text:
WHAT COLOR WAS JESUS THE CHRIST
The most common answer, "He was not blond and blue-eyed like they show him in movies and paintings. He was darker than that, like the people who live in North Africa today." However, the average American today looks nothing like the average American 500 years ago when Columbus arrived. So why expect the North Africans of today to necessarily resemble those of more than 2,000 years ago?
Some point to phrases in the Bible that say, "His eyes are like blazing fire, his feet like burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of many waters." which would indicate a very black man with a deep voice. And there are depictions of Christ like this in some Black churches, and some ancient statues and paintings show him this way. However, doesn't the second commandment explicitly forbid the making of "graven images?" So how come there are so many depictions of Christ, as Black or white?
Muslims have no depiction of Jesus Christ or any of the prophets, neither do Jews, or many Christian sects. However, Catholics and many Protestant sects do have icons, usually of a white Jesus. And note that it is Catholics and the Protestant sects with the white Jesus icon that sent out missionaries in the wake of the European conquerors and colonizers. Note that the literal meaning of "Catholic" is "universal." The Catholic Church purports to be universal, a faith for everyone. However, how can any faith that holds that certain of its members look like God, and others do not, be all-encompassing? Once the prophets, or God himself, as many Christians hold Jesus Christ to be, is pictured as any color, then all who are not of that color would have to have a lesser status.
However, there is an even deeper question. Did Jesus Christ really exist? Because this is a predominantly Christian country, the mass media acts as if Jesus Christ is an undisputed, real historical figure. As a result many, if not most, are not aware that there is a historical debate as to whether or not such a person really existed. Who or what one believes, or does not believe, is a purely personal matter. But it is a fact that there is great controversy over Christ's authenticity.
Here is a little test. Tell me, who am I referring to? He died in his 33rd year. He said the man married to his mother was not his father. He said he was fathered by a God. He was called, "King of Kings." And the name "Issus" was connected to him. Who was that? Jesus? Yes, but all these things are also true of Alexander the Great. It has been claimed that Christ is a re-configuring of the supreme Western conquerer, Alexander, as a supremely religious figure.
The Persians invaded and conquered Egypt in 666 BCE. The Greeks under Alexander came in 333 BCE. Alexander's general Ptolemy, after Alexander's death, inherited the throne of Egypt and was declared Pharaoh. The Ptolemaic line was the last Pharaonic dynasty; its last member was Cleopatra. After Cleopatra, the Romans seized Egypt. The Romans, at first, persecuted the Christians until, that is, the Emperor Constantine converted to the Christian faith.
However, Walter Williams in The Historical Origins of Christianity disputes that last claim. He offers evidence that Constantine did not convert to Christianity, but, instead, created it! Williams says that the Romans were not putting Christians to death, that they were persecuting the last stubborn remnants of the original, ancient Egyptian religion. Constantine, says Williams, ceased his attacks on them once they agreed to convert Egyptian religion into what is now known as Christianity. That is why the earliest statues of Christ and his mother are Black. They are based on the Egyptian holy figures Isis and her son, Osiris.
Notre Dame and many European cathedrals are, in fact, built on sites that were originally temples to Isis. Notice, how in Southern Europe the "Mother of God," is often given as much, if not more, attention and veneration than Christ. Williams, and others, say this is because Mary is really a refiguring of the goddess Isis, and Jesus is a recasting of her son, Osiris.
The Romans badly needed a central religious figure to hold together their ever expanding Empire. Observe that the Pope is called the "Pontiff." One of the titles of the Roman Emperor was "Pontifex Maximus." Also, look at the hat, called the "mitre," that the Pope and all the bishops of the Catholic Church wear. It is based on the double crown of the Egyptian pharaoh. The pharaoh was the intermediary between the people and the gods, the Roman Emperor and later the pope assumed that pivotal role. After the fall of Rome, the various kings that rose up across Europe claimed to rule by, "Divine Right."
So we see that starting with the simple question, "What color was Christ?" we can explore a host of historical issues and perspectives. But, bottom line, what is the truth? Only you can decide. However, unless you read and think for yourself, others will make up your mind for you and thereby decide your fate. Would that not be a waste?
by Dr. Arthur Lewin, author of Africa Is Not A Country: It's A Continent www.AfricaUnlimited.com www.ReadLikeYourLifeDependsOnIt.com
2018-05-13T07:05:27+00:00By Ramsees|Comments Off on WHAT COLOR WAS JESUS THE CHRIST


Do you know of any legally published process for making certain you have the most important feature novelty, recency in the thesis for your essay? Thought so. Me neither of them. Textbooks and teachers just show you pieces of writing that contain newness in them, and they say, Do it like that. Means, sure, they give you isolated types of the forms you should use, including Introductions, Thesis Statements, Matter Sentences, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions. But they never give you a specific, reusable p-r-o-c-e-s-s for creating any of them, do they? They have kind of like a shoemaker exhibiting an apprentice a pack full of shoes and stating, Here's what they look like. Right now make some like these. Right? Yeah, right! That's why I've truly written this to share with you a proven process for creating novelty, recency for your essays.
Avtohlamu - Horror gothic adjectives by eyeofthefly teaching. Worksheet used with year 7 8's in conjunction with 'gothic novel create your own' resource, as a feed in to them exploring the castle of otranto and frankenstein suggestion: circle three from the options and then add three 'unique' adjectives of y. Study the word list: adjectives to describe a scary setting. Study the word list: adjectives to describe a scary setting learn about the words: adjectives to describe a scary setting using look, say, cover, write, check, spelling games, spelling tests and printable activities. Horror scary: a horror of adjectives. Horror writers in particular hear the siren call of the adjective we want to scare people, to describe our settings, monsters, and scenes in the most gruesome and frightening way possible, and to improve on every image by pouring a syrupy sauce of adjectives over them. Eyeofthefly teaching resources tes. Eyeofthefly horror gothic adjectives this resource was revised from its original format in april 2016 after teaching further analysis of the wonderful 'poppies' jane weir and belfast confetti by ciaran carson all poems listed have extensive notes within each table an extensive resource showing title author birth date learning. Gothic horror adjectives for events bing. Source #2: adjectives test 9th grade free pdf download english teaching worksheets: 9th states and events for s level gradable adjectives gothic horror adjectives for free pdf download now!!! related searches for gothic horror adjectives for events related searches modern gothic horror. Adverbs: a horror story? : wordshop :. : wordshop when developing writers are striving to be more "descriptive" and vivid in their creative writing, they often turn to adverbs as one of their enhancement tools understandably since they are words that are intended to modify or qualify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs however, when students begin to learn some of the more sophisticated standards for writing. Horror lesson plans & worksheets lesson planet. Horror lesson plans and worksheets from thousands of teacher reviewed resources to help you inspire students learning lesson planning articles timely and inspiring teaching ideas that you can apply in your classroom and choosing the best adjectives and verbs for their writing use the get free access see review improving a paragraph. Adverbs: a horror story? : wordshop : thinkmap visual. Thinkmap visual thesaurus: wordshop when developing writers are striving to be more "descriptive" and vivid in their creative writing, they often turn to adverbs as one of their enhancement tools understandably since they are words that are intended to modify or qualify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs however, when students begin to learn some of the more sophisticated standards. Vocabulary words for writing scary stories pen and the pad. Description is one of the four main forms of discourse, according to david grambs' "the describer's dictionary " when writing scary stories, use a thesaurus or other vocabulary reference book to enhance your description of events, places and characters the more interesting your vocabulary, the better your readers. Gothic horror short stories resource pack & sow for year. Teaching & learning resource from zigzag education for gothic horror short stories resource pack & sow for year 9 gifted & talented pupils study 4 gothic horror stories all carefully selected for their interest these short, accessible texts invite analysis of complex aspects such as narrative structure and language gothic horror.


Workers passing busy hours at a factory of Hatil. Photo: Collected from internet.
Furniture export from the country has been experiencing a positive trends over the last ten years. In continuation of that trend, the sector has exceeded the export target set by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) in the last fiscal.
In fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18), the country exported furniture products worth $6.31 crore, up 20.27 percent from the fiscal 2016-17 (FY17).
Furniture items worth $5.25 crore were exported in FY17.
According to EPB, the country targeted to export furniture products worth $6.10 crore in FY18. That means, the real figure surpassed the export target by $21 lac.
Quoting president of Bangladesh Furniture Exporters' Association (BFEA) K M Akhtaruzzaman BSS said, the furniture industry has been able to consolidate its position in the domestic market over the last ten years. The manufacturers are producing quality products with innovative designs, quality wood and technical skills.


