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2 + 2 = 4

A high school students reveals the holes in Common Core

Young Publius
Eagle Rising
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 06:15 UTC
common core protest
© unknown
The federal government has developed a new platform for American education: the Common Core Curriculum.

The leftists have been promoting it across the liberal mainstream media. There is a minor hole in the media's coverage of Common Core; they never ask the ones being affected by this platform: the students. In order to establish my future statements, I am a sophomore in high school; I am an honors student participating in the college prep course.

Recently I was "selected" to participate in a "test of the test" for the new Common Core state test (the PARCC) which is set to replace the PSAE in the state of Illinois. On paper, Common Core sounds like a good idea, asking a student to explain how they got the wrong answer to a math problem and if they can explain their answer giving them credit for their work; however, in the long term, this will only undermine the American education system. We all (I hope) have been taught that 2+2=4. Under Common Core, if a student answers with 5 instead of 4, and can explain their answer, the student will receive credit.
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Arrow Down

Pennsylvania trooper cleared after stomping on innocent man's skull while handcuffed


Police State USA
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 03:23 UTC
Troopers
© Getty Images

Exton - Police followed an innocent man into his home, believing that he was a fleeing suspect. When the man protested being handcuffed on his own floor with strangers searched his home, an officer cussed at him and stomped on his head, causing multiple facial fractures and shattered teeth.

The scene was so gruesome that a cop testified against a fellow cop. Yet instead of being fired, that stomping officer was later promoted, and now has been officially cleared of violating the victim's civil rights.

Botched Drug Raid

The incident dates back to August 19th, 2009, when a multi-agency drug task force performed a raid on a home on East Swedesford Road in Exton, Pennsylvania. Officers from the West Whiteland Police Department joined forces with the Pennsylvania State
Zachary
© Facebook
Zachary Bare had his skull stomped by a PA State Trooper.
Police "Clandestine Drug Lab Team." The group dressed in black masks and carried long guns into the targeted residence about 9:30 p.m. to stop the inhabitants from getting high.

Things did not go smoothly for the cops, as two of the suspects were able to escape through the back door. Officers resorted to combing the neighborhood for individuals matching the suspects' description.

A few blocks a way, officers came upon a young male wearing shorts and no shirt, entering a residence on nearby Heather Lane.

That man was actually 20-year-old Zachary W. Bare, who had just returned home from swimming in Brandywine Creek. The residence he entered was his own home, where he lived with his disabled mother.

Officers suspected Mr. Bare of being involved with a plot to get high without government permission.

They entered his home without permission and confronted him in his kitchen. Bare was ordered him to the floor and cuffed, so that officers could then perform a warrantless search on his house.
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Boat

South Korean ferry disaster: Two dead and more than 300 missing

Heather Saul
The Independent
Wed, 16 Apr 2014 02:40 UTC
South Korean ferry capsized
© Unknown
Passengers on the Sewol ferry included 325 high school students on a trip
More than 300 people remain unaccounted for after a ferry carrying 477 passengers, most of them school students, sank in cold waters off South Korea's southern coast, killing at least two and injuring 14.

The South Korean Coast Guard warned many more are missing than the initial 100 announced, as dozens of boats, helicopters and divers scrambled to rescue passengers.

The Sewol ferry, which had been carrying students from the Danwon high school in Ansan city near Seoul, had been travelling from the north-western port of Incheon to the popular southern tourist island of Jeju for a four day trip when it capsized.

The Coast Guard said 164 people have been rescued so far. One rescued passenger said he believed many others were trapped inside the ferry when it sank.

South Korea's Ministry of Security and Public Administration had reported that 368 people had been rescued and about 100 were still missing but later said those numbers had been miscalculated.

Emergency officials said at least 30 navy and coastguard divers are searching the ship for survivors. The US Navy has confirmed it will be sending a ship to join the rescue operation.

The vessel sent a distress call after it began listing, according to the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. The government said about 95 per cent of the ferry was submerged.
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Bomb

No jobs in America: U.S. corporations hold over $2 trillion In untaxed profits overseas

Kevin Drawbaugh and Patrick Temple-West
Huff Post
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 15:59 UTC
General Electric
© Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The General Electric Co. (GE) logo is seen on a refrigerator displayed for sale at a Lowe's Cos. store in Torrance, California, U.S, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. General Electric Co. is scheduled to release earnings figures on Oct. 18.
* U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Wyden calls for reform

* Total of profits stashed abroad up 93 percent 2008-2013

* GE tops list, followed by Microsoft, Pfizer, Merck, Apple (Adds comments from Merck, Microsoft and Apple)

Foreign profits held overseas by U.S. corporations to avoid taxes at home nearly doubled from 2008 to 2013 to top $2.1 trillion, said a private research firm's report, prompting a call for reform by the Senate's top tax law writer.

"The new numbers ... certainly highlight what is one of the key challenges for tax reform. I do think there need to be some reforms in this area," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden told reporters on Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

Under U.S. law, corporations do not have to pay income tax on most of their overseas profits until they are brought into the United States. These earnings can be held offshore for years if they are classified as indefinitely invested abroad.
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Folder

The tax man cometh...unless you're a big corporation

Adrian Rehn
PolicyMic
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 09:37 UTC
caterpillar company
© unknown
At long last, tax season has arrived! While most Americans dread having to get their records in order and input numerous fields only to be capped by brief euphoria or anger (depending on whether we get any money back), for many corporations, it's a much different experience. For some of them, it's like Christmas.

