Stephen King on Trump’s Fanatics:“Jesus, man ….You act like the Red Chinese army was invading.”– “They’re just a bunch of scared and hungry people…”

Stephen King
(Image by commons.wikimedia.org)  Permission   Details  DMCA

Bestselling author Stephen King on Monday weighed in on President Trump’s recent warnings to the migrant caravan moving through Mexico toward the United States. King’s criticism came in response to a tweet Trump shared on Sunday stating that “full efforts are being made to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens from crossing our Souther (sic) Border.” “Jesus, man,” King said in response to the tweet. “You act like the Red Chinese army was invading.” “They’re just a bunch of scared and hungry people,” the author said.

Read the rest of the story HERE:

At thehill.com

A Dad’s Work to Stop Superbugs

Antibiotic Resistance Project

Inside NIH’s Fight Against Superbugs Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addresses some of the greatest superbug threats—and what the agency is doing about them. EXPERT Q&A

In Superbug Fight, ‘Victory Is Not at Hand’ “It’s a long road from exciting things happening in the lab to getting through a clinical process to the patient’s bedside,” Kathy Talkington, director of Pew’s antibiotic resistance project, explains in a Chicago Tribune editorial. READ ON

A Dad’s Work to Stop Superbugs For Men’s Health Month—June—get to know Chris Linaman. After his heartbreaking superbug experience, he’s working to help others avoid the trauma he endured. WATCH

IN THE MEDIA Antibiotics Weren’t Used to Cure These Patients. Fecal Bacteria Were. THE NEW YORK TIMES Superbugs Could Render Even the Most Routine Procedures Deadly, Warns Chief Medical Officer THE TELEGRAPH Stanley Falkow, Microbiologist Who Studied Bacteria and the Diseases They Cause, Dies At 84 THE WASHINGTON POST Antibiotic-Resistant UTIs Are on the Rise Around The World COSMOPOLITAN Antibiotics May Raise the Risk for Kidney Stones THE NEW YORK TIMES

Was this forwarded to you? Don’t miss the next email! SIGN UP Antibiotics are fundamental to modern medicine, essential for treating everything from routine skin infections to strep throat, and for protecting vulnerable patients receiving chemotherapy or being treated in intensive care units. Pew’s antibiotic resistance project is working to ensure both the prudent use of existing drugs and a robust pipeline of new drugs in order to meet current and future patient needs. SaveAntibiotics.org

Even if John Stewart is Gone, We all Need to Keep taking on FOX and all the Media

I am going to put a lot of John Stewart videos in the comment section, like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO_om3iK9kE

• Reports Accuse Bill O’Reilly of False “War Zone” Claims

You probably heard the great news – after a few years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show–but the Boycott Must Go On!!

Ten years ago, Media Matters launched with a revolutionary mission: to systematically monitor the U.S. media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. We’ve been calling out right-wing lies for a decade — and we’re not done yet. Will you contribute now to help us raise $10,000 for our 10th anniversary?

For ten years, we’ve successfully fought back against the bad actors that poison our media with right-wing lies and smears. It’s been an amazing beginning, and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

We’re in this for the long haul. Make an anniversary gift today to kickstart the next ten years of media accountability.

Dear Kevin,
You probably heard the great news – after two years of progressive activism, FOX finally cancelled Glenn Beck’s show.
Beck was targeted after he slandered President Obama by saying, “This president has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or the white culture, I don’t know what it is… This guy, I believe, is a racist.”
Activists at ColorOfChange, Media Matters, StopBeck, FoxNewsBoycott, and of course Democrats.com responded with a boycott of advertisers on Glenn Beck’s show. Ultimately over 300 advertisers pulled their ads from Beck, costing FOX over $40 million.
Advertiser boycotts work! And it’s time to boycott all FOX News advertisers:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
We’re starting our boycott of all FOX News with Proactiv, which sells acne medicine to teenagers and young adults. Why?
First, there are lots of other acne treatments. Second, young adults above all are hurt by FOX News, which promotes right-wing policies on race, education, healthcare, the environment, and war. Let’s get our future leaders to lead the fight against FOX News!
Sign the petition to Proactiv and enter the email address of every young adult over 18 you know:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Beyond President Obama, FOX regularly slanders nearly everyone: Democrats, unionized workers, the unemployed (including veterans and 99ers), environmentalists, feminists, blacks, Hiics, Jews, Muslims, progressives, scientists, and any other group it disagrees with.
FOX News broadcasts rightwing extremist slander, incitement to violence, political propaganda, and outright lies to promote its rightwing political agenda. This is not “news,” but rather a never-ending “war on news” – and it’s all documented in our petition.
Why would any decent company want to fund it? Tell Proactiv to stop advertising on FOX News:
http://www.democrats.com/boycott-proactiv
Thanks for all you do!
Bob Fertik

