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- Retired Teacher Chapter Exec Bd meets gets sad news, Analysis of Texas Dem Primary - Surprise - Real Progressive Won, Is Iran winning?
- Cults: Unity Caucus Channels Republicans as UFT Delegate Assembly Echoes Trump State of the Union,TRS Election Adds Another Purged Unity Defector
- Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow While I Shovel and Shovel and Shovel and...
- UFT Delegate Assembly and RTC Meeting Updates: Part 2 Script Revealed, TRS Election Staged Endorsement
- UFT Delegate Assembly and RTC Meeting Updates: Part 1 The Thread Runs Through It - How can we save the city money?
- More Recent Articles
The Kazansky/Brown race for TRS heating up as hundreds attend an ABC info zoom -- report coming soon. I attended the March 3rd (my birthday) Retiree Teacher Exec Bd meeting on Tuesday after rushing back from a weekend jaunt to attend The Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's oldest and largest horticultural event, held annually since 1829. Most people I know think that I'm nuts and after attending the meeting I agree with them. There was an election taking place and I wanted to be there to stand up for the candidate I favored in a 4 way race. (She didn't win.) The RTC constitution gives the EB the right to replace any elected position, though when we try to replace the dozen delegates (out of the 300 we elected), the UFT says we can't -- you know, because they say we can't. We were told by a former Unity delegate that when they ran the chapter and had vacancies, Tom Murphy just replaced them. They make rules up as they go along. The lack of aggressiveness by the RTC leadership only emboldens bullying by the UFT/Unity leadership. I think it goes beyond that and detect some fear by the ideologues in RA of adding new delegates who might not be pure enough ideologically --- but that's only my guess. One RTC Exec Bd member pointed out that adding a new batch of delegates would invigorate our contingent at the DA which has been shrinking to the point of irrelevancy, perhaps the major failure of the RA hierarchy. There was an opening on the RTC Executive Board due to the resignation recently of Daniel Harkavy due to an illness - cancer that seemed to escalate quickly. We found out on Tuesday that he died on February 20, a real shock to many of us who had enormous respect for Daniel for his sense of humor, smarts, and judicious non-partisan advice. I wanted to touch base with him after he resigned and am kicking myself for failing to do so. Daniel taught chemistry at Brooklyn Tech for 26 years. At the RTC EB meeting last Tuesday, Arthur Goldstein, who got to know Daniel, paid an impassioned tribute to Daniel and followed that up with this post. I'm not sure how Daniel came to be part of the RTC EB - I didn't know him before. He tried to steer a neutral course during the UFT election follies last year, signing petitions for both ABC and ARISE, and attempted to run with both slates but was made to choose by ARISE. He ran with ABC because he felt ABC had the better chance to win but remained cordial with everyone. When ABC had a petition signing in Bayside, where Daniel lived, he showed up and met Arthur and was introduced to one of our officer candidates who is also a chemistry teacher who graduated from Brooklyn Tech a year before Daniel began teaching there. He was thrilled to meet her. For someone I barely knew, his passing was especially upsetting because when he posted he was in the hospital I intended to touch base with him as a fellow cancer patient who went through some tough days over the 6 months of chemo. To have been stricken with a deadly cancer at such a relatively young age - he was 63 but count the time leading up to it - is so sad and makes me feel relatively lucky at having reached 81 recently and still be fairly mobile and active. I barely knew him but will miss him. Daniel was open and respected for openly saying that if he felt ARISE had the better
chance he would have run with them. The ABC crew respected him for that view and we felt that if he would
have been allowed to run on the ARISE too, he would have gotten 46% of the
vote, the highest total of any non-Unity person in history. I
advocated running hundreds of people on both slates and might have
actually sneaked a few people in. At some point the people who made that
decision for ARISE need to be held accountable. Actually, the entire
leadership of ARISE. As to the election for his replacement, as I said, my favored candidate who also ran with the ABC slate did not win and lost to someone who had no connection to the movement we built among retirees over the past 5 years. A very nice guy, by the way. But a message was sent by the New Action/Retiree Advocate dominated RTC EB and the result is not a positive development for a united front in the 2027 RTC chapter election. Details next time.
