Free Republic

Flint Northwestern High School’s academic performance is not the type most would want to celebrate. The school has consistently been among the worst performing in the state. Yet in a recent visit, the leader of the National Education Association told union members at the school that Northwestern "did it right." NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia stopped at Flint Northwestern as part of statewide tour on Sept. 24 to celebrate it being moved off a Michigan Department of Education "priority schools list." The state applies this label to the lowest performing 5 percent of schools, which makes them subject to increased...

No Ammo is Available for the .442 Rimfire Tranter shown Bluffing with a gun often works.   Most criminals do not wish to be shot; they run away.   But sometimes, the criminal is drugged, crazy, or  determined, and they "call" the bluff, often with direct, aggressive action.  It is then that you need a few skills to keep from being hurt or killed.   First, do not allow the criminal to get close (within five feet) of you.   Inside that distance, it is very hard to stop a determined person who has the advantage of action over reaction....

Everyone knows how former Mayor Michael Bloomberg supports a push towards confiscation of Americans’ guns. He’s literally thrown millions of dollars behind various campaigns, started organizations and even gotten politicians onboard with going after guns across America. Now, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda have given $1 million to start the ball rolling on gun confiscation in Washington State. CNN reports: Previously, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) co-founder Paul Allen gave $500,000 to the group, while recently retired Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave $250,000 and his wife Connie contributed $330,000. It’s not just Microsoft billionaires throwing big bucks at the...

Crimea’s prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya, whose anime-style images became an internet sensation, has caused a great stir among her fans as she appeared at the State Council meeting with a new haircut and her hair dyed dark. As usual, Poklonskaya attracted the audience’s attention not only with her looks – the head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, said: “A special thanks to the Crimean prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya who took up the things that are beyond the scope of most men.” 34-year-old Poklonskaya was appointed Crimea’s chief prosecutor in May. She became world famous after a video from her press...

House Democrats want to place a moratorium on opening any new charter public schools in Michigan. They have introduced House Bill 5852 to do so. Legislation such as this bill, offered by the minority party in the House amid election campaigning, has little chance of moving and isn’t likely to even get a hearing. But from a larger perspective, the call for a moratorium on new charters is seen by some as part of an overall war on charter public schools. This “war” is backed by a coalition of interests, most notably teachers unions, and involves attacks on various fronts,...

For many young professionals far from their schools days and a ways away from having children of their own, the battle over healthier school lunches seems of little relevance. But in Washington, D.C., the policy debate has become an all encompassing issue highlighting the intricate network of lobbyists, corporations and associations all with a financial stake in a policy that was otherwise born of good intentions. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed in 2010, offering $4.5 billion in new funding over 10 years. However, the details of the new program have yet to be implemented due to a growing...

Florida passed a reform of its gun law this year to prevent situations such as what has happened to Lee Wollard.   Wollard says that he fired a shot to stop an assault and force a young man out of his house;  the prosecutor charged him with firing into a building, aggravated assault and child endangerment.   The young man was dating his daughter and was 17. No one was hurt, but the bullet penetrated the walls of the house and struck the house next door. Under the old Florida law, the prosecutor could offer this dilemma: plead guilty, be convicted...

Drew Gilpin Faust Office of the President Harvard University Massachusetts Hall Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Dear Dr. Faust: This letter is being sent to you on behalf of the Qatar Awareness Campaign Coalition. The purpose is to inform you and the public of the activities of Qatar. Harvard University is assisting the Qatar Foundation to establish a law school in Doha, in order to “revitalize legal education in the Middle East, and represent Islamic and Arabic legal traditions in the global dialogue on legal and governance issues.” These traditions include Sharia law. Harvard University is arguably the greatest institution of...

A new Mark Schauer for governor political advertisement features four teachers from four different school districts who claim that Gov. Rick Snyder has cut funding to their districts. But in fact, on a per-student basis, all four districts actually received more taxpayer money in 2013-14 than they did in 2010-2011, which was the last budget approved by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The ad features seven teachers but only four specifically cite lower funding. For months Schauer, who is the Democratic candidate for the state’s top office, has claimed that Gov. Snyder cut funding to public schools. This claim has been refuted...

While visiting Wisconsin, I went out to dinner with some of my favorite relatives.   Pat is my cousin, and Dan is her husband.   They are wonderful people, competent, smart, careful, considerate and polite.   Dan retired a couple of years ago.  Pat is still working.   Dan is a boating enthusiast, keeps himself in great shape, and participates in 50 mile bike races.   They have a vacation home on a nice lake only a few miles from the property where I grew up.   I made a point to contact them when I came up to Wisconsin, and we made a point...