GLEN BECK ADMITTED in 2007, “I Am RACIST and Barack Obama is very White” THIS MAKES Boycotting FOX NEWS needed NOW

By Kevin Stoda

Dear, American supporters of the Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) news networks.

AMERICANS are getting less tolerant of your racism and stronghold on our major media.

For example, we have noted that in his 2007 TV program from FOX (See on You-Tube), Glen Beck admitted he himself was racist. Further, Beck then, in contrast to 2009, called Barrack Obama much more white than black. (Apparently, Beck now he has other nonsense to mush men’s minds.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0tgvWxC_6A

Using a major news platform to promote racism and to tell people to disrespect a whole presidential administration through mixed truths, outright lies, and xenophobia, is not to be tolerated any more.

On Democracy Now today, Amy Goodman asked Benjamin Jealous of the NAACP what he thought of Wal-Mart’s pull-out from advertising on the Glen Beck program on FOX.

NOTE: Goodman had simply asked , “The whole attack by Glenn Beck that drove this (resignation)? In your response from the NAACP to Van Jones, it says, ´The only thing more outrageous than Mr. Beck’s attack on Van Jones is the fact that there are sponsors that continue to pay him to provide this type of offensive commentary.` Do you support the continued boycott of companies like Wal-Mart of Beck’s show on Fox?”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/8/white_house_environmental_adviser_van_jones

This is a particularly important point because Glen Beck´s HATE CAMPAIGN ON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION led recently to a great American policy maker, Van Jones, quitting the government this week.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/06/van-jones-resigns/

Mr. Jealous said, “We certainly support them (Walmart) choosing with their dollars who they’re going to support. I mean, it’s—Glenn Beck is somebody who’s told a seven-year-old girl, a seven-year-old black girl, that he would buy her a ticket back to Africa, that she needed to go back to Africa. And then he comes out, and he says that healthcare is the beginning of reparations. I mean, this guy plays the race card on a weekly basis. He does it very aggressive—you know, in a very hateful way.”

Recall, first, that Van Jones is one of the most important and thoughtful men in America—however, the FOX (Fascist Oddball Xenophobic) news network chose to support a man, like Glen Beck, rather than seeing that tens of millions of Americans need to get health care from promoters like Jones and that our America economy needs to move starting today to the kind of economy that its competitors worldwide are already doing.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/95963/what_will_the_green_economy_look_like/

Let’s quote the wisdom and influential words of Van Jones on the absolute necessity to green the American economy NOW!

“I think it’s really important to point out that we’re sort of at the end of an era of American capitalism, where we thought we could run the economy based on consumption rather than production, credit rather than creativity, borrowing rather than building, and also, most importantly, environmental destruction rather than environmental restoration.”

Jones continued, “We’re trying to make the case in this book that that era is over. We now have to move in a very different direction. And key to that will be basing the US economy not on credit cards, but based on clean energy and the clean energy revolution that would put literally millions of people to work, putting up solar panels all across the United States, weatherizing buildings so they don’t leak so much energy and put up so much carbon, building wind farms and wave farms, manufacturing wind turbines. We argue you could put Detroit back to work not making SUVs to destroy the world, but making wind turbines, 8,000 finely machine parts in each one, twenty tons of steel in each wind tower, making wind turbines to help save the world.”

Finally, Van Jones wisely noted, “So we think that you can fight pollution and poverty at the same time. We think that you can actually power our way through this recession by putting people to work, but we’re going to have to start building things here and re-powering, retrofitting, retooling America, and that that’s the way forward both for the economy, for the earth and for everyday people.”

Note: These statements came from a program on DN from October of last year:

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/28/van_jones_on_the_green_collar

Van Beck has written a book of the same title, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061650758/The_Green_Collar_Economy/index.aspx

America needs such voices as Van Jones in government leadership in America—not Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) types.