======= The Texas Primaries I'm a political nerd and follow both mainstream and alt media. On the broader political front, I get some of the best political analysis at breaking points, an alt media outpost that includes the left and the right, with the great reporter Ryan Grim and Krystal Ball representing the left. But it's always good to see what the right is thinking, though this is not MAGA right. I've been getting about 10 messages a day from Talarico -- I want to send him some money, but then I will get 20 messages a day. Not knowing enough beforehand, I did not have a dog in the race, other than the sense that Talarico had a better chance to win than Crockett, whose performance-based political acts has never resonated with me. Some view her as squad-oriented but and someone said to me she was like AOC. Far from AOC or the squad, she is more cultural than economic left. And in fact it turns out according to the analysys below that Talarico made the better economic left case. Mainstream media painted the race as the left (Crockett) vs the center (Talarico) and therefore a lesson for Dems to stay to the center. This analysis actually paints Talarico as a sort of left because he ran an anti-corporate Bernie type campaign, albeit with some religious twists while Crocket despite her performativeness actually avoided the wealthy vs the rest of us and was more of a Dem cultural Republicans already spent more than $71 million
to try to push Cornyn over the finish line, according to AdImpact, a
media tracking firm. But all that money got him to only 42% in the
primary against Paxton, who has been impeached, indicted, and rocked by multiple cheating scandals. Cornyn, still the establishment conservative, raised roughly sixty-nine
million dollars; Paxton just four million. In the final stages of the
primary, the incumbent, still trailing in the polls, released a spot for
the ages, which opened, “It’s voting time, so let’s cut through the
bullshit. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on
Biblical grounds.” Paxton’s camp deployed the candidate’s daughter in a
last-minute response ad, and called Cornyn “a desperate shell of a man
clinging to power.” But, on Tuesday night, neither candidate managed to
get fifty per cent of the vote, which means they’ll face off again in a
runoff, in May. In theory, Republican voters might have been ready to
throw out the last vestiges of the pre-Trump party. But not for Ken
Paxton. At least not yet. Crockett’s challenge to Talarico had less to do with ideological
difference than with style—a somewhat repetitive January debate between
the two candidates kept returning not to policy but to the question of
whether it was better to establish common ground with some conservatives
in the hope of winning their votes (Talarico’s position) or simply to
rally your side by making clear what you opposed (Crockett’s). Crockett
seemed to see enemies everywhere, and closed her campaign lashing out at
certain political consultants and reporters. The congresswoman’s team
expelled Elaine Godfrey, who’d published a critical profile of the candidate in The Atlantic,
from an event for being a “top-notch hater.” The resulting
back-and-forth on social media, between the campaign and its liberal
critics, consumed much of the race’s final days. Who's Winning the Iran War? A surprising view differs from mainstream media from the left and the right.
The right view from Saagar and Tucker on Iran winning - Saagar X Tucker: https://youtu.be/Dl78cDjOIRM?si=CTGDRVtSzXWTJYSJ Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 Watching the Republicans leap up for joy at every Trump lie and bit of misinformation at the SOTU brought echoes of recent UFT Delegate Assemblies where we see a similar reaction from (fake) jocularity from the Unity Caucus cheering committee. The longest SOTU and most boring speech in history reminded me of some of Mulgrew's long-winded reports at the DA. There was no better example than the Feb. DA where the main item was the endorsement for TRS of Unity candidate Tom Brown as one Unityite after another rose to give praise - and oh the cheers when the vote was taken to endorse him. Oppo people, like the Dems at the SOTU sat on their hands. There just weren't many of them and even for those who were there, there was no coordination. More and more oppo people are just not bothering to attend -- a boycott of sorts, like the Dems who stayed away from the SOTU. The only group that had a strategy - sort of - was ABC people, but I was lukewarm to not opposing Tom Brown on the grounds he was one of 3 Unity shills who would do whatever Mulgrew tells him to do. The argument for David Kazansky is that he would now be an independent voice - and yes, for 9 years he was a union leadership voice - publicly - but I suspect behind the scenes he was willing to ask questions about the fees we were paying, the role of private equity and investment strategy. MORE on the whole has never felt the DA was an important venue. And the vaunted 300 Retiree Advocate delegates