Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

Common Core teaches kids to ‘divide Jerusalem’ ~ I wonder if they’re teaching them how to spell “Leftist Indoctrination?” ~

A Boston University professor has defended to WND his creation of a Common Core-compliant lesson plan that uses role-playing workshops to teach students to sympathize with Hamas, create a Palestinian state and divide the city of Jerusalem […]
 
Hobert believes in “educational, civil disobedience, where students are learning about the Middle East, and they’re putting pressure on our government to create a Palestinian state,” he told Qatar-owned Al Jazeera TV in March 2012.

 
Dear President Obama: Success is not a lottery ~ “Who Built That?” a new book from Michelle Malkin, showcases America’s inventors and entrepreneurs, hard work and perseverance. You know – stuff we used to celebrate.
 
Welcome To The Oligarch Recovery: 82% Of US Construction Is Luxury Units ~ On the widening gap between the über-rich and the peasant class ~

The oligarch recovery marches forward with reckless enthusiasm, despite extremely disturbing underlying trends which are all but guaranteed to result in significant societal unrest in the years ahead. The U.S. economy, and indeed the global economy, is much more similar to pre-1789 France than any other historical period I can think of.
 
You have a handful of super wealthy people, completely disconnected from any sense of reality, running around telling governments what to do […]
Our socio-economic system since 2008 can be best described as serfdom, and nothing is going to change until people admit this, rather than hanging on to false hopes that they one day too will become an oligarch. It’s not gonna happen.

[Hat-tip: Bobo]

 
‘Slavery is over’: Hired Ferguson protesters demand pay ~ Yeah. So much for a spontaneous protest; in Obama’s AmeriKa crime DOES pay ~

“Black Lives Matter” protesters who were apparently hired to cause a ruckus in Ferguson, Missouri, are angry because, they say, they haven’t been paid for their hard work.
 
So they’ve launched a #CutTheCheck hashtag on Twitter and held a sit-in at the offices of Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, or MORE – the successor group to (ACORN) in Missouri.
 
The protesters have received as much as $5,000 a month to generate civil unrest in the troubled suburb of St. Louis, according to FrontPage Mag’s Matthew Vadum.

 
Illegal Alien Charged With Child Molestation and Pornography Able To Work With Kids Thanks to Obama Amnesty ~ Why do so many of these “dreamers” turn out to be nightmares? ~

According to various whistleblowers, Covarrubias-Padilla was scheduled for deportation but approved for DACA and a work permit in October 2012. Further, it seems DHS was aware his heinous behavior and allowed him to stay in the country anyway, jeopardizing the safety and well being of the children he was working with.

 
Why Children Are Abandoning Baseball ~ Major League Baseball is strong, but the casual young player is vanishing, threatening the sport’s future.
Another sad indicator of America in decline 🙁

 
LGBT Activists Arm For Further War On Free Speech and A Queer Alliance Against Free Speech ~ Two articles documenting the growing hostility to the Christian worldview, or to anyone who doesn’t go along with the Gaystapo way of thinking.
 
And their propaganda never ends, because the truth doesn’t match the agenda ~
Gallup: Americans Overestimate Gay Population 6-Fold
 
Franklin Graham is one of the very few national voices courageous enough to speak the Truth ~ Rev. Graham: Boy Scouts President is ‘Bending to LGBT Activist Groups,’ Putting ‘Innocent Boys at Risk’
Here are two more ~ Benham Bros. on Gay Marriage: ‘We Are Not Bowing to an Agenda’
 
Enlightened, Loving University Diversity Officer Calls for Extermination of All White Men ~ It’s not just the U.S., Britain’s colleges are reality-free zones too. “Diversity” apparently now means hateful discrimination ~

A diversity officer at a British university is back in hot water and may lose her job over tweets she made that appear to call for white men to be exterminated.
 
It’s the latest chapter in the saga of Bahar Mustafa, a student at Goldsmiths, University of London who works there as a welfare and diversity officer. In April, she drew attention for hosting an event about “diversifying” the school’s curriculum that banned whites and men from attending. A few weeks later, she attempted to defend herself by claiming that “I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men.”

 
Dunkirk flotilla sails to France for 75th anniversary events ~ As the U.S. celebrates Memorial Day, Great Britain is commemorating the amazing organized chaos of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation.

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
So after a broken internet connection turned a long weekend into a five day break, it’s time to get back into the blogging groove. Thought I might as well get caught up with last Saturday’s “Shorts.” Lot’s going on, most of it not good. But hey – someone’s gotta document the decline.
 
Methodist Lobby: Divest from Israel, Invest in North Korea, Legalize Prostitution ~ It appears that the Methodists have totally slipped berth and set sail on the surreal sea.
 
Obama: Freed Gitmo Terrorists I Said “Weren’t Terrorists” Are Terrorists After All ~ Yeah. Oops. And ISIS is the JV team. Just more audacity from team BHO ~

You see these Gitmo terrorists were sent to Uruguay. But the house where they live is right near the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo. And so these terrorists have the chutzpah to demonstrate in front of the U.S. Embassy, because after a decade of Gitmo-fare, they are demanding more welfare from the United States.
 
(And of course)… “the close proximity to the embassy, combined with the apparent lack of host country mitigation measures, poses a potential risk to the safety and security of our embassy and its employees, including local hires.”

 
Obama Administration’s Major Regulations Cost More Than $80 Billion Annually ~

The major regulations imposed by the Obama administration now cost Americans more than $80 billion a year—twice as much as the rules issued by the Bush administration at the six-year mark, according to a Heritage Foundation report released today.

