9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination

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It’s been about nine years since the Obama administration lured states into adopting Common Core sight unseen, with promises it would improve student achievement. Like President Obama’s other big promises — “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” — this one’s been proven a scam.

“If you set and enforce rigorous and challenging standards and assessments; if you put outstanding teachers at the front of the classroom; if you turn around failing schools — your state can win a Race to the Top grant that will not only help students outcompete workers around the world, but let them fulfill their God-given potential,” President Obama said in July 2009. . .

ACT scores released earlier this month show that students’ math achievement is at a 20-year low. The latest English ACT scores are slightly down since 2007, and students’ readiness for college-level English was at its lowest level since ACT’s creators began measuring that item, in 2002. Students’ preparedness for college-level math is at its lowest point since 2004.

SAT scores also dropped post-Common Core until it fully implemented a new version tailored for Common Core. How convenient. Even after the test was overhauled to match Common Core, average test scores increased by 0.7 percent in the most recent results. It represents almost no difference to pre-Common Core results, and the public can’t know exactly how the scores were recentered and altered, either.

In all the previous SAT overhauls, average scores technically went up but statistical analyses show they’ve actually been steadily losing ground over the past 60 years. In other words, the SAT has a history of score inflation, and Common Core is doing nothing to reverse that.

(Read more from “9 Years Into Common Core, Test Scores Are Down, Indoctrination Up” HERE)

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Don’t Mess With This Mama: Mother of 3 Shoots Home Invader

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A South Carolina mother of three protected her children and her home with her firearm when a stranger attempted to enter her house last week.

At 6:30 a.m. last Thursday, Ashley Jones says she heard someone banging on the door of her home in Anderson County, South Carolina, Fox Carolina reports.

After investigating the noise, Jones called 911 and grabbed her gun. She says she walked downstairs and saw a man in a red shirt knocking on her window by the front door.

“I yelled, ‘I have a gun, I will shoot you, get away from my house,’” Jones said.

She described how the man and a second person attempted to enter the home through the back door and then the garage door. Returning to the front, the man kicked the door in, and Jones fired her weapon. She says she hit the invader and he ran away.

“Something just came over me, and I got calm. My heart slowed down and I got focused. I told myself if he comes in here, you can’t let him get past your doorstep. You have three young children to protect,” Jones said.

She added that if he had continued to enter her home, she would have fired again.

“I would’ve killed him if I had to.”

After the incident, Jones said she’s glad to be a gun owner and to have the proper training to use her weapon.

“If I didn’t have a weapon, I wouldn’t have been able to fight him off,” Jones said.

Police have the primary suspect in custody and say his wounds are not life-threatening. There is no known connection between the suspect and the homeowner. (For more from the author of “Don’t Mess With This Mama: Mother of 3 Shoots Home Invader” please click HERE)

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Huge: Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Was Lying

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A woman who accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault admitted to congressional investigators she made up her claims to “get attention.”

According to a letter sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions late Friday afternoon, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Judy Munro-Leighton for criminal prosecution and revealed her actions were part of a ploy to take down Kavanaugh’s nomination. . .

Given her relatively unique name, Committee investigators were able to use open-source research to locate Ms. Munro-Leighton and determine that she: (1) is a left-wing activist; (2) is decades older than Judge Kavanaugh; and (3) lives in neither the Washington DC area nor California, but in Kentucky.

On November 1, 2018, Committee investigators connected with Ms. Munro-Leighton by phone and spoke with her about the sexual-assault allegations against Judge Kavanaugh she had made to the Committee. Under questioning by Committee investigators, Ms. Munro-Leighton admitted, contrary to her prior claims, that she had not been sexually assaulted by Judge Kavanaugh and was not the author of the original “Jane Doe” letter. When directly asked by Committee investigators if she was, as she had claimed, the “Jane Doe” from Oceanside California who had sent the letter to Senator Harris, she admitted: “No, no, no. I did that as a way to grab attention.

She further confessed to Committee investigators that (1) she “just wanted to get attention”; (2) “it was a tactic”; and (3) “that was just a ploy.” She told Committee investigators that she had called Congress multiple times during the Kavanaugh hearing process – including prior to the time Dr. Ford’s allegations surfaced – to oppose his nomination.

(Read more from “Huge: Kavanaugh Accuser Admits She Was Lying” HERE)

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Border Wall Costume Leads to Administrative Leave for 14 School Employees

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Fourteen Idaho school employees were put on administrative leave after wearing costumes of President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall and outfits that depicted Mexicans.

Middleton School District Superintendent Josh Middleton made the announcement Saturday morning after a special board meeting that addressed the costumes. A letter to the district’s community and parents outlined steps the district would take following the politically-charged costumes.