Clean up the American airwaves of all its fascism and racism, today.

http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com/a-petition-against-fox-conservative-host-glenn-beck.aspx

NOTE: One way to change the noise of Fascist Oddball Xenophobic (FOX) media moguls is to support alternative media organizations

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/index

and alternative monitoring websites.

http://americas.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/64380

Another way, is to demand that local radio and TV channels put better programming on, such as Democracy Now or news sources promoted by serious progressive journalists:

http://www.tacomapjh.org/progressive_news.htm

Harmon Student Honored at Walmart

Student Honored by Walmart

Posted Friday, December 14, 2018

This week Charlie Langdon, a student at J.C. Harmon High School, received an award from Walmart for being an outstanding employee. He was visited by employees from Walmart, the KCK Police Department and KCK Fire Department. Langdon and his class received a pizza party and Charlie was featured on the side of the Walmart tractor trailer outside of J.C. Harmon High.

Argentine Middle School Students Participate in Post-Secondary Planning Day

Posted Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Students at Argentine Middle School recently participated in Post-Secondary Planning Day. The purpose of this annual event is to expose eighth grade students to the Diploma+ endorsements before entering high school.  These endorsements ensure that students are prepared for college and careers in a global society. Read More

Building a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom Where All Learners Feel Safe–Mindshifting

MINDSHIFT

How to Build a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom Where All Learners Feel Safe

 (iStock/Sasiistock)

In the United States, 34 million children have had at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) — ranging from abuse or neglect to parental incarceration or addiction. Children living in poverty are more likely to have multiple ACEs, compounding the effects of economic insecurity. In addition, the current opioid epidemic is devastating families and overwhelming the foster care system, and many school populations include refugee childrenwho have fled dangerous conditions. Many classrooms in America are touched by trauma.

Patricia Jennings, associate professor at the University of Virginia and author of the new book The Trauma-Sensitive Classroom, says that childhood trauma can have severe immediate and long-term consequences for students’ cognitive, social and emotional development.

Trauma and chronic stress change the way our bodies and brains react to the world. Part of that is protective, said Jennings. “Humans tend to adapt to chronic stress in order to be able to survive and thrive in challenging contexts. But these adaptive behaviors can impede success in the classroom context.” In school, children with trauma are more likely to have trouble regulating their emotions, focusing, and interacting with peers and adults in a positive way.

The Power of a Trauma-Sensitive Teacher

There is some hopeful news in the sobering research about kids and trauma. “We know enough about the science to know that teachers can make a huge difference,” said Jennings. “The school environment is one of the places where students who are exposed to real challenges at home can find safety and stability.”

When infants and very young children experience chronic stress, it affects their sense of security, and this has a ripple effect on future relationships. As Jennings explained, “When we are infants, we are attached to our caregivers – our survival depends on them. Whatever attachment patterns we have with our caregivers, we project onto others. It’s our template.” If the parent-child relationship is inconsistent, unhealthy or interrupted, “it’s hard for kids to know if they can trust other adults.” A caring teacher can create a new template about adults, said Jennings, one that says, “Teachers are caring, kind people who want to help me.”

In this way, teachers are uniquely positioned to ameliorate some of the effects of early trauma. “The adults in the school environment may be the most stable and mentally well people [some children] have contact with,” said Jennings. “Their teachers can become role models for them for what a healthy adult is like. School can become a sanctuary for kids like this.”

Preschool and kindergarten teachers play an especially important role because children’s early classroom experiences influence their perception of school for years to come. Jennings said that a caring kindergarten teacher can help these children “learn that adults, generally, are people who can provide support to them, even if their parent cannot.” That’s one reason the preschool suspension and expulsion rates are troubling. They disrupt yet another adult-child relationship and reinforce feelings of instability. As early childhood expert Suzanne Bouffard noted, “Young children who are suspended are often the ones who need the most social and academic support — and they end up missing opportunities to get it.”

Building a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom Environment

Let Go of Zero Tolerance: Zero tolerance policies and harsh classroom discipline models can “trigger reactions that amplify feelings of trauma,” said Jennings. Punitive measures can retraumatize children and “reinforce in their mind that the world is a dangerous place, that people don’t like them, and that they are no good.”