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#include <iostream>

#include "eval.h"
#include "env.h"
#include "load.h"
#include "utils.h"

namespace
{
using namespace mclisp;

ConsCell *Evcon(const ConsCell *clauses, ConsCell *env)
{
  TYPECHECK(clauses, Listp);

  if (Null(clauses))
    return kNil;

  TYPECHECK(Car(clauses), Consp);

  if (*Eval(Caar(clauses), env))
    return Eval(Cadar(clauses), env);

  return Evcon(Cdr(clauses), env);
}

ConsCell* Evlis(ConsCell* lst, ConsCell* env)
{
  TYPECHECK(lst, Listp);

  if (Null(lst))
    return kNil;

  return Cons(Eval(Car(lst), env), Evlis(Cdr(lst), env));
}
} // namespace

namespace mclisp
{

ConsCell *Eval(const ConsCell *exp, ConsCell *env /* env::g_user_env */)
{
  if (Atom(exp))
    return env::Lookup(env, exp);

  if (Atom(Car(exp)))
  {
    if (EQ(Car(exp), QUOTE))
      return Cadr(exp);

    if (EQ(Car(exp), ATOM))
      return FromBool(Atom(Eval(Cadr(exp), env)));

    if (EQ(Car(exp), EQ))
      return FromBool(Eq(Eval(Cadr(exp), env), Eval(Caddr(exp), env)));

    if (EQ(Car(exp), COND))
      return Evcon(Cdr(exp), env);

    if (EQ(Car(exp), CAR))
      return Car(Eval(Cadr(exp), env));

    if (EQ(Car(exp), CDR))
      return Cdr(Eval(Cadr(exp), env));

    if (EQ(Car(exp), CONS))
      return Cons(Eval(Cadr(exp), env), Eval(Caddr(exp), env));

    if (EQ(Car(exp), DEFUN))
    {
      ConsCell *fname = Cadr(exp);
      ConsCell *formals = Caddr(exp);
      ConsCell *body = Cdddr(exp);
      ConsCell *lambda = Append(List(BUILTIN(LAMBDA), formals), body);
      env::g_user_env = env::Extend(env::g_user_env, fname, lambda);
      return fname;
    }

    if (EQ(Car(exp), EVAL))
      return Eval(Eval(Cadr(exp), env), env);

    if (EQ(Car(exp), LOAD))
    {
      // We append ".lisp" because '.' can't be a valid symbol character (since
      // symbols can have whitespace and '.' is also used for dotted lists).
      LoadFile(ToLower(SymbolName(Eval(Cadr(exp), env))) + ".lisp");
      return kNil;
    }

    if (EQ(Car(exp), PRINT))
    {
      ConsCell *v = Eval(Cadr(exp), env);
      std::cerr << *v << std::endl;
      return v;
    }

    return Eval(Cons(env::Lookup(env, Car(exp)), Cdr(exp)), env);
  }

  if (EQ(Caar(exp), LABEL))
    return Eval(Cons(Caddar(exp), Cdr(exp)),
                env::Extend(env, Cadar(exp), Car(exp)));

  if (EQ(Caar(exp), LAMBDA))
  {
    ConsCell *body = Caddar(exp);
    ConsCell *formals = Cadar(exp);
    ConsCell *parameters = Cdr(exp);

    if (Listp(formals))
      PARITY_CHECK(formals, parameters);

    // The double Listp check is wasteful, but I think it makes the code easier
    // to read.
    auto extendfn = Listp(formals) ? env::ExtendAll : env::Extend;
    ConsCell *values = Evlis(parameters, env);
    ConsCell *newenv = extendfn(env, formals, values);

    return Eval(body, newenv);
  }

  ERROR("Invalid expression: " + ToString(exp));
}

} // namespace mclisp

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Find you lots of treasures!
Hello. I'm Rosemarie, and welcome to my wonderful Directoire Knickers Website.
All my life I have been involved with knickers in one way or another, and this website has been created to complement my old-established Directoire Knickers, Corsetry and Traditional Underwear Business.
Its other purpose is to openly present knickers as a continuing source of fun, pleasure, and satisfaction for you all. So why not come in and take a look around because I feel sure that all you lovers of women's knickers will be delighted with what you will find!
A few examples of my wonderful directoire knickers!
Of rayon, lovely nylon, AND cotton for a change.
They'll fit the slimmest person or those wide in the beam.
You want to have some pleasure? Then we will show you how.
There's over a hundred items and the prices are special too.
So if you have a favourite then mail me before it's sold.
Fills me with dread. I hope you like the lot.
There's knickers for fourteen to twenty eight waists.
The prices are good so I'm sure they won't hurt.


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Does the dark web aid and abet terrorist groups?
Juliana Kenny
Mar 31, 2016, 2:58 PM EDT
(Source: Image Catalog/flickr)
As the threat of ISIS spreads around the world, taking hold of countries including France, Belgium, and the U.S., governments are grasping to understand how the terrorist organization proliferates. One fact has become clear: ISIS has money, and governments are now looking at systems such as the "dark web", bitcoin, and other underground networks to see if they are partially to blame for helping terrorist groups find and secure funding.
The 2016 CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, undertaken by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and conducted by global research company Ipsos interviewed 24,143 web users in 24 countries between November 20, 2015 and December 4, 2015. 71% of those respondents said that the "dark net" should be shut down. Three in 10 respondents said the dark net should remain in existence. This disparity highlights a few points, one of which is that most users probably don't know exactly what the dark net is and associate it with the underbelly of the internet and criminal activity.
Indeed, the dark net — networks primarily used for illegal file-sharing and what have become associated with systems such as the Silk Road and Pirate Bay — is the home for plenty of illegal activity. But in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks, the world is scrambling to understand how groups such as ISIS stay funded, and it sees the dark net as a threat in this regard, mainly because most people don't understand what it is or how it works.
That isn't the only unknown. Some governments are attempting to figure out if and how they should regulate systems like bitcoin to get a better hold on the underbelly of the internet. In January, Germany and France both called for stricter bitcoin regulation and regulation of payments systems on the web to insure against financing terrorism.
It's difficult to find evidence of bitcoin used for funding terrorist group activity, but because the jury is still out on whether or not the dark net allows such financing to fly under the radar, it's a popular culprit. Still, around one-third of respondents to the aforementioned survey believe the dark net should stay — something no amount of government policy or public opinion will actually determine. And Fen Hampson, director of CIGI's Global Security & Politics Program and co-director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance says that the anonymity aspect of the dark web is what complicates the issue for many people. He said:
"The opinions expressed by global citizens on the Dark Net, a faceless realm functioning purely on anonymity, demonstrate the complexity of this issue for policymakers and governments around the world. Simply put, anonymity and the privacy of users must be central determinants in guiding the future of creating systems and boundaries to govern the Internet."
As the global threat of ISIS continues to impact policy-making, the shadowy sections of the internet will undoubtedly remain in the mix.
France-Technology
U.S.-Technology
Germany-Technology
Australia-Technology
The net neutrality debate is in for the long haul
Social media grows as primary news source
France unveils plan for de-radicalization
Sinai insurgency reshaping region through chaos
Morocco foils ISIS chemical attack
U.S. agency looks to social data to fight ISIS
Netanyahu's trip aims to boost Israel-Africa ties
Dozens dead in suicide attack at Istanbul airport

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Put your beer-drinking skills to good use on a self-guided beer tour and mystery investigation through Carrboro. Solve a mysterious disappearance as you enjoy a blind beer tasting and scavenger hunt.
Explore Carrboro by foot on a guided walking tour. Check out the scenic sights with a professional, snapping plenty of photos long the way.
Cute date night idea, we enjoyed it!


