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As has been telegraphed for years now, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on his way out of office has announced the wind-down of his school system's Gifted and Talented program. The move is more symbolic than seismic—in a K-12 system with an estimated (though obfuscated) 900,000 or so students, only around 2,000 kindergartners will be materially affected by the change next fall, and the likely incoming mayor, Eric Adams, has said that he prefers expanding, not euthanizing, the G&T program. Basing any large educational fork in the road on a 4-year-old taking a test has always struck me...

Nancy Pelosi discusses environment, migration, and human rights at VaticanVatican City, Oct 8, 2021 / 11:30 amHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) discussed the environment, migration, and human rights during a visit to the Vatican on Friday.The Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced the visit on Oct. 8 in a post on its Twitter account.It said: “We welcome Speaker Pelosi from the U.S. House of Representatives. We talked about caring for the environment, in the light of [Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical] Laudato si’, migration issues, human rights, health in times of pandemic, and the work of the Vatican COVID...

Dave Cullen talks about today's society and how ultimately, everything going on around us is a spiritual battle, and that everyone needs to find Christ. All I gotta say is, "Preach it Dave!"

Australia’s former prime minister Tony Abbott visited Taipei on Friday where he gave a speech urging the international community to show “solidarity” with the self-ruled island, resulting in a quick reaction out of China demanding that Canberra officails stay out of its internal affairs. Abbott provocatively told the conference that “any attempt at coercion would have incalculable consequences” for China and strongly suggested that both the United States and Australia would come to Taiwan’s aid militarily. “I don’t believe America could stand by and watch [Taiwan] swallowed up,” he said, added of his own country: “I don’t believe Australia would...

There was an oil spill on off the coast of California. 144,000 gallons of oil were spilled. You also might note that there is now suddenly little interest in the story and there is a reason for that. Oil has been leaking since about October 3 and officials set about to determine the cause. It was noted that the pipeline was moved more than 100 feet along the ocean floor. The pipeline also suffered a 13 inch tear. It was most likely caused by an anchor. Why did this happen? Well, it was pretty much inevitable as there is a...

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) reportedly does not always return President Biden’s phone calls concerning the negotiations of reconciliation, CNN reported Thursday. “Biden himself has sounded exasperated at both Manchin and Sinema,” according to Democrat lawmakers who have spoken to Biden about reconciliation negotiations. “The President told progressives this week that he has spent many hours with the two senators ‘and they don’t move.'” The legislative standoff is so bad that CNN’s sources told the news organization that Sinema does not “always” return phone calls from Biden. Tester is not alone in his belief that a meeting between the senators could...

Key Points Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden used a racist remark to describe the head of the National Football League Players Association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Gruden used racist, anti-Black imagery to describe NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith in an email sent to a team executive on July 21, 2011. The NFL is reviewing Gruden’s status with the Raiders for potential discipline, a source familiar with the matter told the Journal. Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden used racist language to describe the head of the National Football League Players Association, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday....

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Californians could have higher cellphone bills after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws on Friday aimed at giving the state more money to build high-speed internet connections in unserved areas. California is one of 41 states that collect a tax on phone bills and uses the money to build high-speed internet connections. The laws Newsom signed Friday make sure the state will keep collecting that tax — and collect more of it. The laws don’t increase the tax, but it extends the tax, which was scheduled to expire at the end of next year. The laws...

A controversial law that established school choice for Kentucky students was ruled unconstitutional Friday by Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd. House Bill 563 passed in March, establishing a “school choice program” to allow students to attend schools outside of their district. Proponents of the law said they plan to appeal Shepherd’s ruling. ... The Institute for Justice intervened in the lawsuit to defend the law on behalf of Florence parent Akia McNeary and Newport great-grandparent Nancy Deaton. “Today’s ruling treats private donations as if they are government money,” said Institute for Justice Attorney Joshua House. “It holds that when...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California is the first state to let some adult children add their parents as dependents on their insurance plans, a move advocates hope will cover the small population of people living in the country illegally who don't qualify for other assistance programs. The trend nationally has been to let children linger on their parents' health insurance plans. Former President Barack Obama's health care law let children stay on their parents' plans until age 26. Some states have gone further and let kids stay on their parents' plans until at least age 30, including Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and...

Sorry for the link back to the Free Republic home page. I could not figure out how to post this without a source link. My 8-year old grand-niece's mother sent her a new HP laptop with Windows 10 pre-installed, and asked me to set it up. I have used Apple products exclusively at home, and always had dedicated IT people at work. I feel like a complete neophyte with Windows 10 stuff. I read online that the Windows parental controls are not good, and I should use third party software. Is that true? If so, what software do you-all recommend?...