Teachers need the flexibility to de-escalate a situation rather than administer a prescriptive consequence. Ultimately, these students need to learn how to de-escalate situations themselves and regulate their emotions, said Jennings, “and the only way they can learn that is in a place that feels safe.”

Reframe Student Behavior: It’s easy for teachers to take students’ behavior personally or to misinterpret a child’s actions as willful defiance. Jennings said that teachers should “remember that behaviors that are disruptive or unhelpful in the classroom might be self-protective responses to chronic stress.” This perspective can help teachers make a small but powerful mental shift: instead of asking “what’s wrong with him?” ask “what happened to him, and how did he learn to adapt to it?”

For example, “Hypervigilance can really help when you are in a dangerous situation. A child who is hypervigilant may be adept at noticing small changes and reacting quickly.” But this same hypervigilance will “make it really hard to focus and dive deeply into the reading material.”

Children who experience food scarcity may have a tendency “to quickly grab or hoard things.” These kids might fail the famous marshmallow experiment simply because “they don’t trust that the second marshmallow is really coming,” said Jennings. “In the context of their lives, this is an adaptive response that makes sense.”

Cultivating this kind of empathy takes practice, says Jennings. It means developing “the ability to stop yourself from reacting with your habitual tendencies, take a breath and reflect” on the child in front of you. When teachers take the perspective of a student, “things really shift.”

Generate and Savor Positive Emotions: Because teachers don’t always know which students are coming to school with traumatic backgrounds – and because they have an obligation to teach all learners – educators “have to consider universal approaches that help everybody and embrace those kids who need it most.” Developing a strong classroom community is foundational to this work.

When children suffer from trauma exposure, they are on high alert for potential threats. Teachers can intentionally help students “recognize and savor” small, special moments in the classroom, said Jennings. “Help the class pay attention to what it feels like to feel good. Enjoy positive emotions together as a community. Not only do you get to help kids who don’t get to feel those positive emotions as much, but you also create bonds between students in your classroom – and that is exactly what they need.”

This can be as simple as celebrating acts of kindness, pausing after a good moment to soak up the feeling in the room, and using tools such as morning meetings to foster a respectful classroom culture. “When teachers cultivate community, students who have experienced trauma come to believe, ‘I am part of this community. They accept me, they care about me, and they want to help me. I belong here.’ That’s something all kids can benefit from,” said Jennings.

Draw on the Power of Story: Children with trauma backgrounds need plenty of opportunities to learn about, experience and practice compassion and resilience. Literature is a powerful vehicle to support this endeavor, said Jennings. Stories and books can broaden students’ perspectives, giving them a window into how other people feel, bounce back from challenges and develop healthy relationships.

“As you read a story to a group of children, ask ‘How do you think this person is feeling in this story? Can you imagine if you were a person in this story? How would that feel to you?’” said Jennings. Reading aloud isn’t just for elementary school classrooms. According to one study, even teenagers benefit from hearing about how scientists approached failure and setbacks. (For two curated lists of books related to kindness and compassion, click here and here.)

Put On Your Oxygen Mask First: In Jennings’ work, she focuses first on helping teachers develop resilience, self-awareness, and self-regulation — and then on how they can teach these tools to children.

She said that teachers need to learn how to manage their own stress that comes with navigating students’ trauma-related behavior. Jennings devotes a chunk of her book to teacher self-care and includes this resilience self-reflection survey that helps teachers think about their own ability to “navigate and recover from adversity.”

How do we best teach children about compassion and resilience? First and foremost, adults must remember that “kids learn these skills through imitating us,” said Jennings. “If we don’t embody them, our instruction won’t work. It will come off as phony. If we are not behaving the way we want them to behave, we are being hypocritical — and they know it.”

When teachers consistently model compassion in the classroom, the effect can be transformative. Ultimately, one of the most important, brain-altering messages that trauma survivors can glean from school is simply this, said Jennings: “I know there are people in the world who care about me.”

34 Strategies For The Stages Of Assessment: Before, During & After

By TeachThought Staff 

Last updated Jul 29, 2018 0 5,329213FacebookTwitter

34 Strategies For The Stages Of Assessment: Before, During & After

by TeachThought Staff

For professional development on assessment, contact us today. 

The follow graphic from the infographic-famous Mia MacMeekin offers 34 strategies for each stage of the assessment process–before, during, and after. Rather than simply repeat them from the graphic, we’ve give a quick primer on the differences between each stage in terms of its purpose/function in the learning process.