text:
35th Infantry (Cacti) Regiment Association
Membership Purpose Board of Directors Constitution
Reunions Scholarships
KIA Index KIA Photos Needed KIA Tributes
Rosters History War Stories Photos Guestbook Links Contact
Back KIA Index Search
1LT James Oris Blankenship In memory of our fallen brother
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother"
2nd Battalion
"Not For Fame or Reward
Not For Place or For Rank
But In Simple Obedience To
Duty as They Understood It"
The 35th Infantry Regiment Association salutes our fallen brother, 1LT James Oris Blankenship, who died in the service of his country on January 8th, 1968 in Quang Tin Province, Vietnam. The cause of death was listed as Rocket/Mortar. At the time of his death James was 24 years of age. He was from Independence, Missouri. James is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Panel 34E, Line 4.
The decorations earned by 1LT James Oris Blankenship include: the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Parachute Badge, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Unit Citation.
My husband, James Oris Blankenship, was killed in VN on Jan 8, 1968. We met just before he graduated from OCS at Ft Benning (Class #10-66). We dated while he was assigned to jump school at Ft Benning. It was truly Gods design to have us fall in love and have what little time we had together. We were married at Ft Sill, Oklahoma where we were blessed with a son before he left for VN (Douglas James, now 42). Our sons twin daughter (Julia Mae), died 7 days after birth. In those 2 months of fatherhood before going to VN, I saw a man torn between the desire to be with his family and raise his son and his loyalty to his country. We mourn his loss each day. And feel sad for those who never had the chance to spend time with this wonderful and beautiful person.
Jill Blankenship Riedel -- Peoria AZ USA -- 05/30/2010
Lt. Blankenship is buried at Fort Sill, OK
From the book Through the Valley, Vietnam, 1967-1968 by James F Humphries, at p. 134:
"More troops were on the way to reinforce 4-31. During the early evening hours of 8 January the Americal Division had directed the 2-35th Infantry, 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division into the Hiep Duc Valley. The 2-35th Infantry would share FSB West with 4-31 and operate between Hill 445 and the Chang River. The battalions Company D would go first, with the remainder of 2-35 closing sometime on the 10th.
And from page 138:
"By 0430 (9 January) the movement had ceased, and the NVA pulled back down the hill. Mellon reported the company at 50 percent alert. Company D, 2-35th Infantry, in positions on the south side of the perimeter, had two (Jackson and Quitmeyer) killed and three wounded during the NVA attack."
"At the end of February, the 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division ceded its operational area to the 196th LIB and, minus the 2-35th Infantry that followed later, moved south to rejoin the 4th Infantry Division. ... When the dust settled 4-31 was on LZ Colt; 1-6 had secured LZ Baldy; 2-35 had FSB Ryder; 2-1 was at LZ Ross; 3-21 remained on FSB Center; and 1-1st Cavalry Squadron continued to operate in the eastern sector of the Que Son Valley and the costal lowlands."
(His BSM Citation)
The Bronze Star Medal is presented to First Lieutenant James O Blankenship for meritorious service in connection with military operations against an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. First Lieutenant Blankenship distinguished himself while serving as a Platoon Leader with Company D, 2/35th Infantry during the period September 1967 to January 1968. Upon taking command of his platoon, First Lieutenant Blankenship demonstrated fine leadership ability and honed his men in infantry tactics as a small unit as well as an integral part of the company. Under the strain and hardships of combat, he remained calm and accomplished all missions in a highly professional manner. Through his cheerful attitude and deep concern for his men, he earned the respect and admiration of his men, fellow officers, and superiors. On 9 January 1968, First Lieutenant Blankenship was participating in a combat assault in Quang Tin Province when fragments from a nearby exploding mortar round mortally wounded him. His aggressiveness, professional integrity, and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.


text:
Heretic Outreach picks Sundance Competition title "Human Factors"
Heretic Outreach is proud to add to its slate the sophomore suspense drama HUMAN FACTORS (previously known as ZORRO) by Ronny Trocker, produced by Zischlermann filmproduktion, Bagarrefilm, Snowglobe and ZDF and set to world premiere in competition at Sundance. Told through narrative loops and shifting lenses, the film places in the center of the narrative a family only to unveil the fragility of truth in the hyper-mediatized world and the power of individual perspective.
The film follows Jan, Nina and their two kids, a cosmopolitan, middle-class family. Nina and Jan have a successful career as account executives at their advertising company, but when Jan accepts to work on the campaign of a political party, Nina's exclusion from the decision-making leads to doubting and mistrust. When they decide to spend a family weekend at their house in a coastal holiday resort, a mysterious home invasion sets everything off balance. While they try to put the incident into perspective, agitation triggers off a shake in the family core.
Ioanna Stais, Head of Sales & Acquisitions at Heretic Outreach, comments: "HUMAN FACTORS is a visually stunning and intense experience. When diving into the world of the film, you can't help falling for its narrative techniques and the intriguing characters. What we find remarkable about the film is that, weeks after first watching it, we are still peeling off different layers of the narrative and discovering new ways of approaching it".
Ronny Trocker was born in Bolzano, Italy, and grew up in a small village in the Northern Italian Alps. He lives and works mainly in Brussels. His work includes documentary, fictional and experimental short films as well as video installations, which have been shown at various festivals worldwide. In 2016, his first feature film THE EREMITES premiered in Venice Film Festival's Orizzonti section. The film was nominated for the FIPRESCI Prize at the European Film Awards 2017.


