Bill Gates Loves Common Core for Your Kids, BUT NOT HIS

Photo Credit: Getty / Alex Wong

Photo Credit: Getty / Alex Wong

By Eric Owens. Billionaire software tycoon Bill Gates has poured millions of dollars into efforts to develop and promote the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a set of K-12 math and language arts curriculum benchmarks and high-stakes standardized tests now being implemented in 46 states.

Strangely enough, though, Common Core isn’t quite good enough for Gates and his wife, Melinda, when it comes to the education of their own three children.

Diane Ravitch, a self-styled education policy iconoclast who tends to oppose Common Core (and charter schools, and much else), noted this irony on her blog earlier this week.

The children of Bill and Melinda Gates – Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe – have attended Lakeside School, Seattle’s most elite, fancypants private school.

Read more from this story HERE.

______________________________________________________________________________

Common Core debate likely to heat up again

By Mike Wiser.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had just left the stage at the Des Moines Marriott and walked into a gaggle of reporters.

Cruz had been speaking to an assembly of home-school families. He told them he believed in religious freedom and educational choice. With the reporters, he added a finer point.

“I emphatically oppose the Common Core,” he said.

He’s not alone.

In statehouses across the country, legislators are debating laws to delay, or eliminate, parts of the Common Core standards for reasons ranging from curriculum control to suspicion over government data collection.

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Customers Cheer On Coffee Shop Armed to the Teeth with Gun-Toting Baristas

Photo Credit: YouTube

Photo Credit: YouTube

By Joe Saunders.

A Spokane, Wash., coffee stand is taking a stand of its own against predatory criminals by making sure at least one of its staffers is armed at all times.

“A couple of them bring handguns every day, no matter what shift it is …,” Jitterz Java owner Sara Chapel told local television station KXLY last week. “There is always a gun here now.”

Chapel made the decision after an unknown man, armed with what appeared to be a weapon, tried to enter the coffee stand through its drive-through window on March 16. An employee on duty managed to block the attempt and grab her gun, and the lesson – the store’s third robbery or robbery attempt in less than a month — isn’t being forgotten.

Read more from this story HERE.

________________________________________________________________________

Armed baristas at Spokane coffee shop

By Nick Provenza.

The next robber who tries to hold up Jitterz Java in Spokane is likely to face a gun.

After three robberies in a month, the owner says there always will be a gun at the coffee stand.

Read more from this story HERE.

McConnell Just Cut the Legs Right Out From Under House Republicans…

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Earlier today we wrote about how Cruz, Lee, Paul, Enzi, and Roberts were all standing together to strip the IMF legislation out of the aid package bill for Ukraine. As I said earlier, the IMF legislation would basically double the contribution of the US to the IMF fund while lessening America’s influence over how that money is spent.

So what does McConnell do? Does he stand with the filibuster effort? No, pushes Republicans to vote for the bill, thus making sure to get Harry Reid his 60 votes to pass the bill to prevent the filibuster led by Cruz and the others.

So now Reid’s Ukraine aid bill containing the IMF legislation has bipartisan support and he will use that to hammer the House to accept his bill.

Read more from this story HERE.

University Official Calls Pro-Lifers ‘Provocateurs’

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

An official at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where a professor faces charges for an alleged attack on a pro-life advocate, is calling such campus visitors “provocateurs” and warning students to beware of those “proselytizers hawking intolerance in the name of religious belief.”

The harsh words come from Michael D. Young, a vice chancellor, who dispatched a memo for “widest distribution.”

It follows the alleged attack by Mireille Miller-Young, who teaches pornography, queer theory and black film at the tax-payer subsidized school.

She was accused of misdemeanor theft, battery and vandalism after allegedly stealing and destroying an anti-abortion sign and assaulting a teen girl who tried to retrieve it.

It happened when the instructor came across the pro-life display sponsored by the Christian pro-life group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust on March 4. Thirteen members of the group had posted banners and literature which displayed graphic imagery of late-term abortions designed to spark conversations with passing students.

Read more from this story HERE.