Take to the comments with any strategies you find useful in your classroom, and give Mia a follow on twitterand say hello!

See Also: Bloom’s Taxonomy (New Edition) Digital Planning Verbs & Cards

Before/Pre-Assessment

Our take: The purpose of pre-assessment is to provide data to revise planned instruction.

During

Our take: The purpose of assessment during instruction is to begin to measure progress from the pre-assessment, as well as clarifying individual gaps in understanding to further refine instruction.

After/Post-Assessment

Our take: Sometimes compared to an “autopsy,’ we think of the purpose of post-assessment as a way to measure progress from the the first two assessments, as well as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the planned learning sequence on the student. While the this assessment is often called “summative,” the most important question any assessment should answer is, “What now?”

34 Strategies For The Stages Of Assessment

ONLINE ACTIVISM ALSO HELPS TRIBES AND NATIVES

The Pawnee Nation fights frackingFive years ago, regulators approved 17 oil and gas leases on Pawnee lands without bothering to notify the Tribe. Now Pawnee tribal members are fighting back, and winning. READ MORE YOUR GIFT WILL GO TWICE AS FAR! The New Year will bring new challenges, and we’ll continue to do what we do best: work in the courts to hold accountable those who break our nation’s environmental laws. Help us fund these fights today and your gift will be matched $1-for-$1! DONATE NOW   What Kevin helped us do this year This past year, Earthjustice attorneys in 14 offices worked on 827 legal matters, holding accountable those who break environmental laws — and we couldn’t have done it without your support. Here are a few of our favorite moments from 2018.READ MORE   A famous wolf was shot dead by a trophy hunter Her life was a story of heroism and tragedy in the verdant valleys outside of Yellowstone, but her death could become the fate of other wolves across the U.S. if this imperiled species loses protections.READ MORE   These stones can sing One year into the legal battle to defend Bears Ears and Grand Staircase– Escalante national monuments, we continue to fight in the courts while the vibrant life in these special places continues to unfold. Take, for example, 113 sandstone arches that hum.READ MORE   Earthjustice’s work is rooted in our communities This year we celebrate important milestones for our offices in Bozeman and Honolulu, where our work has safeguarded key remnants of the past and laid the groundwork for a brighter future.READ MORE    “Good science is the foundation on which our legal work stands, as well as the underpinning of our strongest environmental laws.”— Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen writes about the Trump administration’s sneak attack on science and Earthjustice’s fight to defend the role of science in  courts.READ MORE

ONE SMALL VICTORY AT A TIME–WE MUST PUSH FOR MORE IN 2019-2020!!

Victory! Final farm bill does NOT include NEA-opposed measures

Once again, your advocacy is getting results. Not only did Congress pass the farm bill with strong bipartisan support – the vote was 369-47 in the House and 87-13in the Senate – it protects the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest anti-hunger program with 40 million beneficiaries. With your help, we strongly opposed provisions of the House version of the bill that would have impacted nutrition benefits for millions of families, undermined access to free school meals, and imposed unnecessary new work requirements – and all of them were stripped from the final bill! The measure now goes to President Trump, who is expected to sign it into law later this week.

Government shutdown would not affect education funding levels

The odds of a partial government shutdown later this week appeared to increase after a contentious conversation in the Oval Office – televised in its entirety – among President Trump, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-CA), and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Education funding levels for FY2019 would not be affected, since they have already been set. The sticking point is the $5 billion President Trump is demanding to build a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States, an amount neither the Senate nor the House has voted to provide. Trump said he would be “proud to shut down the government” if Congress does not accede to his request. “I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down,” he continued. Last year, Congress appropriated $1.3 billion for border security, much of which remains unspent.

Members of Congress join students and educators for live-streamed Facebook event on gun violence prevention

More than 1,000 people joined Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force; Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), a leading voice on preventing gun violence in communities of color; NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia; and AFT President Randi Weingarten for a discussion live-streamed on Facebook of potential ways to enhance school safety by preventing gun violence. Student participants included Jaxon O’Mara, a senior at Great Mills High School in Maryland, and Neuteyshe Felizor, a sophomore at George Mason University and a member of the national advisory board for Students Demand Action. After Democrats take control of the House in January, Reps. Thompson and Kelly will introduce common sense gun safety legislation that includes universal background checks widely supported by educators and the general public.