that replaced the Unity 300 in the June 2024 supposedly game-changing election which has not changed the game very much have been disappearing from the DA in droves, thus negating the impact of that election. MORE claims 100 DA. members but few show up, so the Unity staff and loyalist CLs dominate the room. Remember ARISE? No signs anywhere that they are alive since the embarassing 14% vote in the 2025 UFT election. Even I, an over 50-year DA attendee, even when I wasn't a delegate, no longer see it worth it to hand out leaflets. I like to attend for social reasons to schmooze and hang out with my pals. The real changes in the UFT are happening underneath the covers and I am glad to be part of the various fragments of people connected to ABC. Mulgrew helps build the new opposition in the UFT What the hell is happening at the UFT that 2 former pension reps are challenging the Unity candidate for TRS rep? Former UFT special rep Frank Panebianco is joining former 9-year Teacher Retirement System rep David Kazansky, pushed out of the job by Mulgrew two years ago and fired last June, in the race for TRS rep against Unity loyalist Tom Brown. Panebianco was among those staffers fired by Mulgrew. Is
he a plant by Unity to divide the oppo vote? The guess is he is not but
genuinely pissed off at the leadership. Is Unity cheering his candidacy
against David? I'm thinking not as he is popular and may well draw
votes from Unity and turn this into a 3-person race. And of course David
is popular in Untiy and will also draw votes. In a secret ballot, no
matter the pressure from the leadership, there will be defections. Unity
may punish district reps who don't turn out the vote -- we get a
post-election report on the vote breakdown for every school. The key for
Kazansky is to build a strong network of schools that will vote for him
- right now there are 6 weeks to get 1000 signatures for each
candidate. He has a shot at winning no matter what, but even if Brown
wins the network built in the campaign can be used in the future. That two long-term Unity pension experts have challenged Unity candidate Tom
Brown is indicative of the same kind of cracks we have been seeing in
Uniy over the past few years. The massive retiree and para oppo wins in
the 2024 chapter elections were clear indicators - the removal of Amy
Arundell from Queens started a trend and her ability to bring some
serious elements of Unity along with her in last year's union election
has created a potential new oppo block in ABC outside the usual caucus
suspects. Despite the firings by Mulgrew last June, while scaring some
of Unity back into the fold, has still left some people seething. (One
well-known school-based Unity recently declared privately "I'm done with
them." Are they ready to be openly part of an oppo group like ABC? That
may take some time and also depends on how capable ABC looks over the
next few years. And don't forget that Unity 54% vote in the election. It
takes some time for people who have been in a cult to wean themselves
off. This look good for Unity - short term on the surface - but many of these
people have actually learned some organizing skills, albeit in the
rigid confines of Unity. But once freed, the creativity flows and
excitement at the freedom grows. It is up to the legacy oppos to figure
out how to join forces if they want to defeat Unity. There is a soft
strucrure in place within the ABC coalition by the alliances built in
last year's election and ties that bind continue to be built. The Mulgrew reign of terror may work to keep staffers in fear and in line but the firing of well-liked and competent people also sends a message and degrades the structure from underneath. The firing of District 30 rep Ashley Rzonca has riled chapter leaders and rank and file in the district and is creating a cloud of resentment that will ultimately morph into open opposition. I never knew Ashley until she was fired last June and have come to see her abilities in various strategy sessions. Then there is Pissgate where a photo of Amy was placed in a men's room urinal at the Delegate Assembly and the culprit wasn't found despite months of investigation by an outside lawyer and despite cameras. There is a lot of residual fear and loathing of Mulgrew and his administration throughout the ranks. LeRoy Barr's retirement and the flippant way he announced it at the January DA that surprised Mulgrew won't help as he was able to keep many of the troops in line. Will LeRoy loyalists begin to jump ship too? He is still in charge of Unity Caucus so he will be a factor. Some say the simple solution for Unity is to replace Mulgrew and some see the Mike Sill rise as a solution. BTW- Mike was once a protege of Amy Arundell who was his boss. The woim toins.
Do
you want to build your caucus or do you want to win an election? That
was a question asked of leaders of the RA caucus and unfortunately it
looks like caucus first. The same with NAC and MORE -- they will gladly
take 14% of the vote forever as long as they can control their caucus.