text:
HomePosts tagged 'church and state'
Pittsburgh Christian Academy Tries to Become a Charter School to Cash in on Taxpayer Funding
February 5, 2019 February 5, 2019 stevenmsinger Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Budget, capitalism, Charter Schools, church and state, Civil Rights, Corporate Education "Reform", Education, Local Control, Parents, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Politics, privatization, School Choice, School Funding, school vouchers, Schools, Students, Teachers, Tom Wolf	charter schools, church and state, education, First Amendment, Imani Christian Academy, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Public Schools, public schools, separation of church and state, U.S. Constitution
The line between public and private school is getting awfully thin in Pittsburgh.
City public school directors received a request from Imani Christian Academy, a religious school in the East Hills, to be allowed to transform into Imani Academy Charter School for the Fall term of 2019.
Though parochial schools have metamorphosed into charter schools in Florida, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., this would be the first such transformation in Pennsylvania, according to Ana Meyers, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
The change would require Imani to give up its religious curriculum in exchange for being fully funded by taxpayer dollars.
However, there are numerous red flags in the school's application that make one wonder if operators are being entirely honest about giving up a faith-based curriculum.
First, there is the proposal by the school, itself.
The application does not specify that religious values will be taught in the classroom. However, its personnel budget lists a comparative religion teacher on staff. The list of proposed teachers also includes a middle/high school religious studies teacher.
That's not exactly common practice at most public schools though teaching about religion in a secular context is allowed.
According to the Anti-defamation League's Website:
"Public schools may not teach religion, although teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted. The Bible may be taught in a school, but only for its historical, cultural or literary value and never in a devotional, celebratory or doctrinal manner, or in such a way that encourages acceptance of the Bible as a religious document."
Even so, it's awfully convenient that a school whose mission statement currently includes "We share Christ with our children daily and seek to help them grow into mature Christians" would somehow magically become secular overnight.
If Imani's charter is approved, it would be required to discontinue any religious component in its curriculum. The state school code requires even charter schools to be "nonsectarian in all operations." The proposed academy would not be permitted to display any religious objects or symbols on the premises.
Yet one wonders who will check to make sure this actually happens.
Charter schools are not required to be nearly as transparent as fully public schools. They are not required to have open meetings of school directors, release their documents for public inspection or any of a host of other safeguards that you'll find standard at the state's hundreds of fully public districts.
Pennsylvania charter schools have had operators embezzle millions of dollars from taxpayers to buy private jets, apartments and jewelry. It took investigators years to uncover such graft.
Will the few auditors tasked with keeping charter schools honest even be equipped to determine whether parochial schools suddenly turned charter actually refrain from ministering to students?
According to Public Source, a nonprofit digital newspaper covering the Pittsburgh area, one of the qualities Imani is looking for in an operator for its charter school is the ability to use the school building after-school hours for religious instruction and activities.
So during the day, there will be an entirely secular K-12 school at the site of the present day parochial school that just happens to teach comparative religious studies. Then at a certain time of day, it will transform into an optional religious school offering church functions!?
This is a violation of the Separation of Church and State waiting to happen.
But it's not only the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution that is in danger of being trampled.
Imani's proposal is not fiscally responsible.
The charter application proposes its CEO/head of school be paid a salary of $145,000 a year for an institution that would enroll merely 230 students.
Pittsburgh Public School Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet earns a salary of $210,000 a year and he oversees a district with 24,652 students!
The proposed academy would also employ a principal at $85,000 annual salary.
That's not exactly good reimbursement of services for the outlay of cash taxpayers are expected to pay.
Imani has struggled financially for several years.
In 2014, the school had more than $400,000 in additional expenses over its revenue, according to its form 990 filed with the IRS. The very next year, it had a budget surplus of almost the same amount. By 2016 – the most recent year on file – its expenses again were more than its revenue – this time by more than $500,000.
Imani CEO and Head of School Paulo Nzambi explained the up and down budgeting to state officials in 2017 this way. The parochial school relied on the state's defacto school voucher program – the Education Improvement Tax Credit. However, payments were delayed resulting in the use of a line of credit to pay bills.
It's just such financial uncertainties that are pushing Imani to become a charter school in the first place. Even with school vouchers, parochial schools rely heavily on tuition from parents. However, you always know where the money is coming from in a charter school. Like religious and private schools, these institutions are privately managed – but like public schools they're funded entirely by taxpayers.
Before setting up shop, any new charter school in Pennsylvania must get the approval of the school board from the district where it would be located. If the board does not approve the application, charter school administrators can appeal to the state Charter Appeals Board.
Pittsburgh school board held a public hearing on Imani's application in December and earlier this month. Next, the district's review team will offer its suggestions on the application. District solicitor Ira Weiss says the board is scheduled to vote on the matter at its Feb. 27 meeting.
If approved, the district would be required to pay for each student at the new charter school based on the district's per-student spending formula.
The Pittsburgh district already pays approximately $82.8 million – about 13 percent of its total budget – for charter school tuition.
Imani Christian Academy currently operates out of the former East Hills Elementary School building, which it purchased from the city school district for $1 million in 2008.
The objections brought up here are really just the tip of the iceberg.
The proposal leaves many questions unanswered. For instance, though the new academy would be located within the geographical boundaries of the Pittsburgh Public School District, where would it get its students from? Would current students at the religious school get preferential enrollment – and what if they don't already live in and pay taxes to Pittsburgh?
Let's hope Pittsburgh school directors do the right thing and deny this request.
Still can't get enough Gadfly? I've written a book, "Gadfly on the Wall: A Public School Teacher Speaks Out on Racism and Reform," now available from Garn Press. Ten percent of the proceeds go to the Badass Teachers Association. Check it out!
School Choice Week – Choosing Away Your Choice
January 24, 2018 stevenmsinger Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Budget, capitalism, Charter Schools, church and state, Civil Rights, Corporate Education "Reform", Education, Local Control, Parents, Politics, Prejudice, privatization, Propaganda, Racism, School Choice, school closings, School Funding, school segregation, school vouchers, Schools, segregation, small class size, Social Justice, Standardized Testing, Students, Teachers, Unions	charter schools, church and state, Local Control, Privatize, propaganda, public schools, scam, scandal, School Choice, School Choice Week, school vouchers
School Choice Week is one of the greatest scams in American history.
It is a well-funded, thoroughly organized attempt to trick parents into signing away their right to make educational choices about their children.
It goes like this:
Salesman: Would you like a choice?
Parent: Sure!
Salesman: Then just agree to never have another choice again.
That's it in a nutshell.
Choose not to choose.
When you decide to send your child to a so-called choice school – a charter or voucher institution – you lose almost every other choice about what happens at your child's school.
Sound impossible?
Let me count the decisions you lose by signing on the dotted line.
When you send your child to a school paid for with public money but run by a private organization, you lose:
–AN ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD, so you have no say about what the school does.
–OPEN DOCUMENTS, so you have no right to see budgets, spending agreements, bids, contracts, etc.
–OPEN MEETINGS, so you have no public place to speak up to the people who run your school.
–RIGHT TO SELF-GOVERNMENT, so you have no right to run for a leadership position on the school board. Instead you're at the mercy of appointed flunkies.
–THE RIGHT OF ENROLLMENT, so school operators get to choose whether your child gets to attend, unlike public schools which have to accept your child no matter what – so long as you live in the district.
–QUALITY SERVICES, so school operators can cut services for your child and pocket the savings as profit or use it to advertise to get more paying butts in seats.
–QUALITY TEACHERS, because most charter and voucher schools aren't required to hire educators with 4-year degrees, and since they don't pay as well as public schools and often refuse to let their teachers unionize, they attract less experienced and distinguished educators.
–DIVERSE CLASSMATES, because charter and voucher schools increase segregation. Your children will be educated with more kids that look just like them. That's healthy!
And that's merely at MOST privatized schools. But that's not all. At some privatized schools you can lose even more! You may also lose:
–COMMON SENSE DISCIPLINE POLICIES, so your children will be held to a zero tolerance discipline policy where they may have to sit quietly, eyes forward, marching in line or else face aggressive public reprimands and harsh punishments.
–AN UNBIASED SECULAR EDUCATION, so your children will be taught religion and politics as if they were fact – all funded by public tax dollars! Hear that sound? That's our Founders crying.
–FREE TIME, so you'll be required to volunteer at the school regardless of your ability to do so. Gotta' work? Tough!
–MONEY, so you'll have to pay tuition, buy expensive uniforms, school supplies or other amenities.
And if your children are struggling academically, you may also lose:
–ENROLLMENT, so your child is given the boot back to the public school because he or she is having difficulty learning, and thus costs too much to educate.
You lose all that if you decide to enroll your child in a charter or voucher school!
But that's not all!
If you DON'T decide to send your child to a so-called choice school, you can still lose choice!
Why? Because of the rubes who were fooled into give up their choice. When they did that, they took some of your choices, too.
Because of them, you still lose:
-NECESSARY FUNDING, because your public school has to make up the money it lost to charter and voucher schools somewhere, and that means fewer resources and services for your child.
-LOWER CLASS SIZES, because your public school has to fire teachers and increase class size to make up for lost revenue.
-FAIR ASSESSMENTS, because the state and federal government require your child to take unfair high stakes tests to "prove" your public school is failing and thus justify replacing it with a charter or voucher school – as if those have ever been proven to be better, but whatever! CA-CHING! CA-CHING!
This is what you get from School Choice Week.
It's a uniquely American experience – selling the loss of choice — as choice.
And all the while they try to convince you that public schools are the ones that take away your alternatives.
Yet public schools are where you get all those things you lose at privatized schools.
You get elected school boards, open documents, open meetings, the right to self-government, the right of enrollment, quality services, quality teachers, diverse classmates, common sense discipline policies, an unbiased secular education, free time and money! That's right! You actually get all that and more money in your pocket!
I'm not saying public schools are perfect. There are many ways they need to improve, but it's difficult to do so when many of the people tasked with improving these schools are more concerned with sabotaging them to make room for privatized systems.
These are paid employees of the charter and voucher school movement who want to kill public schools – BUT THE KILLER IS ALREADY IN THE HOUSE!
Imagine if we dedicated ourselves to making our public school system better!
Imagine if we committed to giving parents and students more choices in the system and not trying to replace that system with one that gives all the benefits and choices away to corporate vultures!
So, yeah, School Choice Week is a scam.
But, hey, enjoy those yellow scarfs.
Stupid Ass School Voucher Bill Back for Pennsylvania Vote Tomorrow
October 23, 2017 stevenmsinger Accountability, church and state, Civil Rights, Corporate Education "Reform", Democrat, Education, Parents, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Schools, Pittsburgh Public Schools, Politics, Poverty, privatization, Propaganda, Republican, School Choice, School Funding, school vouchers, Schools, small class size, Students, Teachers	church and state, John DiSanto, Pennsylvania, Politics, private schools, Privatize, School Choice, school vouchers, separation of church and state
Close your eyes and imagine a school like the one where I teach.
The public middle school is right next door to a Catholic middle school.
Some of the wealthiest families send their kids to the religious school. The rest send their kids to the public school.
Now imagine that the state passes a school voucher bill.
Those wealthy families can now use public tax dollars to help fund their kids' Catholic school tuition.
A truckload of taxpayer wealth would be redistributed away from the public school and into the religious one.
And this is for children who weren't attending public school in the first place.
Imagine what an impact that would have on the two schools. At the Catholic middle school, not much would change. At most a few more kids might enroll. And wealthy parents would get to pay less in tuition.
At the public middle school, however, the results would be disastrous. It would have to survive on much less funding than it was already receiving. Services for the majority of students in the district would be degraded. Class sizes would balloon. Educational quality would take a nose dive.
So why wouldn't more kids from the public school move to the Catholic one?
Well, first of all, few kids in the district are Catholic. Should they be forced to be indoctrinated in a faith in which they don't believe?
Second, tuition at the Catholic school costs more than the price of the voucher. Parents would have to pay above and beyond what they're paying now to make tuition at the Catholic school. And this is a mostly poor neighborhood. Parents simply can't afford it.
THIS is the situation the Pennsylvania Education Committee will vote on tomorrow.
The committee will decide whether State Sen. John DiSanto's school voucher bill should be voted on by the state Senate and House.
School vouchers are not popular at both the national and state level.
Around 70% of people across the country oppose school vouchers, according to the PDK-Gallup public opinion poll about U.S. education.
Moreover, Harrisburg wastepaper baskets are lined with school voucher bills that fail to pass despite being introduced every few years.
DiSanto's bill is called Education Savings Accounts for Students in Underperforming Schools or SB 2.
And guess what!?
It's almost exactly the same as a pile of similar bills offered by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
The Special Needs Scholarship Program Act, The Foster Child Scholarship Program Act, "Opportunity Scholarships," The Smart Start Scholarship Program – all ALEC bills that do almost the same thing.
They designate some group of at risk students and say, "Hey, you know what they need? School vouchers!"
Well, my goodness. I'm sure glad DiSanto didn't stress himself out writing something new. I'm certain his constituents wanted him to plagiarize someone else's bill and pretend like it was his own.
And how exactly will spending public tax dollars on non-public schools help these kids succeed? That's never explained.
Fools like DiSanto just pretend that it will help as a matter of faith. And since the overwhelming majority of school vouchers go to religious school coffers, this makes sense.
It is a blatant violation of the separation of church and state. But privatization supporters don't give a crap about that. They don't care about the values on which this country where founded. Their only concern is doing what their rich donors demand.
SB 2 would target students living in districts with the most underfunded schools serving the most impoverished populations. You know – "failing schools."
If passed, kids living in these neighborhoods would have whatever the district sets aside for each student put in a savings account to be spent in almost any way parents see fit so long as they could somehow justify it as educational.
Send your kids to a private or parochial school?
Homeschool your child?
Go on a trip to the life-sized replica of Noah's Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky?
You betcha!
And the best part is there is hardly any accountability built in to the law, so we probably wouldn't even know how this money was spent.
Your tax dollars at work. Somehow. Somewhere. Out of sight.
I guess that's what Pennsylvania Republicans like DiSanto call fiscal conservatism.
If passed, the bill would affect 800 schools – the 15% lowest performing in the state – including mine.
Take a look at the list.
Every school serves mostly poor students. Every school is severely underfunded.
Pennsylvania ranks 45th out of 50 for school funding. There are only five states in the country where the state government pays less of the cost of educating students. The Commonwealth relies on local municipalities to make up the difference. That means local property taxes, so the richer an area you live in, the more money it can afford to pay to educate children. The poorer an area where you live, the less it can pay.
This is why Pennsylvania has the widest disparity between how much it spends on rich kids vs. poor ones. Wealthy children are cherished and coddled. Poor ones are left to fend for themselves.
This voucher bill would only exacerbate the situation.
It's a giveaway to those who don't need it at the expense of those who can least afford to pay.
If you live in the Commonwealth, please call and/or write your state Senator and Representative and ask them to oppose this bill.
Supreme Court Paves the Way to Taxing Churches
June 27, 2017 stevenmsinger Accountability, church and state, Civil Rights, Corporate Education "Reform", Donald Trump, Education, Judicial Reform, Politics, privatization, Republican, School Choice, School Funding, school vouchers, Schools	church and state, Politics, religion, Republicans, School Choice, school vouchers, separation of church and state, Supreme Court, Taxation
Finally some good news!
A U.S. Supreme Court decision yesterday pokes a hole in the separation of church and state. But that hole goes both ways.
Justices ruled 7-2 that Missouri could not withhold tax dollars to resurface a playground at a church preschool simply on the grounds that it's a religious institution.
Therefore, one can expect any day now a ruling that the church can't be exempted from paying taxes for the same reason.
Here's the key issue.
Traditionally, the government doesn't pay for the church. But now our highest court in the land has ruled that's discriminatory!
Never mind that Missouri actually relented in this case and paid for the concrete anyway making the entire ruling moot and something that no other Supreme Court in history would have voted on because doing so would expose justices as being activists legislating from the bench.
No. Now that Republicans stole the seat of President Barack Obama's rightful nominee, Merrick Garland, with President Donald Trump's nominee, Neil Gorsuch (i.e. Scalia 2.0), the court is a decidedly fascist institution.
In other words, it's no longer a body of scholarly justices dedicated to interpreting the law. It's now a shell corporation of paid corporate lobbyists issuing justifications to support the mandates of the billionaire class.
The five wealthiest people in the country have as much money as 750 million people – each. And most of these mega-rich want to destroy our public school system so they can hoover up tax dollars into their private portfolios. (Once you've got that much money, it's just a game where you're playing against other multi-billionaires to see who can get all the money, flip over the board and proclaim themselves King.)
