'Honors' math classes often don't add up

'Honors' math classes often don't add up: "A new analysis of textbooks, curriculums and transcripts of nearly 18,000 students nationwide suggests that millions of kids in so-called "honors" algebra and geometry classes are actually getting intermediate-level work — or worse."

"Fewer than one in five high school graduates who took an "honors" Algebra I class in high school got "rigorous" work in the course. A full 73% got what researchers called "intermediate" level work, while 9% in honors classes got "beginner" level work. In fact, a greater proportion of students enrolled in regular algebra classes got advanced work, the study found — 34% vs. 18% in "honors" courses."

Director Of National Intelligence Admits That There's Little Risk Of A 'Cyber Pearl Harbor' | Techdirt

Director Of National Intelligence Admits That There's Little Risk Of A 'Cyber Pearl Harbor' | Techdirt: " the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, actually admitted in a Senate hearing that there's little risk of any "cyber Pearl Harbor" in the foreseeable future"

Rand Paul: I Have an Idea for Republicans Concerning the Gay Marriage Issue, and It's a Good One | Independent Journal Review

Rand Paul: I Have an Idea for Republicans Concerning the Gay Marriage Issue, and It's a Good One | Independent Journal Review: "This is one of the best ideas I’ve seen on the gay marriage issues in …ever. It keeps the traditional definition of marriage intact, but changes the tax codes to remove marital references for IRS purposes."

Book Review: Heavens on Earth | Cato Institute

Book Review: Heavens on Earth | Cato Institute: "Had Julius Caesar met George Washington in 1760, he would not have experienced much of a cultural shock. Both belonged to a small class of elites who enjoyed the fruits of slave labor and land rents. For most people, barely anything had changed in terms of standards of living or life expectancy during the 1,800 years separating the Roman statesman from the leader of the American Revolution. However, in the past 250 years, the world has changed beyond recognition, and not just for a small fragment of landed aristocracy. In the West, real incomes have increased by a factor of 15 or more, and more recently, the rest have started to catch up."

Can income inequality light the path to prosperity for all?

Asymmetric Coverage of Climate Science Fools Very Few, and It's Not the Koch Brothers' Fault | Cato Institute

Asymmetric Coverage of Climate Science Fools Very Few, and It's Not the Koch Brothers' Fault | Cato Institute: "death and destruction sell ad copy, while, as the story goes, “plane lands on time” doesn’t."

"So, despite a wonderful recent example of the asymmetric coverage of climate science in the news, people just aren’t buying the end of the world. Around the world, there’s about five times as much concern for the economy than there is for climate change."

"how did the press—once the most cherished of American institutions—lose so much of its authority?"

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Being Exported to Egypt | Cato Institute

The Military-Industrial Complex Is Being Exported to Egypt | Cato Institute: "Washington has given Cairo $1.3 billion a year in military aid"

"U.S. military aid covers as much as 80 percent of the Egyptian Defense Ministry’s weapons procurement costs.

That ample assistance has enabled Egypt to become the fourth-largest operator of F-16s, and to acquire some 4,000 battle tanks"

"the Egyptian military cannot even fully utilize much of the state-of-the art U.S. equipment it’s gifted because it has too few troops trained to use them."

Court curbs Homeland Security's laptop border searches | Politics and Law - CNET News

Court curbs Homeland Security's laptop border searches | Politics and Law - CNET News: "U.S. customs officials must have a reasonable justification before snatching your laptop at the border and scanning through all your files for incriminating data, a federal appeals court ruled today."

San Francisco leaders denounce anti-Islamic ads that will appear on city buses | Fox News

San Francisco leaders denounce anti-Islamic ads that will appear on city buses | Fox News: "The city's transit agency says it will give the $5,000 used to pay for the ads to the city's Human Rights Commission to study the impact of discrimination on San Francisco's Islamic communities."

Can they just give ad money to any group that they want? Aren't there rules on how it must be used?

One Mexican town finds more security by throwing out the police - CSMonitor.com

One Mexican town finds more security by throwing out the police - CSMonitor.com: "The next morning at dawn, they gathered their husbands and other villagers, and armed with rocks, sticks, and a few machetes, they managed to detain four loggers, along with their vehicles.

Eventually, the police intervened, but on behalf of the loggers. So the townspeople threw everyone out: loggers, police, and politicians, too."

Kentucky police officer fined $2 for striking handcuffed suspect multiple times | Fox News

Kentucky police officer fined $2 for striking handcuffed suspect multiple times | Fox News: " A Louisville police officer has been fined $2 after being convicted of official misconduct and harassment for striking a handcuffed suspect multiple times."