It's time for The Jesse Kelly Show! Let's have some fun! Listen live at the link below. src="https://i.iheart.com/v3/url/aHR0cHM6Ly9tZWdhcGhvbmU uaW1naXgubmV0L3BvZGNhc3RzL2RmYWYyNjUwLWQ5MDYtM TFlYi05ZTdhLTFiZjhhZWM2ZTlhYy9pbWFnZS9mZTJiMmQ0ZT c2YjU1N2JiY2E0ZWQzMzFhNGU2NDJlZmM1ZmFlMTdhMmM3 MzM0YzVmZjBjNDkyY2NlNGY2YWE1NGFmNzhjY2NlZjVlMWM 2ZDVhZTcxMzJkZjkxNGYxZmExMmE3OTJiMjEyZDY3MzhkNT UwYmNkNzc2NWQ1ZmIzZi5qcGVnP2l4bGliPXJhaWxzLTIuMS4y Jm1heC13PTMwMDAmbWF4LWg9MzAwMCZmaXQ9Y3JvcCZhd XRvPWZvcm1hdCxjb21wcmVzcw?ops=fit (960%2C960)"height=300"width=300">Jesse's show is now on over 200 radio stations across the nation, replacing Buck Sexton. Those of us who miss Rush very much know that no one could ever replace him, but if you give Jesse a chance, you'll find him to be a very intelligent, refreshing, naturally funny truth teller.Jesse is a former Marine. He and his beautiful wife live in the Houston area with their two young sons. He's a self-deprecating historyphile...

American parents are organizing to fight racist critical race theories being taught in their kids’ schools. Attorney General Merrick Garland, once touted as a moderate, has responded by asking the FBI to treat them as domestic terrorists. As befits the Biden administration, this over-the-top authoritarianism is accompanied by the stench of corruption, as it turns out that Garland’s son-in-law is in the business of selling educational materials on CRT. Garland’s self-dealing and thuggery are grounds for resignation. But that isn’t the worst thing that’s happened. Bad as it is, the Biden administration’s poisonous combination of graft and authoritarianism can be...

From Vatican II to Abu Dhabi: Debate Between Bishop Schneider and Archbishop Viganò Mgr Athanasius Schneider On February 4, 2019, Pope Francis with the Grand Imam of the Cairo Mosque signed a Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together. On February 24, 2019, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X denounced this “impious gesture that scorns the First Commandment of God and attributes to the Divine Wisdom, incarnate in Jesus Christ who died for us on the Cross, the statement that ‘the pluralism and the diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God...

“Let’s Go Brandon” was paged at O’Hare International Airport

Jason Miller, a former top adviser to Donald Trump, predicted again on Friday that the former president will run for the White House in 2024—but he doesn't expect him to do so against President Joe Biden. Trump has been teasing the possibility of another presidential run in 2024 for most of the year. Miller and other associates of the former president have repeatedly said publicly that they expect him to seek office in the next presidential election. During an interview with Fox Business on Friday, Miller shared his perspective on Trump's plans. "I think ultimately in 2024 President Trump does...

Iceland on Friday suspended the Moderna anti-COVID vaccine, citing the slight increased risks of cardiac inflammation, going further than its Nordic neighbours which simply limited use of the jabs. This decision owed to "the increased incidence of myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination with the Moderna vaccine, as well as with vaccination using Pfizer/BioNTech," the chief epidemiologist said in a statement. For the past two months, Iceland has been administering an additional dose "almost exclusively" of the Moderna vaccine to Icelanders vaccinated with Janssen, a single-dose serum marketed by America's Johnson & Johnson, as well as to elderly and immunocompromised people...

Leave it to the cooky old commie to spend decades in office without an understanding of checks and balances. Especially when an insanely bloated and corrupt $3.5 TRILLION bill is on the table with the goal of creating one-party power in America forever. In fact, the Founders' entire point in creating the Senate was to 1) provide equal representation for states regardless of size and population and 2) temper the mob-like passions of the House by offering a check to any radical legislation that was being pushed forward.

The California bullet train is facing at least another billion dollars of proposed cost increases from its contractors... The state’s High-Speed Rail Authority has mostly approved such increases in the past, and if it does so again, contractors could proceed with one of the biggest price escalations since bullet train construction began in the San Joaquin Valley. The state has budgeted $22.8 billion to build a partial segment from Bakersfield to Merced. Originally, construction of the Los Angeles to San Francisco system was pegged at $33 billion. But the surging costs will probably force the state to dig deeper into...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled a plan Friday to phase out the gifted and talented programs for elementary school students that many educators say discriminate against Black and Hispanic children enrolled in the nation’s largest public school system. It will be replaced by a program called “Brilliant NYC” that will expand the pool of students being offered accelerated learning, and not limit it to just the incoming kindergarteners who scored well on an optional exam that put them on a path to attend the city’s elite middle schools and high schools.