The plan includes having security at Middleton Heights Elementary School, having the District’s “Crisis Team” to “support the social-emotional well-being, for students, staff and parents,” and cultural sensitivity training for staff.

“Middleton is under a microscope, and I view this as an opportunity to learn and grow from this incident, and even more create enhanced learning environments where Every Child Learning Every Day is wrapped in Every Child Shown Kindness, Respect and Love Everyday,” Middleton wrote.

Photos of the school employees wearing sombreros and ponchos to represent Mexicans and a border wall costume that read “Make America Great Again” were posted on the school’s Facebook page Thursday night, but were later removed. Screenshots of the pictures went viral, according to The Associated Press. (Read more from “Border Wall Costume Leads to Administrative Leave for 14 School Employees” HERE)

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Young Activists Can Sue Government Over Climate Change, Supreme Court Says

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By NPR. A group of young people can sue the federal government over its climate change policies, the Supreme Court said Friday. Since it was first filed in 2015, the government has requested several times that Juliana v. United States be dismissed.

“I want to trust that we are truly on track for trial without having further delays,” Kelsey Juliana, a 22-year-old plaintiff, said in a statement, “but these defendants are treating this case, our democracy, and the security of mine and future generations like it’s a game. I’m tired of playing this game.” . . .

The lawsuit — brought by 21 plaintiffs, many of whom are minors, in U.S. district court in Eugene, Ore. — claims the federal government encouraged the production of oil, gas and other fossil fuels, causing the planet to warm and infringing on several of the plaintiffs’ fundamental rights. It lists examples that the government knew the Earth was warming as early as 1965, and it requests a court order for the government to decrease carbon dioxide emissions as well as the creation of a national plan to “restore Earth’s energy balance” and “stabilize the climate system.” (Read more from “Young Activists Can Sue Government Over Climate Change, Supreme Court Says” HERE)

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Supreme Court Refuses to Block Young People’s Climate Change Lawsuit Against U.S. Government

By The Independent. . .The court’s three-page order said the government should seek relief before the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

It noted the government’s assertion that the “suit is based on an assortment of unprecedented legal theories, such as a substantive due process right to certain climate conditions, and an equal protection right to live in the same climate as enjoyed by prior generations”.

The justices acknowledged that the 9th Circuit had previously turned down the government, but said those decisions came when there was a “likelihood that plaintiffs’ claims would narrow as the case progressed”.

That no longer seems the case, the unsigned opinion said, suggesting the possibility that the 9th Circuit might see things differently now. . .

The plaintiffs in the case range in age from 11 to 22. The goal of their lawsuit is to compel the government to scale back its support for fossil fuel extraction and production and to support policies aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. (Read more from “Supreme Court Refuses to Block Young People’s Climate Change Lawsuit Against U.S. Government” HERE)

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Priest: Leaders Must Stop Pushing Lie That God Makes Some People Gay

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There’s a terrible problem with the Catholic Church when some of its leaders are pushing LGBT propaganda in conflict with Church teachings, Canonist Father Gerald Murray said recently, and true accompaniment means telling a same-sex attracted person not to act upon their sexual inclination.

Murray and The Catholic Thing Editor-in-chief Robert Royal offered straight talk on Catholic teaching once again on the Oct. 25 edition of EWTN’s World Over program when discussing the just concluded Youth Synod.

Host Raymond Arroyo asked the two about the significance of the Church working with the term “LGBT” as part of the Youth Synod. Despite not having surfaced in pre-Synod discussions the term LGBT did get inserted into the Synod’s working document – the first time for such ideologically-driven language to be included in a Vatican document.

“It is a terrible problem for the Church, precisely because some of the leadership is pushing the line that Father James Martin has been pushing in his books and speeches, which is that God made you this way,” Murray said. “And the assertions made: God made me a homosexual, God made me a bisexual, God made me a transgender person – and this is not true.” . . .

“It does not include committing acts of sodomy, it does not include saying that God made me a male, but I really am a female, and therefore I’m a female,” he said. “And it does not include people having sex with people of both sexes and claiming this is their divine vocation.” (Read more from “Priest: Catholic Leaders Must Stop Pushing Lie That God Makes Some People Gay” HERE)

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Trump Encourages Adoption: It ‘Signals Every Child – Born or Unborn – Is Wanted and Loved’

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This week, President Donald Trump issued his second annual proclamation for National Adoption Month, hailing both adopting children and placing them for adoption as acts of love that enrich American society.

“Adoption is a blessing for all involved. It provides needed relief to birth parents, who may not, for whatever reason, be in a position to raise a child,” the president said Wednesday. “It fosters loving homes for children. It enables individuals to grow their families and share their love. And it fosters strong families, which are integral to ensuring strong communities and a resilient country.”

