babysandpiper

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As more Black families opt out of public schools, they’re confronting the racist materials dominating the home education market and building alternatives

Extremists have taken advantage of limited regulation. Home school materials, particularly from Christian publishers, have been known for teaching creationism versus evolution.

Some home schooling material has described slave masters as “caregivers” for enslaved people and the practice of slavery as “Black immigration”.

Rightwing material remains a baseline throughout home schooling education, with some parents sharing even more hateful material with their children.

In February 2023, the Ohio department of education investigated a group of home schooling parents who reportedly dispersed pro-Nazi material in a local home schooling group.

 

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that she had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and that the two had agreed to strengthen trade collaboration, particularly in light of the tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump set to go in effect on August 1.

"We both agreed that the (U.S.-Canada-Mexico) trade agreement needed to be respected, and we shared our experiences about the letter than we received from President Trump," Sheinbaum said in her daily morning press conference.

Trump has sent a flurry of letters in recent days, threatening to slap a range of tariffs on U.S. trade partners.

 

Alberta has now confirmed more measles cases than the entire United States has reported this year.

The province has been battling outbreaks since March and as of noon Monday, total case counts in the province had ballooned to 1,314. The latest update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that country has amassed 1,288 cases this year.

It is widely believed by experts and health officials that Alberta's case counts are higher than the confirmed numbers reflect. A standing exposure advisory remains in effect for the entire south zone and parts of the north due to widespread transmission.

 

Maurene Comey, who prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein and is former FBI Director James Comey’s daughter, was fired Wednesday from her job in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

 

Stories of monks behaving badly are not uncommon in Thailand, but the scale of a recent scandal has sparked questions about wealth and privilege

The disappearance of a respected monk from his Buddhist temple in central Bangkok has revealed a sex scandal that has rocked Thailand, with allegations of blackmail, lavish gifts and a string of dismissals raising questions about the money and power enjoyed by the country’s orange-robed clergy.

Investigations into the whereabouts of senior monk Phra Thep Wachirapamok unexpectedly led police to a woman who the police suspect conducted intimate relationships with several senior monks, and then blackmailed them to keep the liaisons quiet.

When police searched her home this month they found mobile phones that reportedly contained tens of thousands of compromising photos and videos of the missing monk, and several other senior Buddhist figures. Police also tracked her finances, which they said showed links to temples.

 

Analysis of bones from two caves shows prehistoric people butchered the same animals in different ways

Nothing turns up the heat in a kitchen quite like debating the best way to chop an onion. Now researchers have found even our prehistoric cousins had distinct preferences when it came to preparing food.

Archaeologists studying animal bones recovered from two caves in northern Israel have found different groups of Neanderthals, living at around the same time, butchered the same animals in different ways.

“It means that within all the Neanderthal population, you have several distinct groups that have distinct ways of doing things, even for activities that are so related to survival,” said Anaëlle Jallon, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the first author of the research.

 

Trump campaigned on a vow to round up the "worst of the worst" offenders among the criminals who were living illegally inside the United States. But CBS News has obtained deportation data that indicates the Trump administration's deportation push has ensnared many undocumented immigrants without violent criminal records.

Of the estimated 100,000 people who were deported between January 1 and June 24 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 70,583 were convicted criminals, according to an ICE document obtained by CBS News. However, the data also shows that most of the documented infractions were traffic or immigration offenses.

 

The Senate passed Trump's request to rescind $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funding early Thursday, culminating an hours-long "vote-a-rama" and sending it back to the House ahead of a Friday deadline.

In a 51-48 vote, Republicans Susan Collins, of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, joined Democrats in opposing the package.

JD Vance, who cast two tie-breaking votes Tuesday for the measure to clear procedural hurdles, was not needed for final passage. Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota was hospitalized and missed the vote.

Both chambers need to approve the request before it expires at the end of the week, or the funds will have to be spent as lawmakers previously intended.

 

The EU's proposed budget from 2028 onwards includes €100 billion for the economic reconstruction of Ukraine, but also aims to protect farmers and boost investments in modern technologies.

 

Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters, accusing them of being duped by Democrats, as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration’s handling of much-hyped records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which Trump now calls a “Hoax.”

 

Approval for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government rose for the first time this year, a new poll showed on Wednesday, after his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil starting in August.

The Quaest poll commissioned by brokerage Genial showed that 43% of those surveyed approve of Lula's administration, up from 40% in the previous poll in May. Meanwhile, the government's disapproval fell from 57% to 53% in the period.

 

Germany's share of people living alone has climbed far above the EU average. Single-person households are rising fastest among the young and elderly, with loneliness a growing concern.

17 million people in Germany — or 20.6% of the population — now live alone in their own homes, according to new figures from the country's Federal Statistics Office.

The number of people living solo has increased significantly over the past two decades. Twenty years ago, that share was just 17.1% (14 million people).

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