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An ultra-conservative reading list required by one Alabama school is raising eyebrows and raising concerns among parents.

The right-wing frequently accuses the schools of kowtowing to leftists politics by teaching things like science instead of religion and demanding youth refrain from reading classic literature that depicts a racist American history. But according to AL.com, its the far right that is demanding schools teach their philosophies.

The Baldwin School Board is getting involved after a summer reading list was given to students at Spanish Fort High School by teacher Gene Ponder. The list mandates that students choose one of the books from the list, which range from Rand Paul books to Ann Coulter. It also has Michael Savages 2006 book, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder listed as an option.

While political or controversial books arent unheard of, particularly in upper-level Advanced Placement classes, theyre typically taught alongside the contrasting view point. For example, The Bible is often taught with Edith Hamiltons Mythology. That was not the case here.

Elizabeth Denham, whose son was in the AP class, posted the reading list on her Facebook page and blog saying that she contacted the school out of concern.

I encourage my children to read things they disagree with, she explained. To listen to those with opposing perspectives. To be open to ideas other than theirs, but to stand up for their beliefs respectfully. This list did not encourage that philosophy. It presented one side. And one side filled with pop culture personalities who spew hate and rhetoric not intellectual, respected authors who offer well-educated ideas from different points of view.

While the board has received complaints, Baldwin County school board member David Cox doubted board members will care much.

Generally speaking, I would think that needs to be left up to the individual school with the direction of the superintendent, Cox told AL.com. Though he admitted he hasnt reviewed the complaint.

Thats something we leave to the superintendent and his staff and employees, he continued. Those need to stay at the school level or the superintendent, without board action. Until the superintendent says otherwise, its my opinion that it needs to be left up to him.

The school board president who actually lives in the town refused to comment.

Superintendent Eddie Tyler told the media this week that he did have a copy of the complaint and would review it.

You can see a copy of the complaint sent by parent Julia Coccaro below, which is concerned with more issues than just the book list. It includes the censorship of a yearbook section that removed the coming-out story of an LGBT teen and an incident in which a drivers education teacher who spent an entire class period discussing his personal religious beliefs.

It is also concerning that the superintendent was unable to bring himself to condemn books with titles like Liberalism is a Mental Disorder when there are both liberals and students with mental illness attending classes within the Baldwin County School District, the complaint explains. The parents and students of Baldwin County expect more from our superintendent.

Conservatives have criticized liberals as being snowflakes for their concerns over right-wing, white nationalists and Nazi speakers, however, over and over they oppose what they perceive to be liberal dogma in public schools. In 2015 a Captain Underpants book was banned from a school for having a gay character.

According to the American Library Association, in 2016 they documented 323 attempts to ban books. One had young transgender characters and a series of books by accused rapist Bill Cosby. The vast majority of the books requested for ban contain LGBT related material. In March of this year, a Republican lawmaker in Arkansas sought to ban all Howard Zinn books from public schools. Zinn is known for discussing historically accurate cases of those in the U.S. leaders often oppressed including slaves, women, Native Americans and others.

During the 2015-2016 school year many progressive speakers were banned as well. Transgender-rights activist Janet Mock was protested but not because of the content of her speech, because the Jewish student group Hillel co-sponsored the lecture.

Conservatives also led a national meltdown after a performance art photo was posted by comedian Kathy Griffin showing President Donald Trumps bloody head. She was later blamed by conservatives for the shooting at the GOP baseball park. Similarly, alt-right activists, unaware of the plays message, seized the stage at the New York Theatre during a production of Shakespeares Julius Caesar because the character wore a suit and looked like Trump.

You can read the full complaint from Coccaro below:

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Alabama school requires students to read right-wing authors ... - Raw Story

The discovery of an email thread proving the Trump campaigns eagerness to collude with the Russian government to beat Hillary Clinton has served to underscore what you might call first-order lies that President Donald Trump and his top aides have told over the past yearabout meetings with Russians, collusion with Russia, and even, in the past days, about the meeting itself.

But in a way, the most intriguing implication of the email threadconnecting Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort to the subversion campaignis that it points to a number of under-discussed, second-order lies, which in turn suggest deeper, more nefarious behavior.

It is useful to go back in time and map what we know now onto various key moments in Trumps campaign and presidency.