Kudos to our cyber-lobbyists

This year, NEA’s cyber-lobbyists made more than 900,000 contacts with Congress. They made a big difference. We thank you for your efforts and wish you a happy new year!  

Top 50 cyber-lobbyists

Patricia Always, AZ	Loretta Lamprecht, NJ
Garrick Balk, IL	Lynnanne Lange, CO
Rebecca Brown, OH	Sharon Lautner, NJ
Linda Casey, NJ	Cari Manzer, OK
Janice Clark, KS	Douglas Marinos, PA
Charles Cook, MA	Greg Meyer, MO
John Craig, IL	Robert Moeller, VT
Ryan Danzinger, IL	Cassandra Montague, NJ
Katherine Elliott, OH	Alvin Nash, CA
Paula Garfield, OH	Vincent Newman, FL
Esther Garvett, FL	Wende O’brien, MA
Kathy Goetz, PA	Kenneth Robertson, MO
David Gondak, PA	Gina Russo, NJ
Christine Gouker, AZ	Doug Sawatzky, MN
Annabel Gunsallus, VA	Fred Shoemaker, PA
Art Hanson, MI	Julia Skelton, MI
Robert Haynes, OH	Georgia Smickley, PA
Nancy Hiestand, CA	Guy Stanley, TN
Justine Hurley, WA	W. Andrew Stover, PA
Roslyn Jones, CA	Tina Theuerkauf, VA
Jeff Kipilman, OR	Maria Isabel Van Sunder, CA
Donna Kirk, CT	Rosemary Walker, VA
Joy Kirk, VA	Patricia Williams, PA
David Koeller, WI	Connie Wittig, AZ
Rosemarie Kuhn, CA	Carol Yakimik, NJ

Cheers and Jeers

NEA President Lily Eskelsen García for being named one of the top grassroots lobbyists by The Hill for the year 2018

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for introducing the Keep Our Promise to America’s Children and Teachers (PACT) Act, which would put Congress on a fiscally-responsible path to fully fund Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on a mandatory basisPublished weekly by the National Education Association.

In this video, we explore the unique type of joy to which God’s people are called

Chara / Joy

Download this video | Explore The Advent Series In this video, we explore the unique type of joy to which God’s people are called. It’s more than happy mood, but rather a choice to trust that God will fulfill his promises.

What are the key or summary points you’d like to share about the American Civil War?

What are 5 facts about the American Civil War?

Olivia McClary, BA History & Law, Wesleyan University, CT (2024)Answered Apr 27

Here are some facts you might enjoy!!!

• The Union Army of 2,100,000 soldiers was nearly twice the size of the Confederate Army of 1,064,000.
• It was the deadliest war in American history. There were around 210,000 soldiers killed in action and 625,000 total dead.
• Thirty percent of all Southern white males between the ages of 18 and 40 died in the war.
• Around 9 million people lived in the Southern states at the time of the Civil War.
  • Around 3.4m were slaves.
• Sixty six percent of the deaths in the war were due to disease.

12.4k Views · View Upvoters

What do we do with this horrible World Order of Today?

Tomgram: John Feffer, The New World Order Is Here

[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Just a reminder that, in this traditional season of giving and despite the remarkable generosity of so many of you in response to my year-end letter asking for contributions, TomDispatch still needs support as 2018 mercifully fades. Keep in mind that we don’t have ads or a pay wall. We only have you. That’s why, twice a year, I plead for donations. Whatever you decide to give, it will make a difference. So check out our donation page (and the offers of signed, personalized books in return for contributions of at least $100 — $125 if you live outside the United States). Keep in mind that, among those books is John Feffer’s Frostlands, the second in his riveting Splinterlands series of dystopian novels that only recently made the list of 12 books on climate change that Yale Climate Connections selected for the holidays. And for those of you who have already given, I just can’t thank you enough! Tom] 

They swore he’d never build, just tear down. He was, after all, the ultimate loner president with a grim history of bankruptcies. It was obvious that, among other things, he’d destroy the country’s alliances. And admittedly, these last two years his strength hasn’t always been in building. Take that “big, fat, beautiful wall” of his. You know, the one the Mexicans were going to pay for until it turned out that Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were the Mexicans he had in mind. Not only hasn’t he gotten it built, but he’s now threatening to shut down part of the government if the Democrats won’t agree to fund it. In something like a hissy fit, in fact, he recently swore that he’d be “proud” to do so, wouldn’t for a second blame it on the Democrats, and might even order the Pentagon to spend a few billion of the bucks he’s been shoveling its way to build that wall for him — all of which may represent a first when it comes to presidential public relations. 

