FiveThirtyEight is estimating the number of delegates each major candidate would need in each primary election to clinch the presidential nomination.
Source: Who’s On Track For The Nomination? | FiveThirtyEight
From the CURMUDGUCATION blog: 8 Reasons To Opt Out
8 Reasons To Opt Out
My children are grown now. If I had school age children, they would not be taking the Big Standardized Test. Here’s why.
Burden of proof.
If your senator calls you into the office and says he wants you to have your doctor cut off both your legs, you are entitled to demand convincing proof that the amputation will be good for you. “There’s a big problem with widget production in America” is not proof unless it is accompanied by evidence that your loss of legs will fix the widget problem. You certainly have no obligation to answer questions like, “What limbs do you want to get cut off instead” or “Don’t you care about widgets.”
The burden of proof is not on you. It is on the people who say your child “must” take the test, and after years of this testing, they still have not met that burden.
BREAKING: Supreme Court Denies Walmart the Right to Not Pay for Worker Rest Breaks — David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education
Originally posted on deutsch29: In December 2014, the anti-union, pro-charter Walton family’s cash cow, Walmart, was ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to pay workers roughly $188 million in restitution for requiring workers to regularly work without suitable meal and rest breaks. In March 2015, Walmart appealed to the US Supreme Court to have the…
Is the Snyder administration planning NOT to replace lead water lines in Flint???
It’s now been 186 days – over a half a year – since Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder admitted that the drinking water in Flint had been poisoned with the powerful, odorless, tasteless, invisible neurotoxin lead. Since that time, only the lead service lines in only 19 Flint homes have been replaced and that was through the actions of Flint Mayor Karen Weaver’s ‘Fast Start’ program, not through the efforts of the Snyder administration. Amid all this non-action, the Snyder administration has started to warn municipalities that they should avoid ‘partial lead service line replacements’: The state is now recommending that cities avoid replacing only part of a water service line if it’s made of lead. Partial replacements aren’t uncommon. Typically the municipality only owns part of the line, the part from the water main to the property line. This is the publicly owned portion of the service line. In this case, the part of the line that runs from the public right of way into a home is the p
Source: Is the Snyder administration planning NOT to replace lead water lines in Flint???
Ellie’s story: Living out loud
This transgender woman soared into a brave new world and isn’t looking back. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. The day Ellie Webster decided to begin transitioning from the male body she was assigned at birth, she knew it was a leap of faith. But it was a leap she was finally ready to take after many false starts. It was a leap into the unknown, yet she knew it was the only way to live her life to the fullest. Before Webster took her first dose of hormones — just 12 hours shy of her 33rd birthday — she reflected on the moment. I don’t know who had more wonder as to how the world was going to be different in a short while: me or the first astronauts. Who can tell you where you’re going on this adventure? No one has ever been there. She says this, in part, to acknowledge that her story is unique to her. Like every human being — transgender or not — her experience is hers and hers alone. For many years, Webster didn’t have
Source: Ellie’s story: Living out loud
Thomas Frank: The Democratic Party and the Failure of Meritocracy — David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education
Originally posted on Diane Ravitch’s blog: Thomas Frank, author of “What’s the Matter with Kansas,” explains in this interview how the Democratic party lost its way. It is suffering an “identity crisis,” he says. ? In recent years, the Democrats have been consistently liberal on social issues, but indistinguishable from the Republicans on economic…
The Ultimate Guide to Corporate Reform and the Buying of the Media — David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education
Originally posted on Diane Ravitch’s blog: Why is the media so excited about school choice and so indifferent to the defunding of public education? How did telegenic Campbell Brown, with no experience or background in education, become the face of teacher-bashing, anti-union, anti-public school advocacy? Why is she obsessed with the idea that public…
Doesn’t Matter Whether It’s An A-Bomb Or A Glock – Get Your Hands On It And It’s Going To Go Off. — mikethegunguy
Sunday morning I watched the Trumpster being interviewed by Chris Wallace, and if it were not for the fact that he was talking about nuclear weapons, I found his comments so stupid that they were actually entertaining and fun. And what they brought back to me was a memory from the fourth or fifth grade […]
Christians must avoid bearing false witness against Muslims |
The Ten Commandments (from Exodus Chapter 20)
…15″You shall not steal. 16″You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17″You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Cross References:
Matthew 19:18
“Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony,
Luke 3:14
Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely — be content with your pay.”
Exodus 23:1
“Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.
Exodus 23:7
Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.
Leviticus 19:11
“‘Do not steal. “‘Do not lie. “‘Do not deceive one another.
Leviticus 19:18
“‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 5:20
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
Proverbs 25:18
Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is one who gives false testimony against a neighbor.
Three false assumptions about Muslims in the Age of ISIS
Posted on https://sojo.net/ – By Todd Green
In the aftermath of the Brussels and Pakistan attacks, we once again find ourselves in a heightened climate of panic and anxiety. The widespread fears emanating from these attacks, while understandable, nonetheless can get the best of us, tempting us to buy into deceitful propaganda that views all Muslims as enemies.
The Christian tradition calls its followers not to bear false witness. So how do we live out this calling? What does it mean not to bear false witness against Muslims in the age of ISIS?
Here are three false assumptions, if not outright lies, often repeated about Muslims and terrorism, along with some facts that can help us have more honest conversations about our Muslim neighbors and about the violence we encounter in western nations:
- Muslims do not condemn ISIS or terrorism.
- Muslims are more prone to violence than Christians and non-Muslims.
- Muslims must be subject to surveillance and registration if we are to eliminate terrorism.
See more here about how these are examples of FALSE WITNESS:https://sojo.net/articles/3-false-assumptions-about-muslims-age-isis#sthash.vZV9ah1j.dpuf
We cannot give in to propaganda and falsehoods that paint Muslims as particularly prone to violence. Remember that ISIS wants Islamophobia. ISIS wants the non-Muslim majority to turn on Muslims, to discriminate against them, to treat them as enemies.
Islamophobia is key to ISIS’s recruiting efforts.
We must maintain our resolve to tell truths about our Muslim neighbors, about ourselves, and about the violence that we encounter in the West. These are the truths that will help us understand and defeat ISIS. These are the truths that will set us free.
About the blogger:
Todd Green (@toddhgreen) author of The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West (Fortress Press, 2015), is Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College.
- See more at: https://sojo.net/articles/3-false-assumptions-about-muslims-age-isis#sthash.vZV9ah1j.dpuf
Source: Monday Moanin’: We must avoid bearing false witness against Muslims |
North Carolina: The Child Who Frightened the Legislature — Diane Ravitch’s blog
This video tells the story of Hunter Schaefer. Hunter and family members spoke at Trinity School in New York City, where this was recently filmed. Her father is a Presbyterian minister. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a teenager. She is transgender. Her parents and sister talk in the video about how they […]
via North Carolina: The Child Who Frightened the Legislature — Diane Ravitch’s blog
Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" 