Reality Star-Turned-Republican Politico Draws Crowd At Campus Speech

6261666821_63ddf64c7d“You didn’t get Ronald Reagan without Jimmy Carter. Barack Obama is our Jimmy Carter.”

So said Wisconsin Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy to a room packed with College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation members at The George Washington University on Tuesday night.

Duffy gave hope that 2016 will yield a conservative president, just as 1980 did when the country was disappointed with the Carter presidency.

The former MTV reality television star brought these and other words of wisdom to young conservatives and libertarians.

Duffy touted the notion of Republican unity, especially heading into the 2014 midterm elections, in which Republicans are projected to win big.

Read more from this story HERE.

Home Depot Loss Prevention Officer Sure Is Glad There Was a Concealed Carry Permit Holder Around…

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Police in Roseville, Mich., say a heroin addict attempted to steal a $179 battery-powered drill from a Home Depot and then stabbed the store’s loss prevention officer with a contaminated syringe when he was confronted.

Luckily, there was a customer carrying a concealed firearm nearby. The man reportedly drew his gun and ordered the suspect to drop the syringe.

Police arrested Joshua J. Silva, 26, shortly after the violent altercation on Monday night. He was charged with second-degree retail fraud and assault with intent to do great bodily harm, a felony. The suspect held in Macomb County Jail on $25,000 bond.

Police Chief James Berlin said the loss prevention officer attempted to stop Silva after he stuffed the battery-powered drill under his coat. He fought the employee to avoid arrest.

The Detroit Free Press has more:

During the fight in the parking lot, Silva pulled a concealed syringe from his jacket and used it as a weapon, swinging it around in a slashing motion, police said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Thousands Sign WhiteHouse.gov Petition for Alaska to Secede — to Russia

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

By Fox News.

Moscow’s annexation of Crimea was condemned worldwide, but some people in Alaska apparently are yearning for the days when they, too, were part of Mother Russia.

A petition on the White House website created by “S.V.” of Anchorage is calling on Alaskans and others to “vote” for Alaska to secede from the U.S. and become a part of Russia.

In less than a week, the petition, titled “Alaska Back to Russia,” has garnered nearly 30,000 signatures, though it’s unclear where they are from.

“Vote for secession of Alaska from the United States and joining Russia,” the petition says.

The petition, though strangely worded and difficult to understand, describes how Alaska was originally settled and populated by native Russians.

Read more from this story HERE.

______________________________________________________________________________

It’s Not Just Crimea—Some Alaskans Want to Join Russia, Too

By Elizabeth Kulze.

Now that Putin has successfully annexed Crimea, another group of disgruntled Russian descendants is hoping to return to the Kremlin’s dominion. As of Monday morning, a petition entitled “Alaska Back to Russia” has garnered more than 17,000 signatures since it launched Friday.

An unnamed Anchorage resident created the WhiteHouse.gov appeal, citing the state’s historic and ancestral ties to the world’s largest country. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to determine exactly how many of the signatures are authentic—as opposed to being Putin-employed bots or a ploy to exile Sarah Palin—but the surrounding chatter on Twitter confirms that at least some Russian-Americans are dead serious about secession.

BjgG7nlCQAA1pis

Aside from the widely accepted theory that North America was settled 15,000 years ago by Siberians who crossed the Bering Strait to enter present-day Alaska, the territory was under Russian rule for almost two centuries before it became the 49th state…

Read more from this story HERE.

One Doctor’s Viral Letter Exposes the Harrowing Reality of Obamacare’s ‘War Against Doctors’

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Dear Congressman Brooks,

As a practicing family physician, I plead for help against what I can best characterize as Washington’s war against doctors.

The medical profession has never before remotely approached today’s stress, work hours, wasted costs, decreased efficiency, and declining ability to focus on patient care.

In our community alone, at least 6 doctors have left patient care for administrative positions, to start a concierge practice, or retire altogether.

