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April 2016

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Middle School Students Forced to Fill Out ‘Privilege’ Form By Liz Sheld

By on April 9th, 2016

Students in a Tampa middle school were instructed to fill out a form designed to measure how much privilege they have.

The children were given a form in their Spanish class at Monroe Middle School by teacher Yoselis Ramos titled “How much privilege do you have?”

The different categories included, “Race”, “Skin Color”, “Religion”, “Sex”, “Gender”, Sexual Orientation”, and “Disability.”

Parents were not happy about the assignment.

Regina Stiles has a daughter who revealed she had ADHD on the “privilege” form.

“She has ADHD and apparently the teacher said there are some kids in this class that have ADHD, and ADHD is a mental illness, and that’s why she circled that. To me ADHD is not a mental disability. It’s something she has,” said Stiles.

MonroePrivilegeForm

Other questions on the survey broached controversial subjects for middle-schoolers. Children were asked to identify if they were “Cisgender,” “Transgender” or “GenderQueer.”

“She’s 12. Some of these things should be taught at home,” said Stiles.

Stiles along with other angry parents approached the school principal, who began an investigation. It turns out the “privilege” form was not part of any official curricula or authorized by the principal.

“This is not a district form, this is a teacher-generated form and it was without principal consent and at the district level we do not collect that information,” said Hillsborough County School Spokesperson Tanya Arja. She also pointed out that students were not required to turn in the form.

According to Arja, the teacher said the goal was to teach the students about inequality through literature they had been reading.

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A New ISIS Affiliate Promises New Fronts ‘Against the Enemies of Allah’ By Bridget Johnson

By on April 9th, 2016

A new ISIS affiliate has been formed in the Horn of Africa — vowing to differ from Al-Shabaab by not keeping operations within the “prison” of al-Qaeda.

Jahba East Africa, without specifying, promises that their fighters will be ready to sow terror on new fronts.

And as Al-Shabaab has drawn recruits from America, that could potentially affect our home front.

There had been dissension with Somalia’s Al-Shabaab for some time about whether to remain allied to al-Qaeda or to follow the lead of Boko Haram and pledge allegiance to ISIS.

Just the act of crossing over to ISIS would mean expanding the group’s reach beyond Shabaab’s fairly tight focus of establishing strict Sharia rule in Somalia. The government and allied African forces have pushed Shabaab’s control out of the cities and into rural areas.

It’s not the only place on the map where ISIS is trying to flip al-Qaeda chapters — there are pitched battles in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, whether physical brawls or wars of words, between the terror outlets. ISIS wins over recruits who like Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s message of expanding the caliphate ASAP by any means possible.

The Jahba East Africa statement begins by pledging allegiance to al-Baghdadi, recognizing him as “the rightful Khalifa [caliph] of all Muslims.”

“We pledge our obedience to him in times of ease and hardship, and Allah is witness to our pledge.”

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New Yorkers Know Better By Patricia McCarthy (???!!!)see note please

By on April 9th, 2016

Oh if that were only true…maybe some New Yorkers…those that elected Chris Gibson, Elise Stefanik, Peter King, Lee Zeldin, (9 out of 27 Representatives are Republican)but how about those who have reelected Rangel, de Blasio, Cuomo and so many representatives who run on a fusion ticket with Working Families Party a far left group……?rsk

The polls say that Donald Trump is set to sweep New York with more votes than in any previous primary of this election cycle. How on earth is this possible? It must be a mistake. New Yorkers know this man well, better than the residents of any other state, better than those of us who do not watch reality television shows. They see him around town in all the best places. They have seen him on the covers of the tabloids all the time. They know better than the rest of us that he is a self-promoting double-dealer, a three-times married man who revels in demeaning women, especially if they cross him or he is ready to move on to the next one. They know that he has exactly No knowledge of the Constitution, foreign policy, the military, education, terrorism, law-making, law-breaking, etc. He is a man of great wealth who does, and has always done, what he wants, when he wants, how he wants, and to whom he wants. He suffers no consequences when he does these things badly, unlawfully, or cruelly. His money has, for his entire life, set him apart from the lives of most Americans. He has gold-plated toilets when millions of citizens worry about how to repair their own necessary appliances they consider luxuries.