After U.S. intelligence agencies concluded with high confidence that the Russian government sponsored the theft and leaking of Democratic Party emails, then-candidate Trump escalated his ongoing feud with the intel community by disputing their conclusions out of hand. At a presidential debate, he said Clinton has no idea whether its Russia, China, or anybody else and our country has no idea. He famously said a 400-pound guy in New Jersey might be the culprit.

Now we know that, all along, Kushner, Junior, and Manafort had emails proving Trump wrong, and proving Clinton and the U.S. intelligence community right.

Trump has remained disputatious on this point, even up until last week, when U.S. intelligence services had been working for him for nearly six months. On Polish soil, he told reporters nobody really knows for sure who meddled in the 2016 election, and justified his doubts by comparing the intelligence communitys Russia assessment with the Bush administrations manipulation of intelligence to claim that Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction.

Not only was the proof of Trumps unfounded doubts sitting in his son and son-in-laws inboxes, we now know thanks to Michael Isikoffs reporting that, as he dragged the U.S. intelligence community on the world stage, Trumps own lawyers knew of the email and the Trump Tower meeting in June of this year.

Its all very curious, unless Trump has known about the conspiracy all along and has decided to lie about it until the bitter end. Or maybe he just has the worst son and son-in-law in the history of progeny and marriage.

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Ann Coulter has discovered that Donald Trump is a most unsatisfying sock puppet. - New Republic

"The majority of British people voted to leave the EU. The majority of MPs, including Blair's own Labour Party, voted to trigger Article 50," he said.

"By calling for the will of the people and Parliament to be overturned, Tony Blair is demonstrating once again that he is out of touch."

In his latest foray into the Brexit debate, the former prime minister said the election of French President Emmanuel Macron had opened up the prospect of real change in Brussels which could enable Britain to stay in the bloc.

Mr Blair said his contacts with senior European figures had convinced him the EU was ready to change and that the option of Britain remaining a member should be left on the table.

"This is a completely changed situation in Europe. I'm not going to disclose conversations I've had within Europe, but I'm not saying this literally on the basis of a whim," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

Read more from the original source:
Tony Blair refuses to offer evidence for claim UK could stay in a reformed European Union - Telegraph.co.uk

The European Union and the Turkish National flag | Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Opinion

The accession process is the backbone of Ankaras relations with Brussels.

By Faruk Kaymakc

7/15/17, 12:36 PM CET

A recent survey told you everything you need to know about EU-Turkey relations: some 75.5 percent of the country said it would still like to join the European Union but only 36 percent think Turkey will ever be admitted.

Theres an obvious reason for the disparity: The EUs ambivalence toward Turkeys accession.

This is a pity. Turkey and the EU have much to offer each other. Ankara, officially a candidate since 1999, deems the accession negotiations the backbone of its relations with Brussels.

The negotiations provide a structured dialogue that enables the EU to engage with Turkey in a constructive manner. For Turkey, it is the driving force for reforms and further alignment with the values and regulations of the EU.

Unfortunately, the EU has lost its anchoring role vis--vis Turkey after it allowed some members to block 18 out of 35 chapters between 2006-2009 and thus let the accession negotiations fall prey to national interests. Its time for Brussels to put Turkey unambiguously back on the track of the accession process.

Opponents of Turkeys membership have always argued that the country is too big, too poor and too different (read too Muslim). But one could just as easily argue the opposite.

Turkeys size, population and global weight will be an asset for the EU, and its young and dynamic population could be the antidote to the EUs aging population.

As to being poor, Turkey has been growing rapidly. It is now Europes sixth largest economy and the 18th largest globally. According to recent forecasts, the country will become the worlds 12th largest economy by 2030, surpassing Italy and South Korea. And Ankara performs better than some EU members when it comes to meeting the Maastricht Criteria.

Finally, Turkeys predominantly Muslim population and secular state will contribute to the blocs cultural diversity, which in turn could help to alleviate the rise of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and radicalization across the EU. Moreover, the membership of a secular, Muslim country could facilitate the integration of Muslim Europeans into their respective societies, as well as increase the blocs ability to reach out to the Muslim world.

The failed coup attempt perpetrated by the Fetullahist Terrorist Organisation (FETO) on July 15, 2016, disrupted the momentum that had been built following the November 29, 2015 Turkey-EU Summit.

