Common Core Being Rammed Through West Virginia

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Photo Credit: Jim MullenThe Parkersburg News (Parkersburg, West Virginia) report of Tuesday’s Wood County Board of Education meeting stated board members were presented a one hour and 40-minute presentation on the next-generation standards (sanitized new code words for Common Core State Standards Initiative.) The article stated the talk was tailored to answer a lot of pointed questions directed to the board by this writer concerning Common Core.

It’s true this writer asked many questions about Common Core and about what is going on with education in this county. However, I also asked the board and administration to address their answers to the parents, voters, and taxpayers of Wood County in a well-advertised Town Hall-style meeting where public questions could be aired, and the board and administration could interact with taxpayers and parents in discussions about education in our county; and Common Core.

Noticeably, this staged performance was veiled under “curriculum report” on the agenda. No one reading the agenda could have known the discussion would cover Common Core.

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Video: Richard Simmons Breaks Down Crying on Fox; Says Obamas ‘Rejected’ Him

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Photo Credit: MediaiteThe day before Thanksgiving 2013 shall hereby be known as “Richard Simmons Makes Hilarious Media Appearances Day.”

The fitness guru dropped by the HuffPost Live studios to talk about his efforts in fighting childhood obesity. The conversation became critical of the Obama family when Simmons revealed that he was rejected in his attempt to join the First Lady in her “Let’s Move!” campaign.


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Saudi Cleric says ‘Women Driver Ban Guards Against Evil’

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Photo Credit: AFP/Fayez NureldineThe grand mufti of Saudi Arabia said a ban on women driving in the conservative Gulf state protects society from “evil”, in remarks published in the press on Thursday.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, in a speech delivered Wednesday in the western city of Medina, said the issue of giving women the right to drive should not be “one of society’s major concerns”.

The kingdom’s most senior cleric called for “the matter to be considered from the perspective of protecting society from evil” which, according to him, included letting women drive.

His comments came as activists said they had been assured by Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef that authorities were reassessing the controversial Saudi ban on women drivers.

“Rest assured that the issue is being discussed, and expect a good outcome,” the minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Aziza al-Yusef, who met him along with fellow activist Hala al-Dosari.

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Driver Shot Dragging Chicago-Area Police Officer

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Photo Credit: AP/Chicago Sun-Times, Frank VaisvilasA suburban Chicago police officer was released from a hospital Friday after being dragged by a car driven by fleeing Thanksgiving Day shoplifting suspects, one of whom was charged with attempted murder.

Another police officer fired at the 52-year-old driver, who remained hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his arm following the Thursday night incident at a Kohl’s department store in Romeoville, the Romeoville Police Department said in a statement. The suburb is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.

The store reported suspected shoplifters to police just after 10 p.m. Thursday. As a patrol car approached the store, one suspect bolted out of a door, jumped into a waiting car and closed the door on the pursuing officer’s arm. The driver then drove off — hauling the officer with him.

“The officer was dragged quite some distance,” Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey said at a news conference.

Another officer repeatedly yelled at the driver to halt, then fired three or four shots, striking the driver with one bullet in the left arm and forcing him to stop, police said. The officer who became stuck in the car door injured his right shoulder.

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Helicopter Crashes into Scotland Pub

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Photo Credit: AP/JAN HOLLANDSA police helicopter crashed late Friday night into the roof of a popular pub in Glasgow, Scotland, leaving the building littered with debris and emergency crews scrambling to the scene.

Photos taken at the scene on Stockwell Street, located near the banks of the River Clyde, showed a helicopter smashed into the roof of The Clutha pub. Part of the roof appears to have caved in. Emergency workers can be seen near the pub’s door.

It was not immediately clear how many people were injured in the crash. The helicopter, described as a Eurocopter EC135 T2, had a crew of two police officers and a civilian pilot, the official Police Scotland Twitter feed said.

But Alex Salmond, the leader of the Scottish National Party and first minister of Scotland, tweeted that “given an incident of this scale, we must all prepare ourselves for the likelihood of fatalities.”

Labour party spokesman Jim Murphy said there had been multiple injuries, the BBC reported. Reports of people trapped inside could not be immediately confirmed.

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Black Friday: Two Trampled at Ohio Walmart, One Child

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Photo Credit: APA woman and a little girl were trampled and injured during a Black Friday frenzy at the local Walmart in New Boston, Ohio, officials say.

According to Portsmouth Ambulance crew person Judy Boggs, a little girl was sent to the hospital after being injured by shoppers at about 8PM on Thanksgiving night.

