How has the Muslim World Responded to Trump’s Proposed Ban on Them Coming to US?

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –

The Arabic press reported with a straight face GOP presidential contender Donald Trump’s allegations that he has lots of Muslim friends and that they are calling them to say how pleased they are that he wants to exclude them from coming to the United States, and that they are glad he is tackling the problem of Muslim extremism.

Back in the real world, how have Muslims responded?

Source: How has the Muslim World Responded to Trump’s Proposed Ban on Them Coming to US? | Informed Comment

Group pushes alternatives to oil pipeline beneath the Mackinac Straits | Michigan Radio

An environmental group says oil pipelines running beneath the Mackinac Straits could be shut down without disrupting oil and propane supplies in Michigan.

Source: Group pushes alternatives to oil pipeline beneath the Mackinac Straits | Michigan Radio

This mom helped uncover what was really going on with Flint’s water | Michigan Radio

Up until October, the Walters family lived in a yellow two-story home on the south side of Flint. A couple of red maple trees shade the tiny front yard.

“Please, whatever you do, don’t let your kids drink the water. Don’t make their juice with it. And please just give me a phone call back as soon as possible.” That’s the voicemail Lee Ann Walters remembers getting about test results for her tap water.

This is the first part of our documentary about how Flint’s water crisis unfolded.

Source: This mom helped uncover what was really going on with Flint’s water | Michigan Radio

Eclectablog: After Board of Regents’ inaction on partnership with the EAA, EMU’s College of Teaching staff pass vote of No Confidence

Last week, the Board of Regents of Eastern Michigan University revisited their interlocal agreement with Gov. Rick Snyder’s failed experiment on Detroit school kids known as the Education Achievement Authority. They had agreed a year prior to reevaluate their participation in the partnership with the EAA based on their progress on four specific items:

• A stronger partnership is forged between Eastern Michigan University and the EAA
• Demonstrated student achievement and progress in EAA schools
• Fiscal accountability
• Complete transparency of all activities, including prompt and appropriate responses to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act

Analysis of the EAA’s success at meeting these goals showed that they had failed to make progress on ANY of them.

Read more here: After Board of Regents’ inaction on partnership with the EAA, EMU’s College of Teaching staff pass vote of No Confidence | Eclectablog

Dr. Mark Hyman: 8 Strategies to Reverse Skinny-Fat Syndrome

“If I’m not overweight, do I need to become concerned about obesity and other health issues?” asks this week’s House Call. “Even though I drink soda and eat whatever I want, I don’t gain weight. Should I be worried?” The short answer is yes.

How Do You Know if You’re Skinny Fat?

Signs of skinny fat syndrome include family history of type 2 diabetes, early onset of heart disease, or even having a little potbelly.

But signs can also be subtler, and I would rather you test than guess. That is why I strongly recommend blood tests to reveal skinny fat syndrome. Ask your doctor to do these tests (ideal ranges are in parenthesis):

1. Fasting blood sugar or glucose (normal less than 90 mg/dl)
2. Triglycerides (normal less than 100 mg/dl)
3. HDL – the good cholesterol (normal greater than 60 mg/dl)
4. Blood pressure (normal less than 120/80, ideal less than 115/75)

You might also ask your doctor for these two tests that help detect diabesity and other problems before they become problems:

Source: 8 Strategies to Reverse Skinny-Fat Syndrome – Dr. Mark Hyman

Poll: Clinton adds to lead in Iowa, however…

Clinton now has a 9-point lead over Sanders in the early-voting state.

However 56 percent of likely voters in Iowa said Bernie Sanders would fight the hardest for the middle class, compared with just 36 percent who said the same about Hillary Clinton.

Source: Poll: Clinton adds to lead in Iowa | TheHill

CURMUDGUCATION

The slightly-cranky voice navigating the world of educational “reform” while trying to still pursue the mission of providing quality education.

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• Arts and Community
• KY: Considering Charters
• ICYMI (December 13)
• TFA Is Rescued!

Read more here: CURMUDGUCATION

We Can Respond to ISIS as Christians or as Americans. But Not Both.

Powerful essay this…

So what do we do about ISIS?

The U.S. and the U.K. have decided that the answer is to bomb them. And it’s looking more and more like the answer will become to send troops.

But what do we do about ISIS?

Read more here: We Can Respond to ISIS as Christians or as Americans. But Not Both. | Sojourners

“The Woman Behind the New Deal – The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience”

 

Just finished up this book – gift from my brother for my birthday last month – really enjoyed the read. If you like non-fiction, history, current and/or world events – this is a terrific behind-the-scenes look at the FDR years and the life of an absolutely remarkable woman. Here’s an interview with the author from a few years ago on NPR.

Let’s travel back to Tuesday, March 7, 1933. Newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt had just called his Cabinet together for the first time. The average age was 59; the predominant gender was male, except for Frances Perkins, Roosevelt’s controversial pick for secretary of labor.

