Free Republic

State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break. The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said. The goal of the No Child Left...

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the hedge-fund tycoon George Soros have pledged $30-million each for a far-reaching new effort to improve educational and economic prospects for the city’s young black and Latino men, writes The New York Times.The gifts from the two billionaire philanthropists will be part of a three-year, nearly $130-million City Hall-run program, which the mayor is to formally announce Thursday.City officials say black and Latino men aged 16 to 24 are in crisis by nearly every socioeconomic measure, including arrest rates, school suspensions, and poverty.The program, to start this fall, will significantly expand efforts to...

WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene. Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near...

Tonight, around 11 p.m., a group of at least 60-70 African American youth marched down one of the side streets (W. Thrush) to the 4 lane main drag (Sheridan). They were yelling threats to white residents. Things such as we need to kill alll the white people around here.

This is a reprint from the Peoria Chronicle’s web site. It was posted by CJ, the sites owner and written by Paul Wilkinson. Paul is the President of the Altamont Park Neighborhood Association. I know Paul and he is the most straight forward person I’ve met. He has no need to embellish or to lie. That means this is true and it’s an outrage. I hope Mr. Jackson of the local NAACP reads this and responds. That will be interesting. This is nothing more than hate and race war against whites. Here is the posted letter: Tonight, around 11 p.m.,...

Edward Dooley, 20, was so enchanted with candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 election that, although he was too young to vote, he still traveled from his home in Massachusetts to New Hampshire to knock on doors for Obama in the primary. Now Dooley, a political science major at George Washington University, holds a different opinion of President Obama and the Democratic Party in general. “For me, Obama had a good amount to do with the reason I changed my political opinions,” Dooley said. “I classify myself as a former Democrat, current conservative.” Dooley said that part of the reason...

June 15, 2011 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A 15-year-old boy was mugged at gunpoint and struck on the head by a group of teens near the Ogilvie Transportation Center in the West Loop on Tuesday evening. The incident happened about 6:30 p.m. near an alley at 101 N. Clinton St., according to police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The victim was approached by a group of seven male teens, Mirabelli said. One, who was armed with a handgun, approached the victim and demanded his money, according to police. A second teen struck the victim on the back of his head, Mirabelli...

In two separate incidents, as many as 15 teens have stormed Chicago Transit Authority buses, attacked their victims and darted off with cell phones and other electronic devices, authorities said Tuesday. Both incidents were near the University of Illinois at Chicago campus, prompting city and campus authorities to issue community alerts. In the first attack, near West Roosevelt Road and South Loomis Street at about 11:40 p.m. Saturday, a victim was struck multiple times before the thieves ran off with his cell phone. About 25 minutes later, near South Racine Avenue and West 13th Street, a student said he was...

The days of wearing an Obama t-shirt to a frat party might be over. According to The Atlantic, people age 19-29 are supporting Obama less than they were in 2008. Now only 56-percent of this voter group says they support President Obama, a drop of 10-percent. Informal surveys point the same direction, even more dramatically. The Daily Caller reports that only 27-percent of likely voters ages 18-28 say they are committed to vote for Obama again, down from the 83-percent that say they did vote for him. Why the shift? Obama wants to tax and spend, leaving this young generation...

President Barack Obama famously won the 2008 election on a wave of support from America's youth. But any hopes the 49-year-old had of keeping down with the kids appear to have faded - his support from young people is rapidly waning, a poll has found. And for a man known for his 'jacket off' casual style the reason for this slump may be particularly hurtful - students are abandoning the President because they do not think he is cool anymore, it has been claimed. Obama won because he stole large shares of older people's votes as well, research suggests. In...

(CNSNews.com) – Next year on Earth Day, the Obama administration plans to announce which U.S. schools have been selected as “Green Ribbon Schools,” a designation that will “honor” schools for “creating healthy and sustainable learning environments” and for “teaching environmental literacy.” The Green Ribbon Schools program was announced in late April, but details on how schools will be picked or what the honor entails have not been released. Jo Ann Webb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, told CNSNews.com that the program is still under development. “The criteria have not been developed yet,” Webb said. “The plan is for...

This video depicts kids chanting pro-Union, anti-Walker, and anti-war chants.

Thanks to a controversial legislative maneuver, Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker's plan to end collective bargaining for his public employees passed the state senate Wednesday night. Now, in a stunning show of solidarity with their teachers—who, as union members, now have no bargaining rights—Wisconsin's high school students are planning a grassroots school walkout, and they want to take their protest national. Wisconsin Students in Solidarity is asking for the nationwide walkout to happen this Friday, March 11, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. local time. Less than 12 hours after being formed, the Facebook event, Nationwide Student Walkout, has almost 2,000 "attendees"...

For months now President Obama has been out on the campaign trail attempting to rally support prior to November’s mid-term elections. Democratic candidates are avoiding Obama as if he has the plague. Bill White refused to campaign with him in Texas, Roy Barnes, Jim Marshall, John Barrow, John Lewis, and Hank Johnson refused appearances in Georgia, and the stories go on and on. Across the country, Democrat candidates are not running on the merits of the legislation the passed. In fact they are doing their best to avoid discussing healthcare, the stimulus, and Wall Street reform. According to Joe Biden,...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Getting a degree used to be a stepping stone to limitless career opportunities. Now it's more of a hiatus from living under your parents' roof. Stubbornly high unemployment -- nearly 15% for those ages 20-24 -- has made finding a job nearly impossible. And without a job, there's nowhere for these young adults to go but back to their old bedrooms, curfews and chore charts. Meet the boomerangers.

Question from Adam Hunter: "When you were first elected, it seemed as though the sky was falling in terms of the economy. There was a bailout that you supported, there was stimulus that added to our deficit, but yet it seems as though our unemployment rate still rises. You said it won't go past 8% and now it's at 9.5% … So, my question to you is: Why should we still support you going forward with your economic policies and if the economic does not improve over the next years, why should we vote you back in?"

The youth-oriented cable channel MTV and five of its sister channels will simulcast a town-hall-style meeting with President Obama on Thursday, Oct. 14. The gathering, titled "A Conversation with President Obama," appears to be modeled after Mr. Obama's appearance on CNBC last month. That event, wrote Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, was billed as a conversation about the state of the economy...

How sad. This leftist rally was a complete astroturfed sham. No justice. No Peace. Not only were thousands of supporters given free rides by unions and the NAACP to the rally, far left teachers at High School for Math, Science and Engineering were giving students class credits to attend. High School kids are forced to attend the one Nation rally in order to graduate. SSL (Student Service Learning) hours are required by many state governments to graduate High School, so kids must attend these rallies. Apparently, the organizers were willing to use any means to bring thousands to the rally.

MTV Networks is planning to host a live town hall with President Obama October 14, an executive familiar with the program confirms to TVNewser. The town hall, which was first reported this morning by Politico’s Playbook, will be held Thursday October 14 at 4 PM, and will run on MTV, BET, CMT, MTV Tr3s and other MTV Networks. The executive also said the event would be streamed live online via the network’s websites. Politico reports that MTV’s Sway Calloway, CMT’s Kate Cook and BET’s April Woodard will host the town hall, which will have an audience comprised of young people.

Will the youth of this generation be duped again? Will their votes be influenced by cool, trendy ads and liberal celebrity tweets? Will they be bought by popular singers at free concerts? Will MTV and the Get Out The Vote campaigns be enough to convince them once again to come out enmasse and vote for a man because Snoop-Dog said to? While it’s clear that the youth vote absolutely helped Obama win the presidency, with over 24 million people between the ages of 18-29 voting in the 2008 election, some new polls are saying it won’t be happening again- at...