Doctors are smothered by destructive regulations that add costs, raise our overhead and ‘gum up the works,’ making patient treatment slower and less efficient, thus forcing doctors to focus on things other than patient care and reduce the number of patients we can help each day.

I spend more time at work than at any time in my 27 years of practice and more of that time is spent on administrative tasks and entering useless data into a computer rather than helping sick patients.

Read the rest of the letter HERE.

Malkin: A Whole Lotta Democratic Corruption Going On

Photo Credit: Townhall

Photo Credit: Townhall

Has Nancy Pelosi seen a newspaper lately? (Pro tip, hon: Like the Obamacare monstrosity, you have to read it to find out what’s in it.) I’d love to see her face in the wake of the veritable epidemic of Democratic corruption now sweeping the country. Pelosi’s blink count must be off the charts.

I’m going to make it easy on Pelosi and put all of the latest cases in one handy rogue’s gallery reference list. But let’s not be naive. It’s clear to me that the Barack Obama/Eric Holder DOJ is clearing the decks before the midterms. Prediction: The FBI’s GOP corruption shoe will drop right before the elections for maximum distraction and damage. For now, let’s take stock of the jackassery:

–The Dirty Democratic Mayors’ Club: Charlotte, N.C., Mayor Patrick Cannon, who bragged about partying with the Obamas to help grease the wheels for city projects, was arrested this week on federal corruption and influence-peddling charges. He’s accused of accepting gobs of cash payoffs and Las Vegas trips.

Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Wave of Lawmaker Arrests: They’re All Democrats

By Kathy Shaidle.

More than a dozen recent cases of criminal charges or investigations against elected officials, including a rash of arrests in just the past couple of days, have one major thing in common.

They’re all Democrats, and, in many instances, establishment media seems loath to report that fact.

On his nationally syndicated radio show today, Rush Limbaugh recounted a number of the cases, including the gun-trafficking charges brought today against California state Sen. Leland Yee.

Limbaugh pointed out that Yee “was among the most vocal anti-Second Amendment Democrats in the country.”

“This guy wanted to eliminate it. He didn’t want you to have any guns, and here he is indicted for trafficking in military grade weapons,” Limbaugh said.

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

California State Senator Leland Yee arrested in FBI sweep

By Michael Lundin.

A longtime California politician who was praised for his efforts to make government more transparent and authored gun control legislation was arrested Wednesday, accused of conspiracy to deal firearms and wire fraud.

The allegations against State Sen. Leland Yee were outlined in an FBI affidavit in support of a criminal complaint against him and 25 other people. The affidavit was unsealed on Wednesday, as Yee was scheduled to appear in court.

Yee performed “official acts” in exchange for donations from undercover FBI agents, as he sought to dig himself out of a $70,000 debt incurred during a failed San Francisco mayoral bid, according to court documents.

Yee is also accused of accepting $10,000 in January 2013 from an undercover agent in exchange for his making a call to the California Department of Public Health in support of a contract under consideration with the agency.

Also named in the affidavit is Raymond Chow. Chow, who is also known as “Shrimp Boy,” was the former leader of a Chinese criminal organization with ties to Hong Kong.

Read more from this story HERE.

Grandson Returns from Afghanistan to Donate Part of Liver to Dying Vietnam Vet

Photo Credit: KCTV5

Photo Credit: KCTV5

It’s an amazing story of family, love and honor from one East Texas soldier to another. A dying Vietnam veteran is in desperate need of a liver transplant and his grandson is stepping in to help.

Rick Homer spent four years in the Marines and 16 in the U.S. Army. He survived the savage fighting in Vietnam, but now the 62-year-old Longview man is dying.

“I found out about it a little over three years ago. I have hemachromatosis, which is genetic. The liver doesn’t purify the blood like it supposed to. The only time I’ve got left is what the good Lord gives me,” Homer says.

He could have been on a donor list for years, but his grandson, 21-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Ricky Glenn, came to his rescue.

“The loss and the regret of me not doing anything would have outweighed this. I’m the firstborn grandson I carry my grandfather’s name,” Glenn says.

KCTV5

Read more from this story HERE.