producers and creators that assumed only a rich white man could save boys of color. I remember a friend of mine claiming that Diff'rent Strokes was one of the more racist, if not insensitive shows on TV due to this sterotype of a rich white man as the "Great White Hope" being the only one who knew what was best for two African-American boys from the hood. But fiction has met reality.

Whitney Tilson is today's Mr Drummond. As discussed on these pages in the past, in which it was questioned whether or not Whitney is a true racist, Whitney is yet again showing his true colors (pardon the pun) and believing that he is the Great White Hope and knows what is best for boys and girls of color.

Whitney has yet again shared how wonderful he believes he is by sharing with us mere mortals that he has signed up through iMentor to mentor a teenage boy of color from KIPP NYC College Prep. Aside from the perversity and the weirdness I yet again, through authorization of the crack team here at SBSB, call bullocks on Whitney.

It's really nice of Whitney to show, or act that he cares. But I doubt his sincerity. This is just another way for Whitney to make Whitney look good. Look, the kid is already in KIPP, he is already one of the creamed. He has advantages, though perhaps not economically at the time. What is Whitney going to do? Beat the color out of him and bring him into Whitney's own little world of chilled salad forks, the Hamptons, and of course the sub par ethics of hedge fund managers. Of course we all know that if the kid is ever allowed to come to Stately Tilson Manor on 5th Ave the kid would probably be told to use the servant's entrance and if anyone sees him to just say that he is the help.

Why Whitney are you being a mentor at KIPP? Why not come into the real innards of the Bronx and truly help those that desperately need it? Come mentor and influence someone who is running with the Crips, Bloods, or Latin Kings? How about mentoring someone whose parents are not there emotionally and physically and show the pitfalls of being in 5th grade and panhandling for money at the Pathmark on 204th St in Inwood? How about visiting a homeless shelter where there are many students and helping them their families find a home? How about coaching a basketball team, or more realistic for Whitney, perhaps a crew team? But it won't happen. Why? Because Whitney doesn't want any surprises. Whitney wants a KIPP kid that he feels comes with some built in standards, some already packaged success. A kid from the innards of the Bronx is just too much of a variable to make Whitney look good.

But why does this mentor have to be Whitney? Surely, Whitney knows professionals of color. Why not encourage these people to join iMentor and do the right thing? What these kids need to see is doctors, lawyers, judges, business people that they can identify with. Whitney, is nothing more than the plantation boss. Once his back is turned, or he loses interest his mentee will no longer benefit.

The Anti-American Ramblings Of Whitney Tilson

Now that I am free to finally blog in my traditional way, I must bring up, in fact I was requested to bring up, my pal Whitney Tilson's latest falsehoods from his email this past Staturday, and which also is appearing on his convoluted, mind numbing, self absorbed blog.

I read it whilst sitting around the ER on Saturday looking forward to commenting on it later that evening. Due to circumstances I have yet to be able to comment on it till tonight. I think I am going to have fun.

Whitney writes that he received yet another email proclaiming love, allegiance, and several offers that are not mentionable here on a family blog. It seems that yet another TFA graduate wrote his wonderfulness about the shortcomings of NYC teachers. Whitney, as is is wont, not only posted the email, but commented without even to attempt the veracity of the email.

I am a TFA alum and am now working an administrator in a traditional public school.

I'm writing because, well, I'm about as fed up with the teachers union as a person can be. 

We have some of the most ridiculous drama I've ever encountered here (and, mind you, I helped open a school in during a state takeover of the district the school was in...), and I have been completely and totally appalled by the fact that our union fights for incompetent educators, whom even the union members will admit are terrible, harm-causing, and truly need to leave (and yet, in the same breath, they vow to fight to the death for them -- for the sake of the union itself). 

The amount of time, energy, and resources that go into these union battles are mind boggling.   After working nearly full time on documentation of one individual since February, I've come to the conclusion that there is literally nothing we can do, and since it is such a terrible, energy-sucking, time-consuming, miserable mess that leads to zero results, why even bother trying?  

Whitney then blabbers that his cousin, who just happened to retire as a teacher in Florida concurred with the TFA turd. 

Why does this bring a chuckle? For one, I challenged all those to write Whitney the biggest piece of fiction they could and see if he would be stupid enough to publish it. I truly doubt this is a true story. But I shall at least pretend it us. But Whitney is so into ripping teachers a new one and beatificating TFA teachers that he can't see the wrongness that this supposed "educator" is committing and exposing how ignorant and hateful of teachers Whitney is is worth commenting on. I will give you all time to find the mistakes. If you match mine, you win a free dinner courtesy of me.

The author of the "email" to Whitney writes; and I have been completely and totally appalled by the fact that our union fights for incompetent educators,


"Our union?" This former TFA'er claims to be an administrator. Therefore this person is not a member of the UFT, but rather the CSA. Why then would the author of this say "our union?" Something is amiss. Either the author is not an administrator or is fibbing. But I am ever so willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt that it was a Freudian slip.

What I think the author equates with the union fighting for the rights of these so called incompetent teachers is that according to the UFT contract, and more importantly, the United State Constitution, Amendment XXIV, there is this little thing called due process. Obviously, Whitney is anti-American.


whom even the union members will admit are terrible, harm-causing, and truly need to leave (and yet, in the same breath, they vow to fight to the death for them -- for the sake of the union itself). 

Is there any proof to this? Again, the 14th Amendment does come into play here. Is Whitney, and his TFA lover, so anti-American that they will deny this due process?  Are not criminals, or accused criminals due the same due process even when evidence to their crimes is more or less open and shut?

The amount of time, energy, and resources that go into these union battles are mind boggling.  

Yeah, it takes time, but since this person is an administrator this is the process and this is what must be done. You think the NYPD or the District Attorney kvetch about the time, energy, and resources its takes to prosecute a criminal? No! But it is something that prevents abuse of power and puts the onus for proving guilt on the side of the prosecution. Tough toe nails if you find this task to onerous.

After working nearly full time on documentation of one individual since February, I've come to the conclusion that there is literally nothing we can do, and since it is such a terrible, energy-sucking, time-consuming, miserable mess that leads to zero results, why even bother trying?  

So Whitney, it seems as if your pal is absconding on their responsibility as an "administrator." Do you find that acceptable? Would it be acceptable for a preosecutor or ploice detective to throw their hands up and look the other way at crimes being committed because their jobs are too energy sucking, time-consuming and a miserable mess?


Why are you not chastising this person for failing to do their job? And since this person seems to be failing to do their job why then are you not denouncing all administrators? I think Whitney just likes to bash teachers for the sake of it.

Every day Whitney opens his mouth and shows his own warped reality of his little gilded world. Yes, Whitney likes to open his mouth and loves the sound of his own voice so he can go home at night and dream about how smart he thinks he is. But what Whitney truly is is, and he shows it in his lack of respect for Constitutional rights of others, is a pure bias against what America stands for. Whitney Tilson is as anti-American as they come. Whitney Tilson wishes to live in a world in which this country throws away the Constitution and follows some junta made up of people who think they are just as smart as Whitney thinks of himself.