Tea is a highly ceremonialized substance for human consumption. It’s only mildly addictive, but like much more addictive substances—tobacco & heroin—the importance of the ceremonial attribute of human substance consumption, needs to be recognized in the abstract and applied to the cannabis issue currently under consideration.Mother Superior Jumped the Gun. Some former junkies of my acquaintance, recounted that they habitually vomited as they were being driven to their pusher—they associated the location with becoming intoxicated on heroin. Cannabis should be examined in common with consumption substances with strong cultural connotations, like a substance unfamiliar to westerners but widely used in...

On Sept. 18, House Democrats announced legislation that would place a moratorium on opening any additional charter public schools in Michigan. While House Bill 5852 isn’t expected to move in the waning days of this session, the press conference announcing it gave the lawmakers who support the moratorium a chance to make their case. The opportunity to directly respond to such rhetoric seldom occurs. At the press conference however, Capitol Confidential was able to ask questions. The following is one of those questions and the response to it, followed by a rebuttal to that response by Michael Van Beek, director...

The CareNow clinic in Frisco where Dallas County Sheriff’s deputy Michael Monnig was treated for possible Ebola-like symptoms is closed. This after it reopened only hours after Monnig was transported to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The clinic will undergo a deep cleaning and remain closed until Friday. Frisco’s fire chief Mark Piland said Monnig is being treated “out of an abundance of caution” and the response was appropriate based on Monnig’s symptoms and his indirect contact with the Ebola victim...

When Michigan House Democrats held a press conference last week to announce legislation to put a moratorium on the creation of new charter public schools, the Great Lakes Education Project researched which Democrats had signed on as co-sponsors. Gary Naeyaert, executive director of GLEP, said his initial findings were that 47 of the 50 House Democrats had done so. That highlights the issue GLEP has as a non-partisan organization that endorses political candidates but finds one party overwhelmingly voting against its most important issue — school choice. In the upcoming general election, GLEP has endorsed 58 candidates, only one of...

My Brother’s Keeper, the initiative introduced by President Barack Obama earlier this year, was a major focus of what was a full schedule of activities and events during the 2014 Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference weekend in the nation’s capital. This year marked the 44th year of the event. “Too many young men of color feel targeted by law enforcement, guilty of walking while Black, or driving while Black, judged by stereotypes that fuel fear and resentment and hopelessness. We know that, statistically, in everything from enforcing drug policy to applying the death penalty to pulling people over,...

The Associated Press, in partnership with GfK, a German market research firm, jointly released a poll. No big deal there, as people release polls every hour or two, especially in election season. But this one was considered unusual, because it revealed a truth that scared the American Left to their very core: Americans don’t appear to trust government to solve their problems anymore. As with every poll, interpretation is dependent on whether we trust the questions to have been asked objectively (we don’t), whether the respondents were given a comprehensive and clear array of possible answers to choose (they never...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) OWEN COUNTY, KY (FOX19) - Nicki Sullivan says her child, designated male at birth, has always identified herself as female. After seeking advice from GLSEN, a gay lesbian and straight education network, last Monday Nicki's 7-year-old daughter Ella made her identity public. "She came back Monday as a girl. New teacher, new wardrobe, new backpack, completely changed. She was introduced as a new student, Ella Grace,” explained Nicki Sullivan. Sullivan says over the last week Owen County Elementary School has been more than accommodating to her transgender 7-year-old daughter Ella providing a unisex restroom and protecting her from potential...

In a strange twist of fate, two age-old Civil Rights cases collide in Ferguson, MO -- half a century later. Is it just coincidence? Or could there be a deeper subliminal message lying tucked between the levels of America's consciousness? I decided to take a closer look. Forever connected, yet perched on the opposite ends of the spectrum, Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954) are two landmark Supreme Court cases in the fight for African-American civil rights. The former case legalized racial segregation under the "separate but equal" law, while the latter case outlawed the...

Imagine a teacher asks you to solve this question: 568-293. Depending on your age you might do one of three things... ...Third, you might use the new common core was to subtract, which is much simpler, with only... 10 steps. First, you would take the 200 out of the 293, and save the 93 for later. Then you would take 568 and subtract 200 from it. Then you'd take the remaining 368 and you would subtract 60 from it, because you are taught that, for some reason, you cannot simply subtract 90 from 368. 368-60 equals 308. Then you subtract...

Local school districts around the country are going to take a huge financial hit in fiscal year 2015 because the cost of the school lunches they offer is expected to triple. The combination of escalating costs because of harsher restrictions and the dwindling number of students enrolled in the program, which limits reimbursements from the federal government, are going to rigger the enormous rise in costs, according to the School Nutrition Association (SNA). SNA is comprised of 55,000 school nutrition professionals around the country. SNA CEO Patricia Montague said, "School nutrition professionals have led the way in promoting improved diets...