“Adoption affirms the inherent value of human life and signals that every child – born or unborn – is wanted and loved,” Trump continued. “Children, regardless of race, sex, age, or disability, deserve a loving embrace into families they can call their own. This month, we honor the thousands of American families who have grown because of adoption.”

The president specifically highlighted adoption’s power to “show women they are not alone in an unexpected pregnancy,” called for continued assistance for families willing to adopt, and pledged support for children in foster care. . .

“I encourage all Americans to observe this month by helping children in need of a permanent home secure a more promising future with a forever family, so they may enter adulthood with the love and support we all deserve,” Trump concluded. (Read more from “Trump Encourages Adoption: It ‘Signals Every Child – Born or Unborn – Is Wanted and Loved’” HERE)

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The New York Times Just Made a Stunning Admission About Why Leftists Often Refuse to Call out Anti-Semitism

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On Wednesday, The New York Times ran a story about rising anti-Semitism in the city. That story noted some points that seem to have gone by the wayside for years. The article reveals that Jews are by far the most targeted group in New York:

Contrary to what are surely the prevailing assumptions, anti-Semitic incidents have constituted half of all hate crimes in New York this year, according to the Police Department. To put that figure in context, there have been four times as many crimes motivated by bias against Jews — 142 in all — as there have against blacks. Hate crimes against Jews have outnumbered hate crimes targeted at transgender people by a factor of 20.

The story also reveals that hate crimes against Jews in New York City aren’t coming from white supremacists, but from people driven by other motives:

During the past 22 months, not one person caught or identified as the aggressor in an anti-Semitic hate crime has been associated with a far right-wing group, Mark Molinari, commanding officer of the police department’s Hate Crimes Task Force, told me.

Those motives range from racial hatred to religious hatred. But the Times story reveals far more than that. The Times admits that the Left has routinely ignored anti-Semitism in the city thanks to its inability to formulate a narrative blaming the Right. (Read more from “The New York Times Just Made a Stunning Admission About Why Leftists Often Refuse to Call out Anti-Semitism” HERE)

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911 Operator Recounts Taking Rabbi’s Call During Shooting

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The 911 operator who responded to the call from Tree of Life’s rabbi during the shooting has been hailed for saving the rabbi from the murderous rampage.

Allegheny County 911 operator Bruce Carlton gave instructions to Rabbi Jeffrey Myers as a gunman allegedly slew 11 people in Myers’s synagogue and reportedly kept the rabbi alive. Gunshots and screams could be heard in the background as Carlton tried to keep Myers away from the gunman, according to Carlton. It was the first call that left the responder physically shaken.

“It all seemed so surreal like it wasn’t happening. Time seemed to speed up, time seemed to slow down. Maybe after I disconnected with the rabbi and I was able to fully digest what I was reading because I was trying to keep the rabbi on the phone. One, for his safety and two, for officers’ safety.

“I tried to give as many updates as I could without compromising the police’s position. I tried to keep him on the phone without revealing his position. I didn’t want him to speak. I tried not to speak. I didn’t want the gunman to hear him. I didn’t want the gunman to hear me,” Carlton told CBS Pittsburgh.

(Read more from “911 Operator Recounts Taking Rabbi’s Call During Shooting” HERE)

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Fetal Homicide Case Could Send ‘Roe v. Wade’ Back to Court

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The U.S. Supreme Court could be forced to review Roe v. Wade sooner than people think following an Alabama high court decision to affirm the state’s current fetal homicide law.

According to The Washington Times, the Alabama fetal homicide law stemmed from a recent case in which a man was convicted of double-homicide for murdering his wife, Jessie Livell Phillips, when she was eight months pregnant. The jury cited the 2006 law defining a child in utero as a “person.”

After being sentenced to death by the court, the convicted murderer appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, alleging that unborn children do not have the same protections as those who are born. The court rejected his case, with Justice Tom Parker declaring it a “logical fallacy” for the government to declare homicide in the case of a man murdering a pregnant woman but not when a woman gets an abortion — particularly a late-term abortion, which can be done up to the moment a child is born.

While pro-lifers are torn on whether the Alabama law is the best course of action against Roe, they do acknowledge that fetal homicide laws reveal a serious case of cognitive dissonance. . .

Pro-choice advocates see the glaring logical inconsistency and have elected to double-down in the opposite direction by calling for an end to fetal homicide laws, if they do not protect all pre-born humans. Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, says the laws can be abused to imprison women that abuse drugs and others who lose their child through other means. (Read more from “Fetal Homicide Case Could Send ‘Roe v. Wade’ Back to Court” HERE)

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