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School district ditches homework; experts say it's basically useless

Annie Holmquist
Intellectual Takeout
Mon, 17 Jul 2017 21:23 UTC
homework girl
The anti-homework trend is growing.

It started with the teacher from Texas who banned homework from her second grade class, encouraging families to spend time reading, playing, and eating together instead.

It spread to a New Jersey elementary school, where the principal and his teaching staff voted to be homework free for the 2016-2017 school year.

And now, according to Valerie Strauss in The Washington Post, homework is headed for the dumpster bin in an entire school district:
"Elementary school students in one Florida school district are going to find a welcome new - but controversial - policy when they return to school for the 2017-2018 school year next month: no traditional homework.

They are being asked to do one thing to help them academically: Read for 20 minutes a night.
Heidi Maier, the new superintendent of the 42,000-student Marion County public school district in Florida, said in an interview that she made the decision based on solid research about what works best in improving academic achievement in students."

Comment: See also:

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X

Far-left to smash Abe statues next? Lincoln Memorial vandalized with red spray paint


NBC Washington
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 21:04 UTC
This vandalism was found on the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday
© National Park ServiceThis vandalism was found on the Lincoln Memorial on Tuesday.
Someone has vandalized the Lincoln Memorial, the National Park Service says.

The words "F--- law" were found written in red spray paint early Tuesday on a pillar at the monument that overlooks the Capitol building and National Mall, NPS said Tuesday afternoon. The graffiti was found about 4:30 a.m.

"It's frustrating, not only for the Park Service but certainly for the visitors that come here, that anyone would vandalize any of our iconic memorials. Especially the Lincoln Memorial. Especially with everything that's going on now -- the calls for unity and people to come together," NPS spokesman Mike Litterst said.

"To go to the site of the memorial to Abraham Lincoln and do that, that's disappointing," he continued.
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Gear

Tensions mount as man arrested for "provoking racial hatred" after Newcastle sex abuse case


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 20:04 UTC
handcuffs arrested police cops
© Jochen Tack / Global Look Press
A man who was arrested after stripping off in public to reveal his torso scrawled with the words "stop Muslim grooming gangs" has accused the government of failing to do enough to tackle anti-white racism.

Unemployed Jimmy Lamb, 24, took his shirt off in Newcastle and then in Gateshead town centers last week to reveal the slogans. His protest came after 18 Asian men were jailed for abusing girls as young as 14.

Lamb first launched his unusual protest next to the Monument in Newcastle shopping center. Half an hour later, the police told him to cover up and move on.

Lamb, however, took a train to Gateshead and repeated his protest, this time in Trinity Square.
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Smoking

Estonia bans smoking in prisons

Alli Vahtila
ERR News
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 20:09 UTC
Estonia prison
© Tairo Lutter/Postimees/ScanpixViru Prison in Jõhvi, Northeastern Estonia. April 2017.
The Estonian state is to ban smoking in prison exercise areas beginning Oct. 1.

Ministry of Justice spokesperson Dagne Mihkels told ERR that inmates in Estonian prisons are already currently limited to just three cigarettes per day, and that a greater change to the smoking policy took effect in 2010.

"Opportunities for smoking in prisons are already currently very limited," Mihkels explained. "Inmates can currently only smoke in the exercise area, and up to three cigarettes per day, which are dispensed to them by prison guards, so prisons don't facilitate chain smoking anyway. If needed, inmates will receive treatment for nicotine addiction."

The ministry spokesperson noted that the ban on smoking inside prisons entered into force in 2010.

"Before that, inmates could smoke as many cigarettes per day as they were able to buy," he recalled, "And so the 2010 change had a significantly greater impact than the current change. Some people at the time talked about the threat of a prison riot, but such thoughts remained more lore."
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Fire

Best of the Web: Left inflames tensions further, Muslim civil rights org calls for removal of ALL Confederate references throughout USA

Jon Street
The Blaze
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 17:27 UTC
confederate statue
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe executive director of CAIR, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization, called for cities and states to scrub all Confederate references in light of the white supremacist terror attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
America's largest Muslim civil rights organization is asking state and local governments across the country to remove or change the name of anything named after Confederate sympathizers.

Nihad Awad, national executive director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, told the Daily Caller on Monday that doing so would be a "fitting response" to the deadly domestic terror attack that took place over the weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In that attack, James Fields, an alleged white supremacist, plowed over a group of people on a pedestrian walkway in downtown Charlottesville, killing one woman, 32-year-old Heather Heyer, and injuring 19 others.

White supremacists showed up in Charlottesville to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general.

Comment: It doesn't sound like the left is looking for peaceful resolution to the building tensions in the US, instead they're pouring gasoline onto a nasty fire.