To do this, they need school vouchers to help destabilize the system. Chop it down, remove any pretense of accountability to taxpayers about how that money is being spent and then sweep up that sweet, sweet money.
It also has the added benefit of ensuring the next generation is dumb enough to – I don't know – continue voting for reality TV stars as President.
But that's just the most obvious implication.
Now that the state has been shown to be responsible to support the church, the reverse has also been proven: the church has responsibilities to support the state.
That's right. No more tax free status for houses of worship.
Get ready to dig deep into your pockets, parishioners. Uncle Sam needs a new pair of shoes.
Who's paying for all those needless wars of aggression? The Church Lady! That's who!
Where are we going to get the money to keep up the counterproductive war on drugs? The collection plate!
Yep. The assembled flock is about to get fleeced!
What conservatives seem to forget is that the wall of separation between church and state wasn't erected just to protect the state from influence by religion. It also was set up to protect religion from the state.
Once you have money flowing from one to the other, regulations are soon to follow.
Expect your cute little parochial school to put away the Bible and replace it with "The Origin of Species".
What? Your faith compels you to believe in the Creation of Man by God and not scientific evolution of organisms through heritable traits? I guess you'll just have to teach the controversy.
Some people in America still think that there's value in having both public and private schools. They seem to think that it's actually a benefit having school systems where people are taught differently. But this new ruling paves the way (pun intended) to breaking down the walls between each type of institution.
Yes, public schools will become more like religious schools. But religious schools will also become more like public schools.
The entire education system will become one big watered down whole. And – giggle – those pushing for it actually call the process "School Choice"!
Oh the plutocrats will do their best to cover it all up with culture war nonsense. You'll hear hours of cable news blather about poor conservative bakers fighting not to make cupcakes for gay people. But behind this high profile grist for the mill will be active efforts at homogenization, government overreach and oligarchy.
There's one way in which this is good news. Some people have always thought churches were getting off easy, that they were being allowed undue influence on politics without having to pay the entrance fee of taxation like the rest of us.
However, this was only ever true at some houses of worship. Others were dedicated to spirituality, community and charity while eschewing affairs of state altogether.
This new ruling rips away protections from those authentically beneficent congregations as it does those more politically inclined. It exposes the preacher and the partisan equally.
Moreover, anyone who doesn't want their tax dollars supporting someone else's religious beliefs can expect their cries to fall on deaf ears. Christians will fund Muslims and Jews will fund Christians and all will pay for the Church of Satan and whatever sect is formed to take advantage of this brave new source of tax revenue. Religion is now decidedly in the public domain and all that goes with it.
The results are bound to displease everyone – except the mega-rich.
In short, you can't tear down the rules that were set up to protect everyone without opening us all up to ruin.
America's religious people are about to find that out.
It's almost poetic justice.
Get ready to reap what you sow.
Betsy's Choice: School Privatization Over Kids' Civil Rights
June 7, 2017 June 8, 2017 stevenmsinger Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Budget, Campaign Donations, capitalism, Charter Schools, Civil Rights, Congress, Corporate Education "Reform", Democrat, Donald Trump, Education, Obama, Politics, Prejudice, President, privatization, Racism, Republican, School Choice, School Funding, school vouchers, Schools, Sexism, Teachers	Betsy DeVos, charter schools, children, church and state, Civil Rights, Donald Trump, LGBT, Privatize, Republicans, School Choice, school vouchers
Betsy DeVos seems to be confused about her job.
As U.S. Secretary of Education, she is responsible for upholding the civil rights of all U.S. students.
She is NOT a paid lobbyist for the school privatization industry.
Yet when asked point blank by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) whether her department would ensure that private schools receiving federal school vouchers don't discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students, she refused to give a straight answer.
She said that the these schools would be required to follow all federal antidiscrimination laws but her department would not issue any clarifications or directives about exactly how they should be doing it.
"On areas where the law is unsettled, this department is not going to be issuing decrees. That is a matter for Congress and the courts to settle," DeVos said at a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education yesterday.
"I think you just said where it's unsettled, such discrimination will continue to be allowed under your program. If that's incorrect, please correct it for the record," Merkley replied.
DeVos did not correct him.
Instead she simply repeated, "Schools that receive federal funds will follow federal law, period."
Merkley said she was dodging the question.
"I think that's very important for the public to know, that today, the secretary of education, before this committee, refused to affirm that she would put forward a program that would ban discrimination based on LGBTQ status of students or would ban discrimination based on religion," he said.
"Discrimination in any form is wrong. I don't support discrimination in any form," DeVos replied.
But that doesn't mean she'll fight against it.
She held firm to her position that it is not her job as Secretary of Education to fight for students' civil rights. That is the responsibility of Congress and the courts.
But she's wrong.
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is part of the Department of Education.
According to the department's own Website, the "OCR's mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights in our nation's schools."
There is nothing "unsettled" about that at all. What IS unsettled is how and if the U.S. Constitution allows federal funds to be spent on private schools in any manner whatsoever.
At very least, it has been argued that giving tax dollars to parochial schools violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment guaranteeing a separation of church and state. Moreover, the degree to which voucher schools that don't explicitly teach religion would have to abide by federal laws about what they can and should do is likewise "unsettled."
Yet DeVos has no problem advocating for the school privatization industry. In fact, it has been her lifelong calling. As a billionaire Republican mega-donor, that's exactly what she's done for years – shoving bundles of cash at candidates and lawmakers to support school vouchers and charter schools.
Someone needs to remind her that that is no longer her role. In her official capacity as Secretary of Education, her job is not to advocate for school choice. But it IS her job to protect students' civil rights – regardless of the type of school those students attend.
If a school is at all public, she is responsible for ensuring those students' rights. And receiving public funds makes a school public.
Specifically, she is responsible for ensuring no child is discriminated against on the basis of race, color and national origin, according to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This includes protecting children who are being treated unfairly due to limited understanding of the English language or who are still learning to speak the language. This includes children experiencing bigotry as a result of their shared ancestry, ethnicity or religion such as Muslims, Sikhs or Jews.
It is also her job to protect children from sexual discrimination as per Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. No matter her own personal conservative views, she must protect pregnant teens or teen parents. And to speak toward Merkley's point, according to the Department's Website, this explicitly includes, "…sex stereotypes (such as treating persons differently because they do not conform to sex-role expectations or because they are attracted to or are in relationships with persons of the same sex); and gender identity or transgender status."
She is also required to be a champion of students with disabilities as per Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Moreover, Title II explicitly forbids public entities – whether or not they receive federal funds – from demonstrating any partiality against students with disabilities.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. She has to protect against age discrimination per the Age Discrimination Act of 1975 and enforce the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act. She is responsible for investigating complaints about equal access to youth groups conducting meetings at public schools and/or that receive federal funding.
To quote the Website, one more time:
"These civil rights laws extend to all state education agencies, elementary and secondary school systems, colleges and universities, vocational schools, proprietary schools, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, libraries and museums that receive federal financial assistance from ED [the Education Department]."
I'm not so sure DeVos understand this – at all.
Nor do I expect her to get much help from the political ideologues she's using to staff the department.
Take her choice for Assistant Secretary in the Office for Civil Rights, Candice Jackson.
She's an ANTI-Civil Rights activist. She literally doesn't believe in the office she's running.
The 39-year-old attorney is anti-women's rights, anti-distributive justice and possibly even anti-compulsory education and anti-Civil Rights Act of 1964!
She once filed a complaint against her prestigious college, Stanford University, for discriminating against her rights as a rich, white person by refusing to allow her access to free minority tutoring.
For all its faults, the Barack Obama administration took civil rights seriously. So much so that conservatives often criticized the Democratic organization as being overzealous in the execution of its duties.
The Obama era Education Department issued so many clarifications of the law that it received a record number of civil rights complaints. This required hundreds of additional lawyers and investigators and increasing the civil rights division by 30 percent.
Complaints went from more than six thousand in 2009 to almost ten thousand in 2015. Of these, the largest increase was in complaints of sex discrimination.
However, President Donald Trump has recommended the Department be downsized in his budget proposal.
The Reality TV star would cut the Department's budget by 13 percent, or $9 billion, eliminating after-school and summer programming for kids and professional development for teachers. Instead, he would invest $250 million in a school voucher incentive program and an additional $168 million for charter schools.
Also, getting a boost is personal security for DeVos, herself. She is spending an additional $1 million a month for U.S. Marshalls to guard her against protesters.
It should come as no surprise that Trump and DeVos don't support the mission of the Department of Education. Both have expressed interest in disbanding the office altogether.
In a February magazine interview, DeVos said, "It would be fine with me to have myself worked out of a job. But I'm not sure that – I'm not sure that there will be a champion movement in Congress to do that."
Likewise, Trump wrote in his 2015 book "Great Again: How to Fix Our Crippled America" that "if we don't eliminate [the department] completely, we certainly need to cut its power and reach."
That is exactly what DeVos is doing.
Under Presidents George W. Bush and Obama, it could be argued the Department was guilty of overreach. But Trump and DeVos are going in the opposite extreme.
Someone has to look out for students' civil rights. That someone has traditionally been the Department of Education. With DeVos abdicating her responsibilities and continuing her role as a school privatization cheerleader, it is anyone's guess who – if anyone – will step into the void.
Charter Schools and Voucher Schools are Virtually Identical
May 18, 2017 stevenmsinger Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Budget, Campaign Donations, Charter Schools, Corporate Education "Reform", Cyber Charter Schools, Democrat, Donald Trump, Education, Obama, Politics, Prejudice, President, privatization, Propaganda, Republican, School Choice, School Funding, school vouchers, Schools, Standardized Testing, Teachers	Betsy DeVos, charter schools, church and state, Democrats, Donald Trump, education, neofascist, neoliberal, Politics, Privatize, rebranding, Republicans, school vouchers
The stark orange monolith that was Donald Trump is starting to crumble.
And with it so are the dreams of corporate education reformers everywhere.
Where in previous administrations they could pass off their policies as Democratic or Republican depending on whichever way the wind blows, today their brand has been so damaged by Trump's advocacy, they fear it may never recover.
Under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, they could champion both charter schools and school vouchers with impunity. But now the privatizers and profiteers hiding in progressive clothing are trying desperately to rebrand.
Not only is Trump's voucher plan deeply unpopular, but the public has already begun to associate any kind of school privatization with a doomed President.
So like cockroaches, neoliberals have begun to skitter to one type of privatization over another. Fake Democrats hide beneath unfettered charter school expansion. Bought-and-sold Republicans cling to the idea that we should spend taxpayer dollars on private and parochial schools.
But is there a real substantial difference between each of these so-called "choice" schemes? Or are they both just scams when compared with traditional public schools?
Charter Schools and Private Schools are basically the same thing.
The biggest difference between the two is funding.
Charter schools are completely funded by tax dollars. Private schools – even when school vouchers are used – often need to be subsidized by parents. For instance, many private schools charge tuition of $30,000 – $40,000 a year. Vouchers rarely provide more than $6,000. So at best they bring the cost down but still make it impossible for most students to attend private schools.
Sure they may start as an effort to allow only impoverished children to use tax dollars towards private and parochial school tuition. But they soon grow to include middle class and wealthy children, thus partially subsidizing attendance at the most exclusive schools in the country for those families who can already afford it.
Parochial schools, meanwhile, are exactly the same except for one meaningful difference. They teach religion.
Their entire curriculum comes from a distinctly religious point of view. They indoctrinate youth into a way of seeing the world that is distinctly non-secular.
Progressives complain that using tax dollars to pay for student tuition at such schools – even only partial tuition – violates a foundational principal of our nation.
Using public money to pay for religious teaching has historically been interpreted as a violation of the establishment clause of the first Amendment to the Constitution – namely, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" Thomas Jefferson called it "a wall of separation between Church and State."
This is further exacerbated in many parochial schools where religious teaching includes a blatant political bias toward conservatism. Children at many of these schools are taught that supply side economics, voter disenfranchisement and prejudice are normative bedrock truths.
These are the main distinctions between voucher and charter schools.
In short, they're not all exactly the same. And corporate reform apologist are trying to rebuild their brand on these split hairs.
But the similarities between these types of school are much more striking.
THE SIMILARITIES
The biggest commonality between these types of educational institutions is how they're run. Unlike traditional public schools – which are governed by duly-elected school boards – charter, private and parochial schools are overseen by private interests. They are administered by independent management firms. They rarely have elected school boards. Their operators rarely make decisions in public, and their budgets and other documents are not open to review by taxpayers. This is true despite the fact that they are funded to varying degrees by public tax dollars.
So in all three cases, these schools are run privately, but taxpayers pick up the tab.
It's ironic. Sending kids to charters, private and parochial schools with public money is called school choice. However, each of these types of schools gives taxpayers much less choice about how their money is being spent.
The community funds the school, but almost all decisions are made by people outside of the community – people appointed, in fact, by bureaucrats or business managers.
To be sure, parents can express their displeasure of administrative decisions by disenrolling their children in the school. But beyond this nuclear option, they are powerless. Even more troubling, taxpayers without children or with children who do not attend these schools have no say whatsoever about how their money is spent.
And to add insult to injury, it doesn't even really allow the parents to choose which schools their children attend. They can put in a request for their kids to attend a choice school, but enrollment decisions are made by these same private equity managers. In short, administrators make the ultimate choice – not parents.
If the religious school doesn't want to accept your child for whatever reason including operators' disapproval of your religious beliefs, they don't have to accept him. If the private school doesn't want to accept your child based on race, gender or nationality, they don't have to accept him. If the charter school doesn't want to accept your child because of bad grades or troublesome behaviors, they don't have to accept him.
The traditional public school, however, cannot refuse a child who lives in district borders for any of these reasons. In effect, school choice really isn't about parental choice. It's about increasing choice for the operators of privatized schools – letting them choose their students and how to spend your money without any meaningful input from you.
And it's true at all three types of school!
Those are pretty considerable similarities. Moreover, they highlight major differences between these so-called choice schools and traditional public schools.
This is important because we don't even have to get into the academic records of individual schools. The way each type of school is structured shows the clear inferiority of choice schools compared to traditional public schools.
By their very structure, public schools give parents and taxpayers much more agency in children's education and how taxpayer money is spent.
Second, the latitude for school administrators to perpetrate fraud on the public is maximized in so-called choice schools and minimized in public schools. This doesn't mean public schools are perfect, but it is much better to have a school under public scrutiny and local control than otherwise. This is demonstrated by the huge numbers of charter school scandals popping up in the news every day, where charters close suddenly, money is misspent on luxury items for operators that have nothing to do with education, and – especially in cyber charters – the quality of education students receive is literally lower than having no formal education at all.
Finally, if public schools struggle, it is almost always due to a lack of equitable funding and a surplus of impoverished students. It is no accident that poor students receive less resources and larger class sizes than middle class or wealthy ones. Nor is it an accident that we judge the effectiveness of schools primarily on standardized tests which are so good at highlighting the results of lack of resources rather than any academic deficiency.
If we spent our education dollars ensuring equitable resources instead of funneling tax dollars to charter, private and parochial schools, we would better increase the quality of children's education. But for the last few decades that has not been the goal of education policy. It has instead been to enrich these same privatized school managers and investors – the corporate education reform industry. Nor is it a coincidence that this industry and its subsidiaries counts itself as major donors to both political parties.
Before she was elevated to Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos was exactly that – a billionaire mega-donor pushing school privatization while getting richer off investments in the same. Now that she's driving school vouchers off a cliff in the Trump train, her co-conspirators are getting nervous.
Neoliberal Democrats may try to save the movement by claiming charter schools are completely different. But they aren't. They are fundamentally the same.
The public sees the clear similarities between these kinds of schools. And much of that is thanks to the incompetent boobery of Donald J. Trump.


