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August was a cruel month for President Biden. The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was messy, while here at home the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report was far below expectations. Cases of COVID-19 hit the 40 million mark, and more than 650,000 people have died of the virus. A Washington Post/ABC News poll found Biden’s disapproval rating rising to 51 percent, up from 42 percent in April. Afghanistan has certainly contributed to Biden’s downward slide, with 60 percent of Americans disliking how he handled the withdrawal. Biden also experienced serious erosion on two other key concerns. Since April, approval of...

A “Mujahid Guide” is circulating that teaches Muslims in Western countries how to blend in: This book is a guide for the Muslims who are living in a majority non Muslim land, or a country where the rulers are harsh towards the believers. It will explain to you the different scenarios you may get into and how to react. It will teach you how to be a secret Agent who lives a double life, something Muslims will have to do to survive in the coming years. The book categorizes Muslims into three groups: Converts to Islam, born Muslims, and practicing...

“I believe what the Church teaches.” To utter this sentence sparks surprise, laughter, horror, or even disdain from non-Catholics – and not a few Catholics. A number of replies may follow. “You can disagree if you wish.” “The Church cannot tell you what to do, especially in the bedroom.” “Don’t you want to think for yourself?” There are assumptions underlying these glib responses. First, the teachings of the Church are burdensome, archaic, or irrelevant. Second, these teachings do not need to be obeyed; the individual can disagree, if he/she desires. Third, to believe these teachings is a denial of freedom;...

Yesterday, we explored President Barack Obama’s teachings at the University of Chicago Law School from 1996. (Snip) Question 2 is even more interesting, and sheds light on how deeply Obama was influenced by Derrick Bell's Critical Race Theory. This question concerns a fictional "Mayor Dudley Duright," the first African-American mayor of Wazoo City. The population of the city is 50 percent black and 50 percent white, and highly segregated. The Mayor decides to deal with two issues: racial disparities in city contracting, and racial disparities in the city’s Fire Department (foreshadowing the Ricci case, in which Justice Sonia Sotomayor was

Let’s take a trip via the wayback machine to the hallowed classrooms of the University of Chicago Law School. The year is 1996, and a young lecturer named Barack Obama is teaching constitutional law to a group of students. His first final exam question is about whether homosexuals can be barred from receiving state health care coverage for their infertility treatments. The question deals with a hypothetical lesbian couple that wants to have a baby. Their state prevents health providers from providing infertility treatments for unwed couples; the couple’s state-provided healthcare therefore refuses them coverage for such procedures Obama then...

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2010 – A military musician assigned to the U.S. Navy Band here teaches rowing to wounded warriors recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Johnson spends almost every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon motivating wounded warriors at the center’s Mercy Hall. Four years ago, Chief Petty Officer Michel Curtis, also a member of the Navy Band, and Johnson, began rowing at the Capitol Rowing Club here as part of their physical training regimen. Capitol Rowing Club is a masters rowing club on the Anacostia River next to the Washington...

Stivi knows about death. The married, father of four has about him the air of mysterious tough guy. IRVINE, California – When the shooter burst through the door, the students were ready. They jumped over and around tables. They rushed the gunman. They screamed and tossed anything within reach; backpacks, books, pens. In less than five seconds, the would-be killer was on the floor, powerless to carry out his planned – and staged – massacre. “How many shots did you get off?” the guest instructor asked after the simulated attack in a University of California, Irvine, classroom. “Two,” the shooter...

Two robbers who thought they had an easy mark in a 68-year-old Omaha man were surprised on Sunday. Police said Earnest Coleman was sitting in his car outside an Omaha grocery store when a young man jumped into the passenger seat with a gun and demanded Coleman's money. Coleman responded by grabbing the robber and his gun, and exchanging blows. A second robber came to Coleman's window and hit the elderly man, police said. Undeterred, Coleman pulled that man into the car and began to hit him, too. The two robbers then ran away - without Coleman's money and without...

Pfc. Kenneth Dickerson, a 19-year-old Marine from Clive, Iowa, assigned to the Hawaii-based Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, hands out candy to two girls in Barwanah, Iraq, July 29, 2006. The 19-year-old U.S. Marine from Clive, Iowa, has spent the past four months of his deployment in Iraq teaching himself Arabic, and uses it to help his fellow Marines by serving as a translator during the unitÂ’s daily patrols through Barwanah, Iraq. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Roe F. Seigle U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Kenneth Dickerson Deployed Marine Teaches Himself Arabic By U.S. Marine Sgt. Roe...

MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (May 05, 2006) -- Currently at the Combat Center’s Battle Simulation Center is a personal computer-based stand alone trainer designed to allow an individual to develop proficiency with the Arabic language. This simulated program is known as the Tactical Iraqi Language Trainer. The program uses a mixture of skill building lessons and practice “talk-em-up” missions. It is intended for all skill levels and uses voice recognition systems to enable speaking practice. Unlike most simulation systems, this generally requires a significant investment in time for anything beyond the most basic language skills....

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2006 – Elmo and his red, fuzzy father will star this summer in an effort to teach young military children and their caregivers how best to handle a parent's deployment in a program called "Talk, Listen, Connect: Helping Families Cope with Military Deployment." Sesame Street's Elmo and his dad tape a segment for "Talk, Listen, Connect," an outreach program for military families created by Sesame Workshop in New York, April 20. The bilingual DVD is part of a package of complimentary materials that will be made available to military families beginning July 2006. Photo by Richard...

CAMP MERCURY, Iraq (April 5, 2006) -- Darkhorse Marines recently learned new ways to deal with roadside bombs from one of the Queen of England’s foremost experts. British Army Sgt. Maj. Gary Price shared knowledge gained from the British Army’s decades of countering improvised explosives with the Marines of Mobile Assault Platoon, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. “We’ve been dealing with IEDs for over 30 years,” he said. “The Counter Insurgency Academy’s commanding officer requested that I come out and speak to the guys on the ground to give them the benefits of my experience.” Price is the...

WASHINGTON - They are the Pentagon's new "rules of engagement" _ the diamond ring kind. U.S. Army chaplains are trying to teach troops how to pick the right spouse, through a program called "How To Avoid Marrying a Jerk." The matchmaking advice comes as military family life is being stressed by two tough wars. Defense Department records show more than 56,000 in the Army _ active, National Guard and Reserve _ have divorced since the campaign in Afghanistan started in 2001. Officials partly blame long and repeated deployments which started after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and stretched the...

HABBANIYAH, Iraq, Dec. 29, 2005 – While western Iraq's Anbar province was making headlines with its voter turnout this month, a quieter turnout of its young men was making headway graduating from school. In Habbaniyah, a volatile city where rockets and mortars destroy buildings and lives all too suddenly and frequently, the Iraq Construction Apprentice Program is facilitating Iraqi rebuilding efforts, one brick and one life at a time. The apprentice course began in September at the military base here, an old British base that the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence contracted ECC International to renovate so the Iraqi...

Written By: Alan Bonsteel, M.D. Published In: School Reform News Publication Date: November 1, 2004 Publisher: The Heartland Institute Public school teachers in urban areas are far more likely than city residents in general to send their children to private schools, according to a new analysis of 2000 Census data by researchers led by Denis P. Doyle, who previously analyzed 1980 and 1990 Census data. While just 12.2 percent of U.S. families send their children to private schools, that figure rises to 17.5 percent among urban families in general and to 21.5 percent among urban public school teachers, almost twice...