“The first call came in at 7:56 p.m. that a child had been trampled at Walmart. The crew was on scene at 8:01 p.m.,” Boggs told the media. The medical tech said that the injured was an 11-year-old female.
“She was transported to Southern Ohio Medical Center for treatment and I believe she was later released,” she said.

Boggs also reported that a second person was injured that night by overzealous shoppers at the same store.

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Krauthammer: Pro-Obamacare Ad has ‘Creepy Soviet Element’ (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Screenshot By Brendan Bordelon.

Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer ridiculed an Organizing for America commercial telling parents to give their kids a Thanksgiving scolding until they sign up for Obamacare.

“I love the part of the ad where the dad says, ‘We love you no matter what,’” Krauthammer joked Thursday on Fox News Channel’s Special Report. “What’s the dad supposed to say? You don’t get health insurance, you’re out of the house, you’re out of the will? I’m going to euthanize your dog?”

Organizing for America was a key component in President Obama’s election campaign and is intimately tied to the White House communications team. Krauthammer worried about the implications of tying partisan politics to family gatherings like Thanksgiving dinner.

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Krauthammer: Obama ‘tossed away’ George W. Bush’s Iraq War victory

By Jamie Weinstein.

Charles Krauthammer says George W. Bush’s “surge” strategy in Iraq had essentially snatched “victory from the jaws of defeat,” but President Barack Obama squandered that victory by failing to negotiate a status of forces agreement with the country.

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Report: Obama asks Netanyahu to Take ‘Breather’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Yonatan SindelPresident Obama requested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take a “breather” from his harsh criticism of the U.S. strategy regarding Iran during a call betwee the two leaders, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The request came as the administration girds up for a push in the next six months to reach a final settlement on Iran’s nuclear program. The president reportedly urged Netanyahu to tone down his rhetoric for the sake of diplomacy and urged him to dispatch officials to Washington who could help negotiate a resolution agreeable to both countries.

The president called Netanyahu last Sunday, promising to keep the Israeli leader up-to-date regarding the progress of negotiations for a final settlement. He also reaffirmed that the two countries share the same goal of a nuclear-free Iran.

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Obama: ‘We Have Accomplished As Much, If Not More, Than Any Time in Our History’

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Photo Credit: AP/Pablo Martinez MonsivaisPresident Barack Obama told the crowd at a Democratic fundraiser in Beverly Hills on Tuesday that he has accomplished “as much, if not more” than any other president.

“Over the last five years, thanks to the leadership of Nancy (Pelosi) and Harry (Reid) and legislators who are here, we have accomplished as much, if not more, than any time in our history,” Obama said.

The president then listed among the accomplishments of his administration:”saving an economy from a Great Depression; revitalizing an auto industry that is producing better cars and has come roaring back like nobody believed; doubling our exports; drastically reducing our dependence on foreign oil; doubling fuel efficiency standards; doubling our production of clean energy; reducing the pace of our carbon emissions; ending the war in Iraq; about to end the war in Afghanistan; re-centering our fight against terrorism in a way that respects our values and our ideals; expanding access to college for children all across this country; ending “don’t ask, don’t tell”; making sure that we are vindicating the notion that everybody should have a fair shot regardless of their sexual orientation, as well as their race and their gender; pushing for equal pay for women; reinstituting research for stem cells.”

Notice that Obamacare, the president’s signature achievement, was not mentioned at the top of the list. But Obama did get around to it in the next paragraph, as follows, saying he’s “as proud as he’s ever been” of the law that informally bears his name:

“Across the board, we’ve made changes that will be lasting, some of which aren’t noticed, don’t get a lot of headlines, but make a meaningful difference in people’s lives every single day. But I will tell you, of all those things, I am as proud as I’ve ever been by the work we did to make sure that in this country, if you get sick you don’t go bankrupt and that you can get the health care that you need.

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Judge Rules Colorado Sheriffs Can’t Sue Over State Gun Laws

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Photo Credit: APA federal judge ruled Wednesday that Colorado sheriffs suing the state over new firearm restrictions don’t have standing to proceed with the case as a group, but the legal battle is far from over.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger in Denver doesn’t stop the lawsuit because 21 other plaintiffs who are suing do have standing. The court will still consider whether universal background checks and a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds are constitutional, the judge said.

“At this juncture, the court is not even considering whether the challenged portions of the laws are constitutional,” Krieger said.

Sheriffs in most of Colorado’s 64 counties filed the lawsuit in May, saying the new regulations violate the Second Amendment. The sheriffs are elected and represent rural, gun-friendly parts of the state.

In her ruling, Krieger said sheriffs can still choose to join the suit in an individual capacity, and they’ll have 14 days to make that decision. But they cannot, as a group, sue the state in their official capacities.

Read more from this story HERE.