Still, in other areas, how wrong they were! It couldn’t be clearer now that Donald Trump is capable of building bigly. Just look at the recent climate-change meeting in Poland if you want some striking evidence of his success! It took a year or so, but now he’s no longer alone in trying to deep-six the Paris climate accord and turn this planet into a fossil-fueled hothouse from hell. Thanks to his kind words and supportive gestures and those of figures close to him, Trump and his men actually managed to put together an informal but potentially powerful alliance of fossil-fuel producing countries at that recent Polish conference — Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Kuwait — to take the world down with him. And on a planet on which fossil fuel emissions remainon the rise and American bank investments in coal and oil from tar sands (but not in renewable energy) are also on the upswing, here’s a strong sign of what such an alliance could ultimately accomplish: glaciers in a part of East Antarctica long considered stable are now melting, a flood threat, sooner or later, to coastal areas globally. In other words, the outlook is bright indeed, if you happen to be a Big Energy tycoon or CEO. 

Now, let TomDispatch regular John Feffer, author of the new climate-change thriller Frostlands, the second in his Splinterlands series of dystopian novels, fill you in on the real New World Order whose creation Donald Trump and his alliance are intent on aiding and abetting. Tom

Are You Ready for an Epoch Fail? 
Globalists Really Are Ruining Your Life 
By John Feffer

You know the story: the globalists want your guns. They want your democracy. They’re hovering just beyond the horizon in those black helicopters. They control the media and Wall Street. They’ve burrowed into a deep state that stretches like a vast tectonic plate beneath America’s fragile government institutions. They want to replace the United States with the United Nations, erase national borders, and create one huge, malevolent international order.

The only thing that stands in their way is — take your pick — the Second Amendment, Twitter, or Donald Trump.

Click here to read more of this dispatch.

BBC: All sides breaking Yemen ceasefire???

Yemen crisis: Hudaydah ceasefire ‘broken within minutes’

• Yemen crisis

Image captionPro-government forces and the Houthi rebels (pictured) have accused each other of breaking the ceasefire

A ceasefire in Yemen’s war was broken minutes after coming into effect, pro-government officials say.

The warring sides had agreed for a truce deal to be implemented in the port city of Hudaydah at midnight local time on Tuesday.

But there have been reports of sporadic clashes between the Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in the city, which is a vital gateway for aid.

The rebels have reportedly shelled government forces in eastern Hudaydah.

One pro-government official told AFP news agency clashes were ongoing.

• Why is there a war in Yemen?
• Why the battle for Hudaydah matters
• Can ceasefire deal bring peace?

Both sides agreed to the ceasefire at United Nations-sponsored talks in Sweden last Thursday, and some hoped it would be the starting point to bringing nearly four years of civil war to a close.

But the truce was delayed on Friday following reports of strikes and fierce clashes.

Hudaydah, 140km (90 miles) west of the capital Sanaa, was Yemen’s fourth-largest city and a major economic hub before rebels took control of it in late 2014.

Since June it has been under assault by a Saudi-led coalition backing the pro-government troops.

As a port, it is also a lifeline for just under two-thirds of Yemen’s population, who rely almost entirely on imports for food, fuel and medicine.

More than 22 million Yemenis need some form of aid, and eight million do not know how they will obtain their next meal.

– We can begin today! WAKE UP.

‘From that time on Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ -Matthew 4:17 WAKE UP. Even during this season of Advent, we need not wait for the coming of the kingdom; it is here, and has been. Our thinking must change from one of waiting to one in which we live out God’s ‘Kingdom Principles’ – We can begin today!

Michael Kimpan is a collaborator and innovator, and has worked around the country with various organizations, institutions and individuals to think critically about matters of faith and culture, with an emphasis on social justice and implementing state-of-the-art methodologies to communicate a just and generous orthodoxy. He is currently pursuing his Master of Arts in Religious Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary.

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