How can New Yorkers who so enthusiastically support his candidacy for the presidency put aside his obvious narcissism and megalomania? He viciously attacks his opponents unjustly, and with unnecessary personal venom. Not one of his opponents has been spared. He likened Dr. Ben Carson to a pedophile, over and over again, then pretended to defend him against Ted Cruz when it was CNN that reported Carson’s departure from Iowa. He called Marco Rubio all manner of sordid, childish names. He eviscerated Jeb Bush at every opportunity. He insulted Carly Fiorina’s appearance, as he has countless other women. And what he says about Cruz only reveals who he fears the most. For good reason. Cruz has actually read the Constitution, and he remembers it. He knows it by heart.

New Yorkers, especially those in Manhattan, are smart people; they have to be to live there, to afford to live there. They have the best of everything: theatre, music, food, living spaces, close access to airports and faraway places and the money to travel. Do they, in their heart of hearts, really think Donald Trump has the right stuff to be the President of the United States? They cannot possibly think that. They know better.

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Obama’s Willing Executioners in the Media By Victor Sharpe and Robert Vincent

By on April 9th, 2016

Some of the most disturbing aspects of the times in which we are living include the utter corruption of the mass print and broadcast media and the lack of awareness of this fact by a large portion of the public.

It seems that most Americans operate on the assumption that the media is making a good-faith, if imperfect, effort at objectively informing its audience. That so few are genuinely aware of the outrageous manipulation of public opinion now taking place is the single greatest threat to the republic, to the extent that we can even say that our republic still exists. A glaring example of this would be the treatment of Nixon 42 years ago over Watergate compared with the treatment of Obama today over any one of several far worse scandals.

It was recently reported in the WSJ that Obama used the NSA to spy on Congress during the deliberations related to the Iran nuclear deal. It was reported on at one time, but this story has now disappeared completely from media coverage. Consider the implications.

In the former case, Nixon apparently directed or sat by and knowingly let his immediate subordinates direct a third-rate burglary of the campaign headquarters of an election opponent. In the latter case, Obama authorized one of the most sophisticated intelligence-gathering organizations in the world to spy on American legislators, en masse, in pursuit of the most important – and egregiously flawed – international agreement impacting American national security and world stability – namely, with the chief sponsor of international terrorism: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This is a thousand times worse than Watergate! Where is the media? Where are today’s equivalents of Woodward and Bernstein? The media doesn’t focus on this outrage at all, so to the overwhelming majority of the public, it is as though this never even happened. And this is only one of several comparable scandals we could name.

Another case of the selective focus of our mass media took place in 2009. Barack Hussein Obama said publicly that the U.S. is “not a Christian nation” and that America is “one of the world’s foremost Muslim countries.”

These statements amount to utter lunacy in a country in which at least 70% self-identify as Christians, where Christian holidays are official national holidays, and where Muslims number, at most, three to four million out of a population of over 330 million. This provoked not even a whimper of incredulity by the mass media. Then, in 2012, during an unintentional “open mic” moment, we overheard Obama making assurances to Russian president Medvedev that once he was able to get past the election, he would have “more flexibility.”

Here we have a sitting U.S. president apparently ready to make some huge concession to America’s most important major power rival on the world stage, a concession so drastic that it apparently couldn’t even be revealed until after the election. And the media did not hound him over this.

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The Case for a Really Open GOP Convention The man who defeated Wisconsin prosecutors now says party delegates have the right to choose any nominee they want, and they should use it. By Kimberley A. Strassel

By on April 9th, 2016

As the odds rise of a contested Republican presidential convention, Donald Trump’s and Ted Cruz’s camps are insisting that one of them must be the nominee. The Trump argument is that even if he falls short of the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination, denying it to him at the convention would amount to antidemocratic theft. Mr. Cruz appears to think that finishing second means finishing first if the guy who beat him can’t win on the initial convention ballot.

Eric O’Keefe is here to say: whoa. The veteran Republican grass-roots activist sees a contested convention as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the delegates of a private political party to assert their power. The results of the GOP primaries are hardly representative of the party’s will, Mr. O’Keefe says, because state parties have been wrecked by domineering state legislatures. Why should Republicans bow down, for instance, to the results of state-mandated open primaries that allow liberal and independent voters to bum-rush what is supposed to be a private poll?