Superlight SL4267 is a commercial grade LED downlight suitable for large scale projects requiring a robust and powerful downlight solution. The fitting features toughened construction and high powered LED light source with integral LED driver.
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This is a simple process for clarifying your thinking for getting things done. It is based on the interrogative questions of Why, What, Who, How, When and Where.
The diagram speaks for itself, I hope you find it useful.
It seems to be designed for capturing ideas and turning them into reality. You can use this for creating a product, a project or anything where an idea needs some clarification of thoughts.
You will notice that there is no copyright on it. I have a piece of paper that came my way and it fitted in with my approach to IT Architecture.
If I can find the people who originally authored this (with your help), I'm happy to acknowledge the ownership rights to the correct individuals or corporations.
A full size PDF Version is available here.


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A minimum of 2 hours per booking.
Bookings that operate inclusive of the hours 10pm-7am will incur a late night fee at an additional 15%.
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Breaks may be required. Depending on the booking duration this may vary the length and number of breaks required.
Booking time extensions are sometimes requested. If the need arises for the therapist's to extend the booking time and they are available to do so, approval by the key contact and BAMS wellness authorised person will be required. A minimum of 30 minutes extension maybe invoiced and will be invoiced payable within 7 days.
Travel for areas over 15 kilometers North and West, 30 kilometers South and East from Melbourne CBD travel fees or higher minimum bookings may apply. Please enquire for travel fees that may apply.
Parking – when off street parking is required these charges maybe invoiced to recover the fees for our therapists.
It is the recipients responsibility to allow sufficient time to book their treatment before expiry of their certificate.
Client no show will forfeit the massage and fees paid or gift voucher.
* Recommendation to book no later than one month prior to the Expiry date.
Changes to the Terms and Conditions may occur at anytime.
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In May 2017 we were invited to meet with BMT Hi-Q Sigma to discuss developing their branding. design146 had previously worked with the client at Altus and were keen to be involved. BMT Hi-Q Sigma is a Management Consultancy, based in Bath, providing services across Government, Defence, Energy and Transport sectors to improve their portfolio, programme and project performance.
They already have a set of existing brand guidelines, but needed some help to develop them further to show how they might be adapted to more flexible layouts that are efficient on space. To kick things off, we have worked on a branding development presentation and some Case Studies and White Papers.
We're looking forward to seeing how the branding develops as we work on other marketing collateral to include infographics, branded merchandise, and internal comms pieces.