Many corporations have lower effective tax rates than individuals. While corporate profits have soared, Americans' incomes have staggered and yet we're the ones carrying the tax burden. Not only do many U.S. companies keep their overseas profits in foreign countries, about $2.1 trillion in all, double what it was in 2008, they also spend tens of millions of dollars on lawyers and auditors who help identify possible loopholes. We're overdue for a tax overhaul that is both unjust and overly complex.
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Chart Pie

Facebook targets providing financial services

Sally Davies, Duncan Robinson and Hannah Kuchler
CNBC
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:15 UTC
Facebook headquarters
© Harriet Taylor/CNBC
Facebook headquarters
Not content with being just a platform to host cat photos and status updates, Facebook is readying itself to provide financial services in the form of remittances and electronic money.

The social network is only weeks away from obtaining regulatory approval in Ireland for a service that would allow its users to store money on Facebook and use it to pay and exchange money with others, according to several people involved in the process.

The authorisation from Ireland's central bank to become an "e-money" institution would allow Facebook to issue units of stored monetary value that represent a claim against the company. This e-money would be valid throughout Europe via a process known as "passporting".

Facebook has also discussed potential partnerships with at least three London start-ups that offer international money transfer services online and via smartphones: TransferWise, Moni Technologies and Azimo, according to three people involved in the discussions.

In the case of Azimo, Facebook offered to pay the company $10 million to recruit one of its co-founders as a director of business development, according to people familiar with the situation. A Facebook spokesperson said the company did not comment on "rumour and speculation".
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Yoda

Jesters speaking truth to power: Lewis Black praises socialism as 'enforced Christianity', decries lack of action on job creation in National Press Club speech

Eric W. Dolan
The Raw Story
Mon, 14 Apr 2014 13:46 UTC
Lewis Black
Comedian Lewis Black on Monday explained why he considered himself a socialist, and mocked those who accused President Barack Obama of being one.

"I do say that I'm a socialist, and I am a socialist, and that is about as powerless a position as you can be in the United States," he said at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington, D.C.

"And I really just wanted to start with that because the idea of calling anyone, outside of maybe Bernie Sanders, a socialist - to call Obama a socialist, you have got to be out of your godd*mn mind. There are seven socialists left in the country, and if you really want to see the leadership of the socialist party you can go to cemetery and find them."

"We have no effect," Black said. "As a matter of fact, when I was a kid you actually read about them, and I can't imagine in many of the history books, which have also kind of forgotten evolution is a real thing, that socialism is even really discussed historically."

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Cell Phone

Illinois driver chastised for infraction through unsolicited text message from police


Police State USA
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 13:25 UTC
No Texting While Driving sign
© Police State USA
No Texting While Driving sign.
A man was startled to receive a text message from a strange number chastising him for using his cell phone while driving.

After admittedly taking a phone call during his daily commute, the driver received an unsolicited text message from a number he had never seen before. It read: "Get off the phone when you are driving!"

The sender then provided an identity of "Illinois State Police Officer Robinson #54367."

Police State USA was alerted to this strange new enforcement technique directly from the driver, who wished to remain anonymous. After interviewing the driver and seeing the message directly on his phone, there is little to doubt about his story.
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Pistol

US Postal Service joins in federal ammo purchases

Cheryl K. Chumley
NewsMax
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 08:08 UTC
UPS Logo
© Wikimedia Commons

Add the U.S. Postal Service to the list of federal agencies seeking to purchase what some Second Amendment activists say are alarmingly large quantities of ammunition.

Earlier this year, the USPS posted a notice on its website, under the heading "Assorted Small Arms Ammunition," that says: "The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition. If your organization wishes to participate, you must pre-register. This message is only a notification of our intent to solicit proposals."

Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, said: "We're seeing a highly unusual amount of ammunition being bought by the federal agencies over a fairly short period of time. To be honest, I don't understand why the federal government is buying so much at this time."

Jake McGuigan, director of state affairs and government relations for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said widely reported federal ammunition purchases have sparked conspiracy-type fears among gun owners, who worry that the federal government is trying to crack down on Second Amendment rights via the back door by limiting the ammo available to owners.

It's not just the USPS that is stocking up on ammo.

A little more than a year ago, the Social Security Administration put in a request for 174,000 rounds of ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow-point" bullets.
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No Entry

Germany forced to shut down jobs program due to overwhelming demand from jobless foreigners


The Local
Sun, 13 Apr 2014 00:38 UTC
job training
© DPA
Germany said on Monday it would no longer accept applications for a programme to attract young Europeans to its job market due to overwhelming demand from crisis-ravaged countries.

The labour ministry said it had been flooded with interest from job-seekers particularly from struggling Spain and Hungary for the scheme offering subsidized job training, apprenticeships and work in fields lacking manpower.

"Currently we cannot meet the demand" for the programme, called "The Job of My Life", a labour ministry spokeswoman told reporters.

Germany, Europe's top economy, faced criticism from its EU partners for an approach to the eurozone debt crisis that placed a strong emphasis on fiscal discipline, which has been blamed for exacerbating the economic impact among ts weakest members.

Berlin responded with initiatives to fight youth unemployment, both to help a "lost generation" out of work and to fill shortages in its own labour market in fields such as care for the elderly and gastronomy.
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