“There’s nothing that special or even good about the government-run primary process,” Mr. O’Keefe says. Relishing the opportunity for Republican delegates to stand up for themselves, he is gearing up a campaign to educate and encourage them to exercise their prerogatives at the convention and to ignore specious insistence that they follow some imaginary obligations.

“The delegates have been going to conventions for years and treating them like Super Bowl parties because there was nothing else to do,” he says. “But this year they have the opportunity to practice a great national tradition, to exercise their legal, historical right to defeat a man who opposes most of what they believe in, and instead nominate a candidate who represents them.”

As you might suspect, the “man” Mr. O’Keefe referred to is Donald Trump.

“I hate bullies, and of late I’ve come to hate them more,” Mr. O’Keefe says. “Trump means institutionalized bullying. Tyranny grows from ambitious people grabbing whatever levers of power are available.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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Trying to Get Water to California but Torpedoed by Regulators The Obama administration and Dianne Feinstein keep blocking a private project to aid the still-parched state.By Allysia Finley

By on April 9th, 2016

Although El Niño has increased the snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas, the Golden State’s historic drought isn’t over. Yet the Obama administration has decided to block a privately financed project that could supply water to 400,000 Californians, even though the project has been approved by an alphabet soup of state and local agencies. The result will be to trap vast amounts of a precious resource beneath the Mojave Desert. Is water the new fossil fuel?

This tale of political and regulatory obstructionism begins in 1998, when Cadiz Inc., a Los Angeles-based company, developed plans for a groundwater bank and well-field on 70 square miles of private land overlying the base of the Mojave’s massive Fenner Valley and Orange Blossom Wash watersheds. Over centuries the aquifers there have amassed as much as 34 million acre feet of water, enough to sustain all of California’s households for several years.

However, tens of thousands of acre feet percolate into salty dry lakes and evaporate each year. Cadiz proposed capturing and exporting the groundwater to Southern California residents. The Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project could also help store occasional excess flows from the Colorado River that would otherwise drain to the Pacific Ocean.

Water experts such as those at the Public Policy Institute of California have recommended using groundwater banks to recharge aquifers during wet years and expand the state’s storage capacity. Relative to dams, storing water underground reduces evaporation and environmental harm.

None of this mattered to various green lobbies and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who complained that the water project would deplete mountain springs and harm wildlife. But environmental reviews by hydrogeologists confirm that the nearest spring—located 11 miles away and 1,000 feet above the aquifer—would not be affected. Nor would fauna, which don’t rely on groundwater. After an exhaustive review, the U.S. Interior Department approved the project in 2002, but Sen. Feinstein maintained her opposition. CONTINUE AT SITE

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North Korea Says It Tested Engine for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Outside experts skeptical about Pyongyang’s claims By Alastair Gale

By on April 9th, 2016

SEOUL—North Korea said it successfully tested a new engine of an intercontinental ballistic missile, the latest in a series of announcements that appear intended to suggest progress in its goal of building a nuclear-armed missile capable of hitting targets as far away as the U.S.

The run of statements about technical breakthroughs started in March as Pyongyang ratcheted up its warlike rhetoric following international penalties imposed for its nuclear-bomb test and long-range rocket launch earlier in the year. They also coincide with anger from North Korea about annual military drills taking place in South Korea.

Outside experts have expressed skepticism about the claims, including that North Korea has built a nuclear device small enough to mount on a long-range missile.

The latest announcement said a test of a new high-power missile engine was made under the guidance of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the country’s main rocket launch site in its far northwest.

“The great success made in the test provided a firm guarantee for mounting another form of nuclear attack upon the U.S. imperialists and other hostile forces,” North Korea’s state news agency said in its account of the test. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Belgium Arrests Key Suspects in Brussels Attacks Mohamed Abrini has been one of Europe’s most-wanted terrorist suspects since Paris attacks in November By Julian E. Barnes, Laurence Norman and Gabriele Steinhauser

By on April 9th, 2016

BRUSSELS—Belgian police on Friday arrested Mohamed Abrini, one of Europe’s most-wanted terrorist suspects, and prosecutors said they were working to determine whether he was the third attacker at the Brussels airport in March.