At a recent meeting one non-UFT person told me "it's all about control -
having power in a small fishbowl." If the legacy caucuses wake up and join a movement like ABC, Unity would be in trouble. David Kazansky speaks about the responsibility of the TRS Trustees.
A substantive, no-spin conversation about retirement security for NYC educators and retirees. Former three-term TRS Trustee David Kazansky.was interviewed by Daniel Alicea on WBAI in part 1 of a 2 part interview on Sunday. • David’s storied career as an educator, unionist and trustee • What really happens inside the TRS boardroom • Private equity and pension transparency • Fiduciary duty and divestment • Tier 6 and what reform would actually take • The upcoming TRS trustee election — and what’s at stake Part 2 also drops here next week and will be aired the next time Daniel hosts Talk Out of School. Let’s stay informed. — Dan Alicea
Learn more about David at WeTrustDavid.org
Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026 - noon  | | My backyard this morning |
 | | My front "lawn". |
So
it's been another busy week - or not - depends on your point of view.
I've been loving the snow and the shoveling despite my wife's constant
hocking me to hire someone. Why should I when I relish doing it - and
besides I won't be 81 till next week?
Here's my backyard which I
won't touch - snow might be gone by May. Why should the snow bother me?
I'm retired and don't have to go
anywhere, so I have the luxury of spending some time shoveling, going in
to warm up and taking another round? But I will admit that yesterday as
I was shoveling a young guy walked by with a shovel and offered to help
so I paid him to work along with me and, yes, a 27 year old can do it
faster than an 81 year old.  | | Only half done. |
Speaking of which, the snow plows locked my driveway in again - I'm on
the wrong side of the street - so I have go out and do a shift now. Be back
soon. 2 PM - I'm back. Look at the job I have to do and only half finished. Had some tea and pretzels. Too tired to write.
Back out at 3:30 and finished the job so I can get my car out. Back at 4:30. More tea. ---- For further reading: If the Dem party cared about this country it would dissolve itself - Ryan Grim Dem Party Ooops - For further reading, minutes before the State of the Union - I will be doing my hair.
Wenell Potter post on his Healthcare Uncovered substack: Big Insurance Earnings 2025: Stock Buybacks, Earnings Per Share, Market Capitalization
The
seven largest for-profit health insurance conglomerates took in nearly
$1.7 trillion from their customers in 2025 ($175 billion more than in
2024) and they booked more than $54 billion in profits.
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026 Too much Olympics and old movies. And trying to keep up with Marianne, Arthur and Daniel. And I'm about to leave for an in-person meeting with a group connected to the good ICE - which we are now referring to as Independent Educators (community). We will be talking about the TRS election, Is Unity weaker than a year ago or stronger?, and the state of Retiree Advocate and its new membership and "democracy" plan and the prospects for next year's chapter election. We know from our Unity friends that they rehearse for the DAs through what they call the Speakers Bureau - Mulgrew fakes like he's looking around when he knows where the Unity plants will be sitting. You see, they prep for meetings while most of the oppo play it by ear, which is why they often look so ineffective. What used to be a 10 minute new motion period where rank and file get a chance is now dominated by feel-good leadership resos to use up the time. This time to make sure, the Unity plant had a big arrow on her head and started reading the script she was given -- ooops - she actually said it was a script. The big issue was the Unity push to endorse Tom Brown for TRS pension board. Former pension board member David Kazansky is running against him and some of his supporters attempted to get his name out there and succeeded but failed in their reso to get him to be considered -- in the past the claims that oppo people were not experienced won't work since David had 9 years experience.
Daniel Alicea was successful in asking for the union to put things in place so the DOE actually conducts an election that is competently run -- 2 years ago both sides sued the DOE over the way the election was run. As the vote for the endorsement ran past 6PM -- Mulgrew didn't manage the script by not finding the person who was to call the question in time - and a quorum call was made - you need 20% for a quorum and the seargent at arms must have done a super calculation with her immediate ruling. Daniel asked her afterward about that ruling and she said she does what Mulgrew tells her to do. Nice -- A lowlight of the Feb. 5 RTC meeting was the Leo Casey rant at Marianne to which she has responded.
Hypocrisy Roars: Leo
roars, but there is no substance; it is purely a spectacle scream for
relevance when that ship long sailed. Proud the retired unionists saw
through that at the RTC meeting this past week. Bravo! Marianne Pizzitola Feb 08, 2026Retirees Deserve Facts, Not Fear Leo
Casey’s posts accusing me of “union-busting” and warns of calamity if
retirees are no longer treated as union members for healthcare purposes.
That framing is emotionally charged — and fundamentally misleading and
completely unsubstantiated, but when has Unity cared about any of that?
What retirees deserve instead is an honest discussion of what rights we actually have, what protections actually exist, and what has actually happened in recent years.
Not facing all that -you are still lying to yourself. Don’t worry, I
will tell you and cite it and there is plenty to share on that in the
next few posts!
When I posted one of her responses to Casey on the Retiree Advocate listserve, Jonathan Halabi, an officer of the RTC, wouldn't approve it and it was taken down. Funny, but when Leo went on his diatribe with 1000 people on line or in person, there was no objection - and as a believer in free speech, I do not object to whatever drivel he offers, but the attitude of some members of RA organizers to censor things they don't like, is offensive and counter to democracy. I have lots more to say but have to catch the subway for the IE (formerly ICE) lunch. And sorry, no rice pudding photos of me today as my blood sugar spiked last time. Arthur's recent post:
Here is an excerpt from his DA report:
I am flabbergasted at how Mulgrew tripped all over himself
saying how fair the elections for trustee are. The fact is that the last
election did not take place at all. This is
because Mulgrew’s Very Smart People had Ben Morgenroth tossed from the
ballot on a technicality. Last I heard, Morgenroth was pursuing legal
remedies, but I’ve not spoken with him for a while. I have to admire his
calmness tonight while addressing the guy who screwed him. Leo
Casey’s resolution to protect Social Security and Medicare from
everyone (except Michael Mulgrew) has now, for the second month in a
row, not come up. Casey would’ve had retirees believe that we ought not
to spend one moment protecting ourselves from the person who already tried to
take our Medicare away—Michael Mulgrew, his cult leader. Casey’s
criticized retirees for trying to protect ourselves rather than blindly
endorsing his Great Leader’s agenda. Clearly, the leaders of the UFT do not share Casey’s priorities. Most important to them is keeping their peeps in power. That’s
why Unity member after Unity member got up today to endorse Tom Brown,
who comes to retiree meetings to tell us how wonderful things are, who
makes it a point to speak as long as possible so as to join Casey and
other Unity Cult Members in their never-ending mission to preclude our
actual business—protecting retirees. I tend to
believe Mulgrew when he claims he isn’t telling the trustees how to
invest UFT money. If that’s the case, though, it’s likely because
investing is not his thing. Every single sitting trustee is bound by the Unity Loyalty Oath. They will golly gosh darn do whatever Mulgrew tells them to, financially or otherwise, or they will be purged, just as David Kazansky was. Kazansky
will be running against Tom Brown. Like most retirees, I’m very
interested in the pension. As Unity hack after Unity hack got up to tell
us how wonderful Brown was, none bothered to mention that retirees, alleged union members, get no vote on who our trustees are. I
didn’t hear anything about Tom Brown, or Michael Mulgrew, or any Unity
member working to get us a vote. Of course, Unity indulges its members
when they float ageist memes at the DA, and rather than censure them for their blatant bigotry, applauds them. So it surprises me not at all that they can’t be bothered extending us the vote, even as they lecture us on how we’re full union members. Emily ?—Most of you know what’s going on. 2750 people signed to go to
rally, still growing. When link stops working we get calls. Will try to
make registration push. Members will get texts tomorrow. Try to get one
more person. Whole class of people against this, think public workers
bankrupting city. Use memes and post online. CL hub shows names of
people in your school who have registered. Have pom poms and t shirts
you can wear in school.
The late, great James Eterno saw exactly where this was heading and said so in 2009, when it still mattered. He called it what it was: A billion-dollar giveaway to save the City money — paid for by future educators.