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Our in-depth pieces on the people and events in and around the culture
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Video Roundup 1/12-1/18
Ljubinko Zivkovic·
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Petar Petrov·
Netflix becomes the first streaming service to lead the Oscars in nominations
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Two posthumous David Bowie albums are on their way in 2020
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UNKLE's "living album", the unprecedented loss of music's greatest masters, & the curious case of Miley Cyrus and hip-hop
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IDLES : 9:30 Club
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Hacksaw Ridge Reaction
Museums around the world should clear ivy more regularly
Claudine Longet and All Her Shades of Grey
Stephen Silver·
"You Suck, Dick! Love, Deep Throat": 'Dick' at 20, and the Bygone Age of Strong Political Satire
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Dick, a beautifully sharp satire of the Watergate scandal. The film arrived in August of 1999 (25 years after Nixon's resignation) and was full of in-jokes aimed at boomers who had lived through the Watergate scandal and knew its details backwards and forwards, mostly from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's books, the All The President's Men movie, and Oliver Stone's Nixon, which had arrived just four years earlier.
The genius of Dick's script, credited to director Andrew Fleming and his co-writer Sheryl Longin was that it filled what were then the mysteries of Watergate, from the identity of Deep Throat to the story behind the 18 1/2 minute gap.
The film arrived in August of 1999 (25 years after Nixon's resignation) and was full of in-jokes aimed at boomers who had lived through the Watergate scandal…
In the film, a pair of 15-year-old girls (played by Michelle Williams and Kirsten Dunst) live in the Watergate complex, and through a series of misunderstandings, are invited to become the official dog walkers for Checkers, the dog belonging to President Nixon (Dan Hedaya).
Their interactions with Nixon, Forrest Gump-like, help lead to a wide variety of world historical events between 1972 and 1974. They feed Nixon pot brownies, leading him to enter into peace talks to end the Vietnam War. They accidentally convince John Dean to resign and cooperate against Nixon. And then they become "Deep Throat," a fact that stayed a secret for decades because Woodward and Bernstein (Will Ferrell and Bruce McCulloch) were too embarrassed to tell anyone about it.
No X in Nixon
The movie is funny on its own merits, while also full of hilarious in-jokes for people who know every detail of Watergate. Dan Hedaya is one of the better movie Nixons, up there with Philip Baker Hall and Anthony Hopkins, and the cast is chockful of veterans of The Kids in the Hall in mid-'90s-era Saturday Night Live. And watch for a young Ryan Reynolds, as Haldeman's teenaged son.
It's hard to top the ending of All The President's Men, but Dick somehow matches it:
Today's Dick
As you may have noticed, there hasn't been the equivalent of a movie like Dick recently. It's not exactly a golden time for political satire, especially at the movies.
A lot of people believed that the Trump era would be a strong time for comedy, but it really hasn't worked out that way, as every once-formidable major comedy organ from Saturday Night Live to The Onion to The Daily Show has utterly failed to contend with the Trump era.
A lot of people believed that the Trump era would be a strong time for comedy, but it really hasn't worked out that way…
The major Trump-era comedy touchstones, it appears, are Alec Baldwin's weak-tea Trump impression and late-night hosts who have turned to "clapter" – liberal platitudes that may earn audience applause, but certainly not laughs.
Re-assessing 'American Beauty' On Its 20th Anniversary
Adam McKay, the longtime writing partner of Will Ferrell (who played Bob Woodward in Dick), not only has pivoted from comedy to earnest political films, but made a movie last year not about the Trump Administration but rather Dick Cheney.
There's some funny stuff at the margins, like James Adomian's impression of Sebastian Gorka, and while the Showtime cartoon Our Cartoon President does occasional decent material, its Trump character is a dud at all times. Even Sacha Baron Cohen's Who is America? drew most of its brilliant humor out of its Israeli colonel character; the more Trump-adjacent parts of the show were much less successful.
Why has comedy struggled with Trump so much? I return to Patton Oswalt's analogy:
"Imagine there's a guy out on the sidewalk, and he's just taking a dump on the pavement, and he's yelling about Hitler, and he's hanging wallpaper. So you think of the funniest joke about a guy taking a dump on the sidewalk, and you turn to tell your friend. And as you turn to tell your friend, behind you, he has scooped up his poop and made a sombrero out of it."
A 21st Century Dick?
Will we get better satire about Trump at some point in the future? It's certainly possible. Dick, after all, came out a quarter century after Nixon's fall. In the meantime, I would love to see an In the Loop-style treatment of the Trump Administration, or one that finds a strange, side-entrance into mockery of the current White House.
But a Trump satire along the lines of Dick? It's just hard to imagine it working. America is so fragmented, with "shared memory" essentially a thing of the past, that it's hard to imagine lightning striking twice in such a way.
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text:
How To Stop Procrastinating
"Tomorrow - A mystical land where 99% of all human productivity, motivation and achievement are stored"
Regardless of how many productivity books we've bought (and haven't read) or how many motivational videos we've watched (and never acted upon), we all struggle at some point during our lives with the productivity plague of the modern era - procrastination.
In fact, procrastination is not new. Ancient Greek philosophers developed a word for it – akrasia – meaning to act against our better judgement by doing one thing even though we know we should be doing something else. Since then, this innate affliction to act against our better judgement, delay necessary action and procrastinate over our personal tasks has evolved to such an extent that the humour of the opening quote really comes from the fact that it's so painfully true.
In this post, we'll discuss (1) Why we all procrastinate, (2)How we can stop procrastinating.
Why do we procrastinate?
Procrastination is a perfect example of present bias.
Present bias is the idea that even though we can set as many goals for our future self as we want, it's our present self that has to do the action to get there. Unfortunately, our brains aren't wired to appreciate long term benefits and our present self will always prefer short-term pleasures in the form of instant gratification which often comes at the expense of longer term outcomes.
Here's what a 2013 study called procrastination:
Procrastination is the primacy of short-term mood repair … over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.
In other words, procrastination is about being more focused on the immediate urgency of managing negative moods and pushing the problem away than getting on with the task in the present moment.
When we put things off until some point in the future (eg: tomorrow, next week or worst of all, 'at some point'), the tension we feel disappears. The task is lifted off our shoulders. We feel happy that we've assigned a time to get the task done, even if that time is 'at some point in the future'.
The confusing thing about procrastination is that, in certain scenarios, we know we can't afford to procrastinate.
In my job as a doctor, I can't delay treating someone just because it involves doing something unpleasant, or if it means I have to stay overtime.
But when I have the space and freedom to manage my own time, suddenly that world of distraction and the ability to make excuses to myself means that I feel able to offload many tasks onto my future self.
And yet we know that procrastination isn't good for us.
Delaying tasks that we simply have to do is going to catch up with us at some point. Especially if those tasks have deadlines, or carry consequences for not doing them. Eventually we'll feel the effects of our delaying tactics.
So what can we do about procrastination?
Well, for me, understanding the truth behind two key factors - motivation and momentum - and using a couple of simple rules - the two minute rule and the ten minute rule - have all helped reduce the burden that procrastination brings to my life.
It's typical to hear people say "I just can't summon up the motivation", "I wish I had more motivation" or "I need some motivation to start".
Source: Screw Motivation What You Need is Discipline
The truth is, we've got motivation wrong.
Motivation is not the spark or the cause of action, it's the result of that action.
As Jeff Haden says in his book 'The Motivation Myth'
Motivation isn't something you have, motivation is something you get, automatically, from feeling good about achieving small successes.
If action is conditional on feelings, waiting for the right mood becomes a particularly insidious form of procrastination. Whether we like to admit it or not, motivation is basically a myth.
So, if not motivation, then what?
I've started to replace the idea of motivation with that of discipline. Discipline is like an engine that, once started, actually supplies energy to our system. It also creates habits which means that we don't have to rely on willpower alone to try to summon up some short term burst of energy.
In essence, discipline produces action which leads to a more sustainable form of motivation.
Source: Procrastination: A Scientific Guide on How to Stop Procrastinating
Overcoming or getting past the idea of 'finding' motivation can help you get started. Getting started is the key factor for the other critical idea - Momentum.
The resistance we have to a task is usually at its greatest before we begin. The simple thought of starting and overcoming that resistance is where procrastination thrives.
In fact, Steven Pressfield in his book, THE WAR OF ART, describes this feeling of 'the resistance' as a universal force that has one sole mission: to keep things as they are, preventing action, creativity and progress.
In other words, resistance provides the beating heart of procrastination.
BUT as soon as we start, as soon as we cross the action line, the pain begins to subside. The problem is not doing the work but just starting the work.
Momentum can't build up by putting something off. A ball can't start rolling down a hill until you push it over the edge but once you've pushed it over the edge, it builds momentum and is difficult to stop.
James Clear calls this the "physics of productivity" because of how it relates to Newton's First Law of Motion or the Law of Inertia which states that:
Every body remains in a state of constant velocity unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.
When we're procrastinating we're in a state of rest - motivation doesn't start the ball rolling. Only action can act as the "external unbalanced force" to push us into a state of motion. Once moving, a feedback loop develops and it becomes harder to stop because the desire to complete tasks provides the drive necessary to continue moving forward.
As soon as I realised this, I began to be more mindful of developing this momentum. It reinforces the importance of starting, in whatever way possible, because any action will start the ball rolling, making subsequent actions easier and procrastination more difficult.
The Two Rules for Beating Procrastination
For many of us, procrastination usually revolves around tasks that are either:
Small and annoying OR
Large and daunting.
After learning to appreciate the importance of motivation and momentum, I've found two techniques that are particularly helpful in overcoming each of these types of task: the two-minute rule and the ten-minute rule.
The Two-Minute Rule
The two-minute rule is a concept put forward by productivity guru David Allen in his book Getting Things Done. The main idea is that, if we have a pending task that can be completed in less than two minutes then we should do it right away. No hesitation, no delay. If it'll take longer than two minutes we should write it down on a list to return to when we have more time.
It's as simple as that.
This strategy of time management eliminates unnecessary procrastination over small chores or tasks and reduces the clutter in our brain that distracts us from the bigger picture.
The 10-Minute Rule
Clearly there are some tasks that we can't just complete in two minutes. Planning, writing and filming a whole YouTube video can't be completed in two minute segments. Writing a thesis would be difficult to complete in 2 minute intervals. Creating a presentation at work is difficult to create in 2 minutes. You get the idea.
However, if we do find ourselves procrastinating over these larger, more daunting tasks, the other technique I use to get started is the 10-minute rule.
The 10-minute rule is simple. If I'm finding myself procrastinating from something I have to do, I tell myself that I'm just going to do it for 10 minutes. No more, no less. Just 10 minutes.
But the power behind this technique goes back to the idea of momentum.
Once I've got going, having done 10 minutes, I don't want to stop especially when I'm making progress. Suddenly momentum builds up, one task leads to another which leads to another. Obviously, you might be bored after 10 minutes but we don't like leaving tasks half-done and so 10 minutes quickly turns into 20, then 30 and suddenly you're making progress.
Some people call this the 30 minute rule, the 20 minute rule, the 5 minute rule - it doesn't really matter what it's called, the idea is the same: we're tricking our brain into getting started because we think we won't be doing it for long.
Fundamentally, overcoming procrastination is about maintaining discipline, generating momentum and ensuring that the tasks that you need to do on any given day are achievable and manageable.
Despite the advice that I've given in this article, I still struggle with moments of procrastination. We all do.
Procrastination is a character flaw that we all have. What matters is that we can recognise it, learn to manage it, develop strategies to overcome it and create a system that minimises the opportunity for it to emerge in the future - that's something we can all start developing today, or maybe leave it till tomorrow...