According to two officials, Belgian authorities suspect Mr. Abrini was the sole surviving attacker who escaped from the national airport during the March 22 attacks, wearing a dark hat and a light-colored jacket. Thirty-two people were killed that day by suicide bombers at the airport and the Maelbeek subway station in central Brussels.

In all, five people were arrested on Friday, including a man Belgian officials detained in connection with the subway station attack, confirming for the first time that investigators believe a second person was involved at that site.

“The investigators are verifying whether Abrini can be positively identified as being the third person present during the attacks in Brussels National Airport, the so-called man with the hat,” said Eric Van Der Sypt, the spokesman for the prosecutors.

Prosecutors spoke with caution Friday night, a likely reflection of the fact that a man previously arrested on suspicion of being the third attacker, Faycal Cheffou, was later released after it was established he wasn’t at the airport on March 22.

The Belgian government’s security council met Friday evening to discuss the arrests and progress in the case. Belgium’s terror level was kept at one notch below its highest level.

If Belgian authorities can confirm that Mr. Abrini is the “man in the hat”—the focus of an intense search since then—and confirm the capture of the second alleged Maelbeek attacker, they will have resolved key remaining questions about the attacks. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Islam and 820,000 forgotten Jewish refugees Ambassador (Ret.) Yoram Ettinger

By on April 9th, 2016

The violent Islamic intolerance of the “infidel” was reflected by the highly-ignored and misrepresented persecution and expulsion of 820,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands, which exceeded the scope of the Palestinian Arab refugees, occurred well before the 1948-49 Arab war on Israel, and persisted following the war.

On November 14, 1947, before the war, Egypt’s representative to the UN, Heykal Pasha warned: “The partitioning of Palestine shall be responsible for the massacre of a large number Jews…. It might endanger a million Jews living in Moslem countries… create an anti-Semitism more difficult to root out than the anti-Semitism which the allies were trying to eradicate in Germany….”

On February 19, 1947, before the war, Syria’s UN representative, Faris al-Khuri told the NY Times: “Unless the Palestine problem is settled [with no Jewish State], we shall have difficulty in protecting Jews in the Arab world.”

Before the November 1947 UN vote on the Partition Plan, Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nuri Said shared with Alec Kirkbride, the British Ambassador to Jordan, his plan to expel Jews from Iraq and threatened: “severe measures would be taken against all Jews in Arab countries.” On November 28, 1947, Iraq’s Foreign Minister told the UN General Assembly: “The partitioning of Palestine will cause the uprising of the Arabs of Palestine, and the masses in the Arab world will not be restrained.”

On March 1, 1944, Haj Amin al-Husseini, the top Palestinian Arab leader, incited in an Arabic broadcast from Nazi Germany: “Kill the Jews wherever you find them. It would please God, history and religion.” Jamal Al-Husseini, the acting Chairman of the Palestinian Arab Higher Command, threatened: “Palestine shall be consumed with fire and blood if the Jews get any part of it.”

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MY SAY: ZIONIZM 101-COUNTERING BIAS WITH INFORMATION

By on April 8th, 2016

There is much justified hand-wringing about anti-Israel bias in education. As I wrote recently “The liberal media and academic elite deride “Creationists”–those who deny the theory of evolution and believe that the world and all its creatures were created in six calendar days. However, they encourage Mideast “creationism”–namely, a belief that the Arab/Israel conflict occurred as the result of six calendar days in 1967 when a land grab by Israel established an unjust occupation of ancient Arab lands.” How does one counter this libel and misinformation?

David Isaac created a documentary series – there will be over 45 films all told – of quality educational materials on Zionist history. These materials are needed now more than ever. The film project is having an impact where it’s needed. His films have been incorporated into the curriculum of 60 Jewish Day schools and should be made available to libraries and university departments of Middle East studies and history.

So I’m asking all of you for the second time to step up and help him. You can reach his crowdfunding campaign here:

http://jewcer.com/project/zionism-101-the-documentary-series

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