Perkins was 52, rather plain, and deliberately dressed in a sedate fashion: She never wore makeup and favored tricornered hats and no-nonsense black and navy suits. Early in her professional life, Perkins had begun taking notes on male colleagues; she filed them in a large red envelope labeled, “Notes on the Male Mind.” One thing she had discerned was that women in politics were accepted if they reminded men of their mothers; hence the matronly wardrobe. At that first Cabinet meeting, the usually assertive Perkins hung back, waiting for Roosevelt to finally call on her for a report. Here’s what Perkins later said about that groundbreaking moment:

“I tried to have as much of a mask as possible. I wanted to give the impression of being a quiet, orderly woman who didn’t buzz-buzz all the time. … I knew that a lady interposing an idea into men’s conversation is very unwelcome. I just proceeded on the theory that this was a gentleman’s conversation on the porch of a golf club perhaps. You didn’t butt in with bright ideas.”

Perkins’ strategy of reticence worked. Although the men sometimes acted like schoolboys and passed notes about her during Cabinet meetings, Perkins managed to achieve many of her “bright ideas,” like the minimum wage, work-hour limitations and the Social Security Act. Indeed, if Perkins had completely realized her vision, national health care would have long been an American reality.

Kirstin Downey’s biography of FDR’s Labor Secretary Frances Perkins paints an inspiring and substantive portrait of the woman who ushered in the 40-hour work week.

Listen to an interview with the author here: Frances Perkins, ‘The Woman Behind the New Deal’ : NPR

Recreation Board? Wayland city code says we already have one

• DIVISION 3. – RECREATION-EDUCATION BOARD

• Sec. 2-141. – Definitions.

  The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this division, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

  Advisory council means the Wayland Area Community Education-Recreation Advisory Council established under the provisions of this division.

  Board means the recreation-education board herein created.

  School means the Wayland Union School District.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.451)

  Cross reference— Definitions and rules of construction generally, § 1-2.

• Sec. 2-142. – Creation.

  There is hereby created a recreation-education board having the powers and duties hereinafter set forth.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.452)

• Sec. 2-143. – Membership.

  The recreation-education board shall consist of five (5) members, two (2) of whom shall be appointed by the city council and two (2) of whom shall be appointed by the board of education of the school, and one (1) of which shall be appointed from the city at large by a majority of the aforesaid four (4) members. The term of each member shall correspond to their respective official tenures except that the term of the member appointed at large as aforesaid shall be for the term of one (1) year. Appointments to the board shall be made at the first meeting following the certification of the annual election of the aforesaid board of education and city council respectively, and the member appointed at large as aforesaid, shall be appointed at the first meeting following the expiration of such member’s yearly term. All members shall hold office until their successors are appointed. All members shall serve as such without compensation. Vacancies occurring otherwise than through the expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term by the body appointing such member in the first instance. Any member may succeed himself.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.453)

• Sec. 2-144. – Selection of officers.

  The recreation-education board shall elect from its membership a chairperson, who shall preside at all meetings of the board, a temporary chairperson from time to time, who shall preside at all meetings of the board in the absence or inability of the chairperson to act, a secretary, who shall have charge of all records of the board and who shall keep accurate and complete minutes of all meetings thereof, and a treasurer, who shall receipt for any funds received by the board and who shall disburse any monies under the jurisdiction of the board only upon the presentation to him of a voucher for such disbursement signed by the secretary and one other member of the board.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.454)

• Sec. 2-145. – Meetings.

  The recreation-education board shall hold regular bimonthly meetings and such other special meetings as the board may deem necessary from time to time. A quorum for the transaction of business at all regular and special meetings shall be three (3) members.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.455)

• Sec. 2-146. – Power to adopt rules and regulations.

  The recreation-education board may, from time to time, adopt such rules and regulations as it may deem advisable for the transaction of its business, and the board may, from time to time, adopt such rules and regulations as it may deem advisable or necessary to properly and effectively carry out a recreational and educational program, and such rules and regulations when approved by resolution of the city council and of the board of education as required by law, shall have the force and effect of law and all persons shall be bound thereby in the carrying out of the recreational and educational program.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.456)

• Sec. 2-147. – Duties of board and hiring of director.

  It shall be the duty of the recreation-education board to formulate a recreational and educational program for the residents living in the greater city area and to carry out the program so formulated. The board shall have the full control in the carrying out of such program and may employ all necessary help and assistance in connection therewith except as otherwise provided for herein; provided however, that the school shall hire a director for such program, who shall have the responsibility of administering the program, and which director shall serve at the pleasure of the board and be subject to its direction and control; provided further however, that the school shall assume the sole responsibility for the establishment of a policy concerning the admission, credit and graduation requirements of an adult education high school completion program, the administration details of which shall fall within the responsibilities of the aforesaid director; and provided further however, that the board shall have no power to expend monies in excess of those monies expressly appropriated to or received by it for recreational and educational purposes and shall have no authority to incur any obligations whatsoever against either the city or the Wayland Union School District.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.457)

• Sec. 2-148. – Submission of budget.