A scarce view of Genoa naming some 56 important locations.
A scarce c. 1725-1750 panoramic view of Genoa, Italy by Martin Engelbrecht. This view follows the work of Jeremias Wolff who produced a large format view of Genoa earlier. Engelbrecht presents us with a busy harbor, with merchant ships coming and going. In the city itself he identifies some 55 specific buildings. This view was drawn by Martin Englebrecht and published in Augsburg by Friederich Bernhard Werner.
Martin Engelbrecht (1684-1756) and his brother Christian were artists, print sellers, and engravers based in Augsburg, Germany, during the first half of the 18th Century. The Engelbrecht firm was established in 1717 and produced more than 5,000 printed. Among their work are city views issued by Friedrich Bernhard Werner and others. The duo are better known for creating miniature diorama cards which, inserted into a display box offered religious scenes from a three dimensional perspective. They are the only engravers to have been granted a royal permission to produce such scenes – which at the time seemed magical. They also produced portraits of monarchs and other local dignitaries. The work of the Engelbrecht brothers has been called "beyond compare." The Engelbrecht firm launched the careers of several other artists, including Jeremias Wachsmuht and Johann David Nessenthaler.
Friedrich Bernhard Werner (1690-1778) was a German-born civil engineer, trained in Nice, who went on to become an accomplished copper-plate engraver, interested in subjects of cityscapes, monuments, churches, and public works. During the mid-18th century Werner travelled extensively in Central Europe documenting the architecture of its most prominent cities.
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text:
Q: Force page refresh and jump to a #section It seems that I must be missing something completely elementary. What I'm trying to achieve looks like quite a common case, and so it makes me wonder why there is no straightforward way.
The problem is that I would like to refresh the current page from JavaScript and simultaneously land on a #section. If I do simply:
document.location.href = document.location.href + "#section";

all browsers I tested just scroll to that #section (no reload). It makes sense in a way. Just for completeness, if I do
document.location.assign(document.location.href + "#section");

it does the same thing (not surprisingly; it boils down internally to the same function for sure). Finally, the document object seems to have also the document.reload() function which takes an optional boolean argument specifying whether I want to force the reload, but obviously, it does not allow to specify the #section. The only way I could find (using these methods) was the following combination:
document.location.assign(document.location.href + "#section");
document.location.reload();

But it is not ideal, because as you have probably guessed, it scrolls and then reloads which causes the browser to actually scroll three times in the end.
I know that there are ways around it: server side redirect or adding some unique random query string parameter, but it seems strange that there is no simple way.

A: That is the "hash" value of the location object.  You need to set it like this...
location.hash = "#section";

If that does not work consistently, you might want to consider using a scrollToElement function...
function scrollToElement(elem) {
    if(typeof elem == 'string') elem = document.getElementById(elemId);
    var top = 0;

    if(elem) {
        if(elem.offsetParent) {
            top = elem.offsetTop;

            while(elem = elem.offsetParent) {
                top += elem.offsetTop;
            }
        }

        window.scrollTo(0, top);
    }

}

If you absolutely need a page reload (not sure why you ever would), try opening a window in itself...
window.open(location.href + '#section', '_top');

Or try replace...
location.replace(location.href + '#section');

A: There is a much much simpler solution:
if (document.location.href.match(/[?]/))
  document.location.href = document.location.href + '&fake_param=' + Math.random() + '#section'  ;
else
  document.location.href = document.location.href + '?fake_param=' + Math.random() + '#section'  ;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange