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You can’t help free Palestine by embracing Hamas

  By International politics, Just War Theory, Middle East

I’ve been paying attention to what is going on in the Middle East not the reaction of people in the US and Europe to it. So I’ve been late to see some of the horrible reactions here and and there. If you are a critic of Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians and a supporter of Palestinian statehood–or even of a one state bi-national solution–you should be appalled by and furious at Hamas’ attack this week. Not just because it was a deliberate and brazen violation of the rights of non-combatants and because the murder of innocent men, women, and children violates the rights of the same moral code and religious beliefs that serve as the basis of any call for justice for Palestinians. But because  the attack was not aimed at securing Palestinian rights but rather at killing every Israeli Hamas soldiers encountered. The nature of the attack  confirms  that… Continue reading

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Thoughts on the War Between Hamas and Israel

  By International politics, Just War Theory, Middle East

I’m terribly distressed at the war in the Middle East. Already almost 1000 soldiers and civilians have died on both sides. And the likelihood is that the war will continue for some time, with far more death and destruction. As the war goes on, Israel’s military might means that death and destruction will fall heavily of Palestinian soldiers and civilians. I’m also distressed at the one-side reaction of much of the press and also of so many of my Jewish friends, even those who have been critical of Israel in the past. I want to start with three conclusions, which I will defend here and no doubt in further conversation. Hamas is fighting a legitimate war. It has a right to launch war on Israel in the current state of affairs. The idea that it was an “unprovoked” attack is absurd. Hamas is not always fighting legitimately. It is clearly… Continue reading

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What Would an Equitable Voucher System Look Like?

  By Blog post, Education, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center, Vouchers

Pennsylvania’s Republican legislators support a voucher program they say is meant to help a small number of students who attend schools they claim are failing. (They don’t mention that those schools are also severely underfunded.) However, these legislators and their supporters, including billionaires Betsy DeVos and Jeffrey Yass, have made no secret that their ultimate goal is to replace our public schools with a system of private schools financed by vouchers. It is doubtful that such a plan could meet the requirements of the Pennsylvania Constitution. When the education clause was added to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1873, it specifically required funding of “public schools.” And, changing the words to “public education” in the constitutional revision of 1967 does not alter the import of the phrase. Could a voucher plan be designed to meet the two goals for public education held by the framers of the… Continue reading

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Senate Again Refuses to Fund State’s Most Dire School Districts

  By Blog post, Education, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center

Senate Again Refuses to Fund State’s Most Dire School Districts – Marc Stier, Executive Director, Penn Policy Center “The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate came back today for a rare August session. It took a step toward completing the budget by passing a code bill on several uncontroversial issues. However Republican senators have failed to pass a code bill with language that would allow the expenditure of $100 million for Level Up for the state’s 100 least-well-funded schools. Senate Republicans keep talking about helping kids in so-called “failing schools.” The only schools that don’t provide a good education are those that are underfunded and that, today, they failed again to fund.” Continue reading

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Economic Opportunity, the Dignity of Work, and the Minimum Wage

  By Blog post, Minimum Wage, Penn Policy Center

Raising the minimum wage has always been about the dignity, as well as the wages, of working people. We who place so much value on our ability to provide for ourselves and our families should recognize the importance of ensuring a dignified living wage for all full-time workers.  Yet during the debate on the minimum wage in the Pennsylvania House in May, Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives showed us what they think of low-wage workers. They proposed amendments to the minimum wage bill that are classic examples of blaming the victim. One would exclude workers without a high school degree, or the equivalent, from the protection of the minimum wage. Another would require workers to pass a literacy test to earn the minimum wage.   These representatives—many of whom come from districts in which ten percent or more of the population do not have a high school degree and… Continue reading

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The (First Part) of the Budget Standoff Is Over

  By Budget, Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Public Policy, Statement

After Governor Shapiro signed the General Appropriation bill today, the Pennsylvania Policy Center released the following statement by our executive director, Marc Stier: “Today, Senate Republicans blinked in the budget standoff with Governor Shapiro and Democrats. Thanks to the increasing pressure from social service providers and school districts worried about the delay in receiving state funding and the public, which supports them, the Republican leadership agreed today to bring the Senate back to session to allow the General Fund appropriations bill to be sent to Governor Shapiro. The Governor just signed it after issuing his promised line-item veto of $100 million for the voucher program. Today’s action does not mean that the 2023–24 budget is complete, however. In Pennsylvania, what we call “code bills” are needed to authorize some of the spending in the appropriation bills, including the Level Up program, which provides additional funding for the least-well funded schools… Continue reading

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Not Having to Think About Race And Racism Is White Privilege

  By Politics, Public Policy, White Supremacy and Structural Racism

So the “wonderful” thing about being a white person in the United States is that you don’t have to think about it, or racism, if you don’t want to. You can form your political opinions without giving a second thought. You can write policy analysis as if race has no impact on education, or on access to health care or housing or jobs, or anything else we value—and until relatively recently,  almost no one will criticize you and say you are missing something. You can work in business without thinking about how your employment policies or where you are located affect Black people differently than white people. You can practice medicine without thinking about how the experience of being Black in America might affect the health of your patients. I know this from personal experience. I did this kind of work without thinking about race and racism. Even now, I… Continue reading

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Penn Policy Center Statement on PA Budget Passage

  By Budget, Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statement

July 5, 2023 For Immediate Release Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org Penn Policy Center Statement on Budget Passage Governor Shapiro’s letter announcing that he would line-item veto the appropriation for vouchers in the budget passed by the Senate last week clears the way for the House to also pass the budget and send it to the Governor for his signature. Enacting a budget that doesn’t include a voucher plan is a victory, especially because that plan would have likely been a first step toward the destruction of public education in Pennsylvania. We are grateful to Democrats in both the House and the Senate for standing strong against vouchers. Sadly, while the enacted budget is likely the best that can be achieved at this date, it is not a good one. While it includes bout a 5% increase in total spending, after taking inflation into account, the increase is not substantial. If… Continue reading

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Saving Public Education in Pennsylvania, Where It Began

  By Blog post, Education, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center, Published op-eds

Originally published on PennCapital-Star.com The budget stalemate in Harrisburg hasn’t been primarily about whether some budget line items go up or down by a few hundred million dollars. Those kinds of disputes are easy to resolve. Rather, it’s been about whether Pennsylvania will start down a radical, extremist path that leads to the destruction of public education in our state. As we celebrate the birth of our country, we should remember that public education is central to the ideals that led to, and grew out of, American independence. And we in Pennsylvania should resolve not to compromise those ideals as the state passes its budget this year. The American Revolution was not just a political revolution against the King and Parliament. It was also a social revolution against the hierarchal society they represented, a society in which everyone knew and kept in their place. It was a revolution to give… Continue reading