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Bell

Flashback Charlottesville major declares city "capital of resistance" to Trump

Maggie Servais
The Cavalier Daily
Wed, 01 Feb 2017 12:12 UTC
Mike Signer
© Maggie Servais | Cavalier DailyCharlottesville Mayor Mike Signer said he wants Charlottesville to be a leading city in the resistance against President Trump's executive order.
Hundreds of people gathered on the Downtown Mall Tuesday for a rally in front of Charlottesville City Hall. The event, initiated by Mayor Mike Signer, was a response to President Trump's executive order, "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States."

Signer declared Charlottesville "a capital of the resistance" against the Trump administration.

The executive order enacted last Friday halts the asylum program for refugees and prevents those who are not American citizens traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen from entering the U.S.

Signer, speaking as an individual member of City Council and not on behalf of the council as a whole, expressed his support for immigrants and refugees in Charlottesville. He announced his plans to protect the targeted members of the community, such as providing legal counsel for refugees and handling complaints of harassment.

"This weekend I spoke both with Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and ... they both leaped at the chance to direct their staff to provide specific casework assistance to local refugees who urgently need help and guidance," Signer told the crowd. "I will ask the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission to discuss and address any complaints of xenophobia and religious and ethnic intolerance and harassment in our city."

Signer addressed the legal challenges the city may face in upcoming months and his plans to engage with other local officials to determine solutions.

Comment: Prophetic words?

More on the events in Charlottesville:

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USA

Mostly black group works to protect Confederate statues in Dallas

Jeff Paul
CBS DFW
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:32 UTC
Robert E. Lee statue
Robert E. Lee statue
The debate about Confederate statues in Dallas intensified on Monday as a group made up of predominantly African Americans called for the monuments to remain standing.

Several cities across America have now begun to remove or talk about removing Confederate markers shortly after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville turned deadly.

Former city council member Sandra Crenshaw thinks removing the statues won't help.

"I'm not intimidated by Robert E. Lee's statue. I'm not intimidated by it. It doesn't scare me," said Crenshaw. "We don't want America to think that all African Americans are supportive of this."

Crenshaw, along with some Buffalo Solider historians and Sons of Confederate Veterans are coming together to help protect the Confederate markers from toppling over in Dallas.

Comment: Hyper-activists target Confederate monuments across U.S. as Baltimore calls for them to be torn down

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Alarm Clock

Test run? Guam residents endure midnight danger alert amid North Korea standoff


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:28 UTC
A view of Tumon tourist district at dusk on the island of Guam
© Erik De Castro / ReutersA view of Tumon tourist district at dusk on the island of Guam.
On midnight Tuesday, Guamanians were subjected to an emergency radio alert warning them of an unspecified "danger" against the backdrop of North Korean threats on the US territory. Officials revealed, however, that the warning was a false alarm and there was no imminent danger to the island.

The "civil danger warning" was broadcast by two radio stations, a music channel and a Christian network, at 12.25am, alerting listeners to an unspecified threat on Guam. The warning lasted 15 minutes but a statement from Guam Homeland Security and the Civil Defense office said it was a mistake and it was working to ensure "human error will not occur again".

"Residents and visitors are reminded to remain calm, even with the continued unconfirmed reports throughout the media,"said George Charfauros, Guam's Homeland Security Advisor.

"Remember there is no change in threat level, we continue business as usual and know there are US Department of Defense capabilities in place. We continue communication with our federal and military partners and have not received official statement warranting any concern for imminent threat to Guam or the Marianas."
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Clipboard

Swiss hotel accused of anti-Semitism for ordering Jewish guests to shower before swimming

Nina Larson
Yahoo News
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:20 UTC
swimming pool
© AFP Photo/Julian Stratenschulte
A Swiss hotel that posted signs telling Jewish clients to shower before using the pool and restricting their access to the facility's freezer has unleashed outrage and official complaints from Israel.

The Paradies apartment hotel in the Alpine village of Arosa in eastern Switzerland is being accused of anti-Semitism after an outraged guest posted to Facebook a picture of a notice plastered outside the hotel pool.

"To our Jewish Guests, women, men and children, please take a shower before you go swimming," it said, adding that "If you break the rules I'm forced to (close) the swimming pool for you."
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Bullseye

Boston's Holocaust Memorial attacked for the second time this summer; bystanders detain rock-throwing teen


RT
Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:20 UTC
holocaust memorial
© Brian Snyder / ReutersWorkers clean up broken glass after the Holocaust Memorial was vandalized in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., August 14, 2017, days after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent.
A glass panel on the Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts, has been vandalized for the second time this summer. A 17-year-old boy is in custody after bystanders held him down until police arrived.

Police were alerted at around 6:40pm Monday. The boy being accused of the damage will be charged with willful and malicious destruction of property.

When police officers arrived on the scene, they found the suspect being held down by two bystanders. According to witnesses, the accused had been seen throwing what appeared to be a rock at the memorial, according to a Boston Police Department report.

The BPD's Civil Rights Unit is also investigating the incident to decide whether or not additional charges will be filed.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) took to Twitter to weigh in on the situation.
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