Dee Chadwell – I have a 1956 Norman Rockwell print of a frumpy, sweet-faced teacher standing in front of a class of clean-scrubbed, straight-backed children. They had just written “Happy Birthday, Miss Jones!” on the blackboard for her. It’s a scene light-years away from a 21st-century school massacre, and it may take some time for the more Pollyanna-ish among us to readjust to what the 21st-century school really is. This may explain the freak-out over the idea of arming teachers: Miss Jones with a Ruger tucked into her belt is just too hard to swallow.
This worries me, because we can’t fix a problem we don’t have the courage to really acknowledge. Our schoolrooms are still full of great kids, sweet-natured and teacher-loving, but these days, every class has an ever increasing number of students carrying major psychological damage. I’ll never forget a class of freshmen I had one year. Of the 27 students in that section, nine were seriously mentally disturbed. I know a teacher who’s trying to deal with a student who has already thrown rocks through the principal’s office windows and is currently threatening to burn down the school with a flamethrower. He’s six years old. Continue reading
Joseph P Farrell – While we’re talking about Germany and the European Union, Mr. H.B. also spotted this story and passed it along, and it’s worth passing along to you. Remember all the hoopla a few years ago between Germany and Greece, and how Goldman Sachs was being accused as the real architect of the austerity policies that were wrecking the Greek economy?
Jeffrey Marty – A former colleague recently characterized Robert Mueller as “ramrod straight” and “utterly incorruptible.” Similar language was breathlessly repeated in mainstream media biographies on Mueller in 
Luke Mitchell – Although the fast food industry is constantly growing, there is a rising interest in its alternatives. People nowadays are becoming more and more aware of their own well-being. For this reason, healthy living is on the rise. The concept has to do with many aspects of daily existence, from nutrition to hobbies and beyond.