  The recreation-education board shall prepare and submit to the city council and to the school, not later than the first day of March in each year, a tentative outline of its program for the ensuing fiscal year of the board, which fiscal year shall be from April first through March thirty-first, together with its budget for such ensuing year which outline and budget shall serve as a guide in the appropriation of monies by the council and the school; provided however, that nothing herein contained shall be interpreted to require either the council or the school to appropriate the amount required for such budget.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.458)

• Sec. 2-149. – Appropriation, deposits and accounting of funds.

  The council and the school shall appropriate for the purposes provided herein such sums of money as each shall respectively deem necessary. The recreation-education board may receive monies from other lawful sources by contribution, gift, or otherwise, for the purposes herein provided. All monies appropriated or received by such board shall be delivered to the treasurer of the board who shall deposit the same in an account in the Wayland State Bank which account shall be designated “recreation-education board account” and shall disburse such monies only as provided for insection 2-144 of this division. Any monies appropriated for recreational and educational purposes by the council or the school and paid over to the recreation-education board shall not be returned to the council or school without the mutual consent of both such bodies and the consent of the board. Not later than ninety (90) days following the close of its fiscal year, the recreation-education board shall prepare and deliver to the council and to the school a full and concise accounting of all monies received and disbursed.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.459)

• Sec. 2-150. – Use of public property.

  The recreation-education board may use properties, buildings and equipment of the city, of the Wayland Union School District and of others provided proper consent to the use thereof is first obtained. For purposes of this division such consent on the part of the city may be given by the mayor and on the part of the Wayland Union School District such consent may be given by the superintendent of schools. Any and all charges incurred by either public body in connection with any properties and/or equipment so used for maintenance, upkeep or otherwise, shall be charged against therecreation-education board and paid by it to the proper body out of funds under its control.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.460)

• Sec. 2-151. – Creation of advisory council.

  For the purpose of assisting the recreation-education board and carrying out its purposes, there is hereby created a community recreation-education advisory council which shall consist of nine (9) voting members and the director of the program, hired by the school as provided for in section 2-147 of this division. Such director shall be the chairperson of the advisory council and shall have the right to vote only in case of a tie. The nine (9) voting members shall initially consist of two (2) members appointed by the council, one for a one-year term and one for a two-year term, two (2) members appointed by the school, one (1) year for a one-year term and one for a two-year term, and five (5) members appointed by a majority of the aforesaid four (4) members. In appointing the remaining five (5) members, such majority shall select as members two (2) persons living in the city area, one of whom shall be male and the other female and one of whom shall be appointed for a term of one (1) year and the other for a term of two (2) years, one (1) member shall be at least sixty-two (62) years of age, retired or a senior citizen and shall serve for a term of two (2) years, one (1) member shall be a student under the age of twenty (20) years and shall serve for a term of one (1) year and the ninth member shall be a teacher, professional or paraprofessional in the educational aspect of community education and shall serve for a two-year term. Upon the expiration of the initial term of each member of the advisory council, all subsequent appointments shall be for a term of two (2) years. Such appointments shall be made by a majority of the membership of the advisory council except for those appointments made by the council or the school. All members shall hold office until their successors are appointed. Vacancies occurring otherwise than through the expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term by the body appointing such member in the first instance. Any member may succeed himself.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.461)

• Sec. 2-152. – Officers of advisory council.

  The advisory council may, from time to time, adopt such rules as it may deem advisable for the transaction of its business. A quorum for the transaction of business at all regular and special meetings shall be four (4) members, excluding the director.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.462)

• Sec. 2-153. – Meetings of advisory council.

  Regular meetings of the advisory council shall be held not less than once every two (2) months at such time and place as may be determined by the members thereof. Special meetings may be called by the director or any four (4) members of the advisory council.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.463)

• Sec. 2-154. – Duties of advisory council.

  The advisory council shall act in an advisory capacity only and, accordingly, shall provide the director with assistance, recommendations and advice in all educational, recreational, enrichment and general service activities it determines necessary for community betterment. It shall also advise the mayor of the city and the superintendent of the school concerning matters of area education and recreation with its recommendations relating thereto.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.464)

• Sec. 2-155. – Removal of members.

  Any member of the recreation-education board may be removed by a majority vote of its members for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office after a public hearing thereon; and any member of the advisory council may be removed by a majority vote of its members for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office after a public hearing thereon.

  (Comp. Ords. 1986, § 12.465)

• Secs. 2-156—2-165. – Reserved.
• ​​