Ohio Groups Call on Sponsor to Withdraw Support for Gulen Schools; Sponsor Refuses

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dianeravitch's avatarDiane Ravitch's blog

A coalition of liberal groups called on the sponsor of 11 charter schools to drop them because of allegations of racism, sexism, and test cheating, as well as FBI raids on some of them.

The sponsor, Buckeye Community Hope, refused.

“All of the schools belong to the Concept charter school network that operates in the Midwest. Concept, in turn, is one of several charter systems affiliated with the Gulen movement that has attracted scrutiny nationwide.”

The spokesperson for Buckeye said they will renew all. 9–not 11–Gulen schools. She called the allegations unfounded and accused the groups of “nitpicking.”

“Like all of Ohio’s sponsors, it receives a fee from each school, based on the number of students, for its sponsorship work. A recent report by Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit research and advocacy group based in Boston, called these sponsorship fees a conflict of interest.”

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Mount Polley disaster blamed on foundation embankment failure: report

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No, no, it wasn’t human error…we just forgot to factor in the geological setup of the land…oops, I guess it was human error.
Good Grief, how these folks are deluding themselves into believing that it wasn’t preventable and that now everything will be hunky-dorie….tralalalala…
…and when all the water and all the land is poisoned and can no longer sustain life…they’ll still be shrugging their shoulders wondering what happened.

Happy Birthday, Terry Kath

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Terry Kath was the lead guitarist for Chicago Transit Authority, or just Chicago now, as they were sued by the real Chicago Transit Authority for using the name. Ha.

Today is his birthday, and his daughter has put together a website devoted to him and has made a 1969 recording available that showcased Terry’s talent.   This brings back the freedom of the 60s and how bands like Chicago were more laidback and just went with the flow, wherever that took them.

From the email:

Listen to some music:
“As we head into the celebrations of Terry’s life and accomplishments, I wanted to share one of the premiere recordings of a performance that is quintessential early Chicago. The August 17th, 1969 Fillmore West show is filled with Terry’s consummate, jaw-dropping guitar work. This is Terry at his best….”Liberation” is breathtaking in this one.”
-Nanette Haynes (Terry Kath Fan Group)
Live at Fillmore West 1969

Photos: Abandoned Tuberculosis hospital

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Back in the day, tuberculosis was deadly and incurable.  People were sent to “asylums” to live out their days.  When I look at the photos here, I don’t see the abandoned hospital, but I see how it must have looked when built:  state-of-the-art, with a beautiful dome and windows and grounds.  These were times where the sick were given a place to go to recover (or live until death)….you know, when we gave a sh*t about them.

I found this passage on the wiki page interesting:

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Tuberculosis is closely linked to both overcrowding and malnutrition, making it one of the principal diseases of poverty.[8] Those at high risk thus include: people who inject illicit drugs, inhabitants and employees of locales where vulnerable people gather (e.g. prisons and homeless shelters), medically underprivileged and resource-poor communities, high-risk ethnic minorities, children in close contact with high-risk category patients, and health-care providers serving these patients.[36]

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Diet is not mentioned, as in how eating chemically raised food damages the immune system, making one more vulnerable to disease. Even if one eats what is considered a balanced diet, one can still be malnourished if the gut is not able to digest and absorb the nutrients.  This is the case when the gut is damaged by gluten, chemicals, and GMO’s.

When it mentions the poor, homeless, and prison populations, it doesn’t advocate growing organic food at prisons or access to acreage for homeless shelters to grow their own organic food….

And we know from the ebola disease called the “nurse killer” that healthcare workers are not given the resources they need to protect themselves and their patients from transmission.  One can only wonder how many Ebola cases were from nurses transferring the germs to other patients.  And that is not in any way a condemnation of the nurses–they were not given the proper equipment to protect themselves and prevent further transference of the germs.

The catcalling video…and if women catcalled men…

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A woman walked around NYC for ten hours, and videotaped all the catcalls she received.  Some of it I would just blow off, like “have a nice evening”– but perhaps that  is to my own demise?  Because it seems that you give a man any response at all, and he takes that as an invitation to invade your space and that you want to go to bed with him.  This is serious because what you see in the video is, again, representative of our culture’s view of women — objects to do stuff to instead of human beings that require respect and recognition of their autonomy.

The guy walking beside her was intimidating.  Men don’t see it that way, but it is indeed a nonverbal way of telling her that he is in charge and he can do what he wants.

Note that she is wearing a plain t-shirt and jeans.  The common theme to blame women is to say that she dressed provocatively, and therefore, she “deserved it”.  What say you now?

I found a video by buzzfeed that turns the tables.  I burst out laughing at  “Um, baby, I bet you have a job with some health insurance!”