A state full of parents who, having been suddenly forced to help homeschool youngsters, have by the millions grown more appreciative of the work of professional teachers in actual classrooms, had reason to worry when they heard how Gov. Cuomo trotted out plans for a Gates Foundation reinvention of public education statewide.

The Tech Stuff You Use Everyday is Dirtier Than You Think!

The Tech Stuff You Use Everyday is Dirtier Than You Think!

12 March 2015 , Volume 91, Number 2

captain_j03 posted a photo:

Wish me a happy mother's day and I'll slit your guts like a ripe melon.

My mood is not the best today - my sister woke me at 6 AM for said reason. On a sunday. And guess what - I am not even a mother.

Toy Project Day 1746

Whenever Americans see videos of police brutality against black men and women, the first thing they do is assume they deserved their executionWhat skin color are the bad guys in America’s fantasies of vigilantism? When the proverbial “fellas” get together to drink beers and talk about their newest guns and who they’d take down, what race are the “criminals” in the theater of their minds?When Greg McMichael and his son, Travis, got the call from their neighbor that a “burglar” was running through their Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood that chilly February day, what color man do you think they imagined as they locked, loaded, and embarked on their “mission”?Ahmaud Arbery is dead today because when Americans dream of vigilante justice, black men are the villains of their imaginations.We as a nation are so comfortable with this baseline bigotry that our first assumption whenever we see videos of police brutality against or shootings of black men and women, the first thing we do is assume that the victims must have done something wrong to earn their own public execution.This assumption is both a function of white America having a completely different experience with police officers than black America as well as the hundreds of years of vilifying blackness in media and American culture.I will never forget the biggest and most uproarious applause during the theater debut of the lackluster 2007 vigilante film, Brave One, came when the protagonist Jodi Foster got her first vigilante kills of the movie – two threatening and scary black men. That theater filled with men the same age range as Greg and Travis McMichael erupted as if at that moment, all that they had ever imagined had been fulfilled on the big screen. Needless to say, I left that theater before the credits rolled.Across the country, our political leaders hold these same bigoted beliefs which inevitably lead to policies that directly assume criminality based on skin color.During his tenure as mayor of New York City, billionaire Michael Bloomberg made it explicitly clear why it was that he sent police officers into black and brown communities to “throw them” up against the wall. In his 2015 Aspen Institute speech he stated:“People say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana who are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why’d we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the way you should get the guns out of the kids’ hands is throw them against the wall and frisk them.”And it is for this reason that I do not distinguish between the violence committed by American citizens acting as vigilantes and the violence committed by so-called officers of the law when, in both cases, the working assumption and driving force behind that violence is the deeply bigoted and firmly American association between blackness and criminality.For Ahmaud, that association not only led to his brutal killing, but it also initially meant his killer not being arrested. It took more than two months for the father and son duo to be arrested. When explaining why they were not charged immediately the district attorney, George Barnhill, immediately stated that the victim, Ahmaud Arbery, was, in fact, the “criminal suspect”.“It appears that [Greg and Travis McMichael’s] intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia Law [sic] this is perfectly legal.”Even after viewing the video and with no evidence beyond Ahmaud’s skin color, the top cop in the institution designed to bring equal justice under the law concluded that Ahmaud was a criminal suspect when he was simply a black man taking a jog.What are black Americans to do when justice is delayed or outright denied because of the assignment of innocence to vigilantes and police officers?What are black Americans to do when the assumption of guilt because of our skin color is as American as the guns they use to kill us?What are we to do when in our neighbors’ dreams and fantasies of cop-and-robber, the skin color of the bad guy matches our own?The very first thing we are going to do is defend ourselves as if our lives depend on it because when Americans fantasize about killing, those fantasies become our living nightmares. * Benjamin Dixon is the host of the Benjamin Dixon show.

Two competing models for selecting economic-stream immigrants are now prevalent in advanced industrialized economies: points-based and employer-led selection. Increasingly, however, hybrid selection systems are being created, implementing best practices from each selection process.

Across the Atlantic, large-scale migration has brought about unprecedented levels of diversity, transforming communities in fundamental ways — with a resulting immigration backlash and criticism of "multiculturalism." This volume delivers recommendations on what policymakers must do to build and reinforce inclusiveness given the realities on each side of the Atlantic.

Or better yet go back to Africa, we don’t need any feminazis ruining our society

I think The Rock is a combination of both but barely because when he made his debut in the WWF in late 1996, he wasn't even called The Rock yet he was Rocky Maivia at that time. By the time he started getting over with the fans as The Rock, the 90s were almost over because it was 1998 - 99 by then. He spent more time as The Rock in the 2000s but even though he was still in the WWF/E when the decade started, he was gone by 2004 (by then he was already doing movies and wrestling at the same time). Then The Rock stopped wrestling completely and spent the rest of the 00s decade making movies, he spent even less time wrestling in the 2010s which is his most recent run in the WWE he missed 2010, came back in 2011 and was gone by 2013 aside from one match in 2016. What do you guys think ?

Six young people joined STEP OUT 2014 and an outreach in the Philippines to challenge their comfort zones, and they were not disappointed.

"Everyone hates politicians," the MSP observed. We were chatting about the EU referendum and she was explaining why the polls were showing a rise in support for a Leave vote.

Santa Marta, Colombia :: Logos Hope's crew moves programmed events off the ship and on to shore.

Tom Libretto of Pega discusses the rapid evolution from traditional CRM to a real-time customer-centric marketing and sales environment

Tom Libretto of Pega discusses the rapid evolution from traditional CRM to a real-time customer-centric marketing and sales environment

The Covid 19 crisis is an opportunity to redefine tax policy and law. A calibrated approach to balance welfare economics with a vision to pioneer economic activity and national growth is needed.