He was right then. He’s right now. Tier 6 didn’t come out of nowhere. The runway was built in 2009 by Randi and Unity...Educators of NYC
An LOL comment at the Feb. 5 retiree meeting was a Unityite arguing against restoring the 8
1/4% enjoyed by our supevisors because ending the 7% Randi giveaway would make us look greedy and
besides the city doesn't have the money. The crux of the Unity Caucus positions come down to the purpose of a union is to find ways to save the employer money.  | Unity/UFT Leadership History of Sell-Out argument to save city money while screwing members --- EONYC - Feb 14, 2026 |
Saturday, Feb. 14 - Happy Valentine Day - Taking my woman out to dinner in the city tonight - don't tell my wife. Actually, I have a surprise Neuhaus box of dark chocolates waiting for her in the city- since she would rather sleep on a bed of nails than read my blog, no worries she will won't be surprised. I'm going to have to do this in two parts because I have to leave soon - tii much time watching olympic snow and ice after doing my daily shovel of snow and ice. My political life is managed by meetings related to the UFT, most recently the Retired Teacher Meeting on Feb.5, the Feb. 10 Retired Teacher Exec Bd Meeting and the Feb. 11 DA. People complain they are all boring but I am a junky and engaged. I just can't keep up with the prolific Daniel Alicea, Marianne Pizzitola and Arthur Goldstein - here are his reports of the Feb. 5 RTC and DA. Feb. 5 Unity Says, "No 1096 for You!": We say otherwise, by a huge margin. I have some different angles and where do I begin? Of course the major news is the David Kazansky run for TRS against Tom Brown and that dominated the DA --- speaker after speaker in favor of Brown while a few tried to get David's name out there as a candidate without opposing the Brown nomination, which I would have done - and I had some reasons which I will share one day -- but I wanted to be a team player. Both meetings sort of have a common theme. Unity totally controls the DA and absolutely don't have control of the RTC. But their goals at both is to degrade the ability of the opposition to influence union policy. There were 2 resos pushed by the non-Unity RTC leadership - support for 1096, calling for the Randi Weingarten giveaway of 8.25% in 2008 to be reversed and two Unity sponsored resos - Keeping retirees Safe from Scams and support for the NY Civil Rights Act. At every meeting they introduce another feel-good distraction -- for this meeting on The Importance of Building and Providing Affordable Workforce Housing for NYC Educators, Healthcare Professionals and Essential Workers. James Eterno used to mock these type of resos as "Mom and Apple Pie" resos. We've also seen similar virtue signaling resos from those opposed to Unity --- when you don't have a clue how to make a dent in the power of Unity, resort to calling for support for issues outside the union. Unity pushed back on the RTC resos on 1096 and 8 1/4% that actually improve our conditions while their own feel good resos, offered as a distraction from addressing their years of failure are difficult to oppose - like who doesn't support protecting retirees from scams or supporting the NY Civil Rights Act? And they are clever resos -- putting the RTC leadership on an impossible position -- though I get what Unity is doing and am willing to do the dirty work of calling them out -- except I get bad looks from my RTC leadership colleagues that standing opposed to a feel-good reso designed to distract from issues that won us the election. Leo Casey came off a sick bed to lose his marbles in a rant against Marianne Pizzitola at the RTC meeting -- so sorry, Leo can't be at the DA because Unity lost the RTC election. The battle between Leo and Marianne is all about healthcare and the
Unity attempt to distract people. Leo will defend any Unity policy, as
do the Unity faithful as we saw at the last RTC meeting when they
opposed the 8.25 reso because it will cost the city money and make us
look greedy. 7% also looked greedy when everyone else was getting 1% so
making that case is anti-union. Getting raises and lower class sizes
costs the city money. But for we retirees the worst was the
attempt to put us in medicare adv -- our victory, due on no small part
to Marianne -- which is why in advance of next year's election which
Unity expects to win - Casey is the designated hit man to degrade
Marianne's influence and bring Unity back to it's 70% majority before
the 2024 election. A lesson on her influence is the low amount of votes
the ARISE Coalition received in the last election while the ABC
supported by Marianne received 3x as many, a lesson Leo Casey clearly
has learned -- beat up Marianne to help Unity win. I will get to part 2 maybe tomorrow but now turn it back to Daniel: |
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