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WhiskeyGrinder

WhiskeyGrinder's Journal
WhiskeyGrinder's Journal
July 1, 2018

Survey: Students rely on alt-right internet sites as credible sources for their research papers

https://theconversation.com/schools-must-equip-students-to-navigate-alt-right-websites-that-push-fake-news-97166

More than 60 percent of America’s middle and high school students rely on alt-right internet sites as credible sources for their research papers. The students are using alt-right sites to write papers on topics that range from free speech and the Second Amendment to citizenship, immigration and the Holocaust.

These were among the key findings of a preliminary survey of 200 teachers I conducted recently to develop a snapshot of how common it was for middle and high school students to turn to alt-right websites.

As a researcher who specializes in teaching what is known as “hard histories,” including slavery, the Holocaust and other genocides, this finding is of concern, particularly as the nation approaches the one-year anniversary of the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia.

(snip)

Instead of ignoring these sites, I’d suggest teachers might do best to teach students how to critically examine the sites. In order to do that, however, teachers must know what is out there. While this is not an exhaustive list, the following six alt-right websites were most commonly cited by teachers as those that students use for their papers. They are: National Policy Institute, Radix Journal, American Renaissance, Taki’s Magazine and Voat.
June 27, 2018

Janus vs. AFSCME: Supreme Court Deals Blow To Government Unions

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/27/606208436/supreme-court-deals-blow-to-government-unions

In a blow to organized labor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers who choose not to join a union cannot be charged for the cost of collective bargaining.

The vote was a predictable 5-to-4 margin. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion with the court's conservatives joining him.

"Under Illinois law, public employees are forced to subsidize a union, even if they choose not to join and strongly object to the positions the union takes in collective bargaining and related activities," Alito wrote. "We conclude that this arrangement violates the free speech rights of nonmembers by compelling them to subsidize private speech on matters of substantial public concern."

The decision reverses a four-decades-old precedent and upends laws in 22 states.

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