Covid-19 presents an opportunity for UGC to push for US SAT-style common entrance exam

US courts have been heavily relying on a 50-year-old legal loophole to shield cops from misconduct allegations, an investigation by Reuters claims. It allows officers to get off the hook even when their conduct is deemed unlawful.
Read Full Article at RT.com

Researchers at Yale have unveiled a new interactive map that estimates public opinion on global warming right down to the county level.

As a follow-up to our previous employer survey on proposals to reform the employment tribunal system, in January 2012 we conducted a second survey seeking views on the introduction of tribunal fees, on the Government’s decision to al...

The EU Commission has today taken the first step towards a comprehensive review of the Working Time Directive (WTD). This is despite last year's failure to agree changes to the treatment of on-call time or amendments to the 48 hou...

When international opera star Warren Mok learned in March that he had contracted Covid-19, he immediately checked if his voice was affected.“I tried my voice right away. It was still there,” Mok said, recalling his relief that his vocal cords remained in good shape.Dubbed one of China’s Three Tenors, the world-renowned singer’s battle with the deadly virus involved spending a total of 38 days in isolation, first in Thailand, then in Hong Kong.Sharing his ordeal with the Post, the 61-year-old…

A new study of London's Bangladeshi community finds that cultural assimilation changes how people engage with the world

In the past, author and NYU professor, Clay Shirky's predictions haven't always come true, but it appears he was on the money in 2011. Foreign Policy Magazine named Shirky one of their "Top 100 Global Thinkers," for his musings on social media's impact on revolutions, which we saw come to full fruition in the Arab Spring.

WeWork’s ex-chief sues SoftBank, a popular children’s computer game gets hacked, and IBM’s Think conference goes virtual this week. WeWork cofounder and former chief executive Adam Neumann has filed a suit against Japanese conglomerate SoftBank for abandoning a $3 billion tender offer to the startup’s shareholders. The money is part of a $9.6 billion rescue…

Arvind Krishna’s first keynote as IBM’s chief executive officer probably wasn’t the event of his dreams. Instead of standing in front of an enthusiastic crowd at IBM Think in San Francisco, he spoke to a digitally-connected audience over video powered by Watson Media, not knowing who was watching. As it happens, 75,000 people were registered…

F1 remains hopeful that the season can start in early July with a doubleheader at the Austrian Grand Prix. But even if it does, it will likely lack its usual festive atmosphere.

There’s an image hidden in these black-and-white blotches. Once you spot the figure, that’s it: The shape will emerge, and then, try as you might, you’ll never unsee it.

Mike Tyson once threatened to beat up Michael Jordan over their romantic history with the same woman, the boxer’s former manager has claimed.

Revealing her family is expecting two new arrivals — already dubbed the "Quarantwins" — Anika Wells is using her experience to mount a case for Australia's workplaces to change.

Only US is judged to have dealt with it worse, after it was reported the UK has the highest death toll of any country in Europe

• Coronavirus – latest updates
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More people in this country now believe the UK has performed worse than Italy, Spain and France in the Covid-19 crisis than say it has done better than its European neighbours, according the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The data shows that only the United States is judged by a majority of people in the UK to have fared worse. While two weeks ago more people thought that the UK had done better than Italy and Spain, now the reverse is the case.

Young SMEs (firms no more than five years old) have been the most dynamic job creators over most of the past decade and across the 18 countries analysed in the OECD DynEmp project.

Governments need to rethink their tourism policies to encourage more diversity, reduce concentration in high-density destinations and put in place long-term strategies that are ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive, according to the OECD.

Education plays a crucial role in raising awareness of environmental challenges and shaping the attitudes and behaviours that can make a difference. A recently released Trends Shaping Education Spotlight looks at the role of education in both preparing and providing our citizens with the skills needed for a sustainable and productive future.

Cloudy head on climate change? Join the webinar on Wednesday 30 March 2016 from 1-2 pm (Paris time) with Professor Per Espen Stoknes on What we think about... when we try not to think about... global warming!

The challenges we face in our era of rapid, disruptive change are daunting, but we are starting to develop the tools, techniques and concepts to meet them, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said.

This seminar will provide an opportunity for participants to share experiences on issues such as the influence of accelerated commercialization of education and a knowledge-based society.

Interview with Allan Päll - Secretary General of the European Youth Forum

What do innovative learning environments around the world look like? How might they be led and evaluated? What policy strategies stimulate and support them? For the past decade the OECD’s Centre for Education Research and Innovation (CERI) has addressed these and similar questions in an international study called Innovative Learning Environments.

Shift your thoughts so you can move into the future with more clarity, confidence and control.

The worst may now be over, but as one frontline doctor reveals in her latest diary, traumatised medics now have time to reflect on the life-and-death decisions taken in the heat of battle… 

Accused serial killer Bradley Robert Edwards, now 51. was just 19 when he donned a woman's nightie, crept into a bedroom and climbed on top of a sleeping Perth teenager in 1988.

The worst may now be over, but as one frontline doctor reveals in her latest diary, traumatised medics now have time to reflect on the life-and-death decisions taken in the heat of battle… 

It's Hot or Not time again as Sportsmail's Riath Al-Samarrai reveals what's been making him feel warm and what's been leaving him cold this week.

A new child-led survey has documented the types of violence children in Maharashtra are exposed to. Alka Gadgil reports the important findings from the survey.

Even the most calculating and hard-hearted woman will not be indifferent to what happens to the child she has birthed. This is the reason that female infanticide remains a phenomenon restricted to only a few areas while sex selective abortions are rampant, writes Kalpana Sharma.