The coup attempt, the bloodiest in the history of the Republic, targeted Turkish democracy, forced Turkey to declare astate of emergency and tarnished Turkeys image as well as disrupting Turkey-EU cooperation and the accession process.

After a period of difficult relations driven by the EUs slow and weak response to an attempted coup and heightened tensions ahead of a constitutional referendum which led to a crisis of confidence towards the EU in Turkey the months ahead hold plenty of potential for the reinvigoration of Turkey-EU relations.

Meetings on May 25 between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan and the presidents of the European Council, Commission and Parliament reinforced the dedication to cooperate in Ankara and Brussels. And both sides have committed to work together to curb irregular migration, fight the scourge of terrorism, move toward visa liberalization, upgrade the 1996 Customs Union and keep the accession process alive.

These are fruitful areas of cooperation. Visa-free travel to the Schengen Area for Turkish citizens once Turkey fulfills the last remaining seven of the EUs 72 benchmarks will promote people-to-people contact, contribute to economic growth and increase cooperation in security, counterterrorism and management of irregular migration.

Improving the Customs Union and the expansion of its scope will expedite economic convergence and provide economic dynamism and benefits to both sides in an increasingly competitive global market.

Thanks to a deal between Turkey and the EU on the management of irregular migration, illegal and perilous crossings over the Aegean have dwindled down from 7,000 a day to double digits at most, and migrant deaths crossing that sea have been almost completely prevented. Accelerated funding to Syrian refugees in Turkey and the implementation of the Voluntary Humanitarian Readmission Scheme will increase the EUs credibility, as well as help share Turkeys heavy burden.

To be sure, Turkey will join the EU only after fully meeting membership criteria and when both sides agree to move forward with accession. But doing so will require the EU to commit to genuine engagement, through constructive criticism and honest dialogue despite the rise of populism, the growth of the extreme right, and the distractions of Brexit and weakening transatlantic ties.

Turkey is working to overcome the trauma of last years attempted coup, while hosting some 3.3 million refugees and fighting multiple terrorist organizations. And yet, Ankara is not asking for privileged treatment. It only expects to be treated on an equal footing with all the other candidates and for the EU to be a credible anchor.

Turkeys accession to the EU might be the most challenging of all processes, past and prospective. But it will be the most beneficial and most meaningful.This is why at this critical juncture, a constructive dialogue about accession is more important than ever.

Faruk Kaymakc is the Permanent Delegate of Turkey to the EU.

Originally posted here:
Turkey to the EU: Let's talk membership - POLITICO.eu

ZINGST, Germany (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told voters on Saturday that Britain's decision to leave the European Union and France's election of President Emmanuel Macron had changed her view on the bloc, adding it was worth fighting for a stronger Europe.

Merkel's comments, made in a speech in the Baltic Sea resort town of Zingst two months before a federal election, underline her personal determination to deepen European integration if she is re-elected for a fourth term.

Calling European Union membership one of Germany's biggest strengths, Merkel said last year's Brexit decision and elections in France and the Netherlands, in which pro-European parties defeated populist candidates, had changed her perspective.

"For many people, including myself, something changed when we saw the Britons want to leave, when we were worried about the outcome of the elections in France and the Netherlands," Merkel told voters, some of whom wore straw hats with black-red-and-gold hatbands, the colors of the German flag.

The center-right chancellor admitted that the EU was far from perfect and that Brussels sometimes was too bureaucratic.

"But we have realized in the past few months that Europe is more than just bureaucracy and economic regulation, that Europe and living together in the European Union have something to do with war and peace, that the decades of peace after World War Two would have been completely unthinkable without the European Union," Merkel said to applause.

Many people in the past had taken the EU and its advantages for granted -- such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom to travel, said Merkel who grew up in communist East Germany.

"You don't have all this in many parts of the world. And that's why it is worth fighting for this Europe," Merkel said.

"That's why one of our election placards is saying: If Europe is stronger, then Germany will be stronger. This is directly related."

Merkel has said she is open to proposals of strengthening the single currency through the creation of a euro zone finance minister who would oversee a pooled budget for investments and transfers intended to help member states cushion downturns.

Reporting by Michael Nienaber, Reuters TV; Editing by Stephen Powell

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Merkel tells voters: Brexit, French poll changed my view on Europe - Reuters