Here’s a guy with an exciting proposal to push back against this regulation onslaught ~ The case for conservative civil disobedience

[Hat-tip: Bobo]

 
Baltimore: The Summing Up ~ A pithy photo-commentary on the Freddie Gray riots and racism.
 
Former Abortion Clinic Owner: We Pushed Sex Ed on Kids to Create a Market for Abortion ~ Carol Everett, who operated four abortion clinics in Texas, reveals the evil motivation behind sexualizing our youth. She asserts that what passes for “sexual education” is deliberately stealing away the innate modesty of children and creating a rift between children and their parents.
 
Hawaii’s $205 Million Obamacare Exchange Implodes ~ Gee, no one saw this coming

Since its implementation, the exchange has somehow failed to become financially viable because of lower than expected Obamacare enrollment figures. With the state legislature rejecting a $28 million bailout, the website will now be unable to operate past this year.

Student Sues University after Failing Course Twice ~ Because it shouldn’t hurt to be stupid.
 
U.S. State Dept. Invites Muslim Leaders, Denies Christians ~ This is appalling ~

After inviting a number of foreign religious leaders, mostly Muslim, the U.S. State Department, for the second time in a row, denied the sole Christian representative (an Iraqi nun) a visa — despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that Christians are the ones being persecuted by Muslims […]
 
… discussing the nun’s visa denial, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said: “This is an administration which never seems to find a good enough excuse to help Christians, but always finds an excuse to apologize for terrorists … I hope that as it gets attention that Secretary [of State John] Kerry will reverse it. If he doesn’t, Congress has to investigate, and the person who made this decision ought to be fired.”

Nice try Newt, but this has been going on for years. No one in a position to do anything will give a damn.

Amtrak engineer a homosexual and therefore protected by the American media? ~ Yes, it’s a well-known Leftism; Truth must be subverted when there’s an agenda to protect.

 
Injured sea turtle gets 3D printed jaw ~ This new technology is really amazing ~

A 3D-printed beak has been fitted to a sea turtle injured by a collision with a boat’s propeller.
The beak, made of medical-grade titanium, replaces the loggerhead turtle’s jaws, half of which were sheared off in the accident.

Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:

 
FAIL: Only 18 Percent of 8th-Graders Proficient in US History ~ And they’re not much better in civics or geography. America’s future is definitely not looking bright.

 
Islamic State: Militants ‘kill 300 Yazidi captives’ ~ While the mainstream media was castigating Pamela Geller for provoking Muslims, ISIS was carrying on violent Jihad ~

Osama al-Nujafi, Iraq’s Vice-President, said that the reports coming in of the mass slaughter are “horrific and barbaric,” the BBC reports […]
 
An official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party told Kurdish outlet basnews that “Women, children and elderly people are confirmed among the victims. IS gathered them in one place and shot them all together.”

 
A Detroit news anchor angered a large part of Michigan’s Muslim community on Wednesday after suggesting the state could be vulnerable to terror attacks due to its sizable Arab population. ~ Telling the truth is now “appalling, offensive and dangerous.” Pay no attention to the fact that Metro Detroit is home to the largest Muslim community in the country.

 
Teachable Moment In Baltimore ~ More money is clearly not the answer to the urban crisis ~

… on May 4, 2015, Elizabeth Harrigan reported in the Washington Free Beacon, “The city of Baltimore received over $1.8 billion from President Barack Obama’s stimulus law, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention.” […]
 
… although Baltimore has spent the third-highest amount per student in education at an average of $15,287, only 16% of the city’s eighth graders score at or above reading level and 13% at or above grade level in math.

 
Congressman Gowdy Grills John Kerry Over Stealth Muslim Refugee Program ~ Good to see someone is attempting to address this – although it will no doubt be just another ho-hum for the network news echo chamber.

 
Today in Nepal: Improper Aid Distribution ~ In this Hindu-majority country Christians are last in line for help ~

The situation of Christians who were affected by the earthquake is tragic in many rural areas. Many Christians have been facing discrimination from their societies. After the earthquake hit, they were not provided with any kind of relief. Nissi Church and Alpha Church in Sindupalchok were not even provided with help to remove dead bodies from the debris. This was despite the fact that the Christians submitted requests to government officials several times. They had to hire cranes to do the job themselves. Church members are living together in tents and are arranging for their meals with the help of their family and friends from other places. Christians have no hope to receive help from the government.

 
Colorado restaurant plans to host “White Appreciation Day” ~ And the Left can’t demonize them as “racist” since the owners are Hispanic ~

On June 11, Edgar Antillon and Miguel Jimenez plan to offer a 10% discount to all white customers and no one else at their restaurant, Rubbin’ Buttz BBQ.

 
ObamaTrade – Congress has to pass it to find out what’s in it ~ Fast track Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) is the latest, nefarious attempt by the ruling class to dissolve U.S. sovereignty. “Obamatrade” would result in more American jobs lost to foreigners, higher trade deficits and more currency manipulation. Worst of all, Dick Morris says it’s a “Trojan Horse; would essentially allow borderless immigration movement ~

It is really an expansive system of enforceable global government that the Obama administration is negotiating with eleven Pacific Rim nations: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

Go HERE to help oppose this latest O’Ministration disaster.
 
FCC Commissioner: Feds May Come for Drudge ~ Ajit Pai, one of the FCC commissioners who opposed Net Neutrality, tells of personal harassment and threats to his family ~

“Is it unthinkable that some government agency would say the marketplace of ideas is too fraught with dissonance? That everything from the Drudge Report to Fox News… is playing unfairly in the online political speech sandbox? I don’t think so,” Pai said.

 
Detroit: Evolution of a City ~ A fascinating, albeit sad, photo-essay look at the Motor City’s decline from a once hugely prosperous city ~