Campus hate crime hoaxes: A best-of list (2015 edition)

Campus hate crime hoaxes: A best-of list (2015 edition) - The College Fix
Hate crime hoaxes have had another banner year on college campuses.
It’s gotten to the point where most people assume a campus “hate crime” is a hoax unless proven otherwise.
Apparently social justice warriors did not have “Never Cry Wolf” read to them as children.
But in the end the joke is on us, because all too often, administrators are willing to play along when a “hate crime” hits their university. 
They agree their campuses are institutionalized racist complexes, and rubber-stamp students’ diversity demands.
November 2015: There’s the time Harvard law school students vandalized portraits of former black professors to prove their campus was racist. 
Even though 99 percent of those who have looked into this “hate crime” have agreed it’s not one, the school has still convened a committee to reconsider the law school’s controversial seal, the crest of the former slave-holding Royall family that endowed Harvard’s first law professorship.
Read on. Lots more "hate" intending to foment hate.
Honorable mentions:
Berkeley High School refuses to identify race of suspect in possible hate-crime hoax(November 2015)
Two student government presidents, two racial slurs, too few details to justify the sweeping narrative (September 2015)
Race war nearly erupts over a burger at University of Pennsylvania (June 2015)
And don’t forget to check out last year’s best of hate-crime hoax list.

Chilling!----A DHS whistleblower’s shocking letter to Congress

A DHS whistleblower’s shocking letter to Congress | Power Line:
A DHS WHISTLEBLOWER’S SHOCKING LETTER TO CONGRESS
In an open letter to members of Congress, retired DHS employee Philip Haney says that, under pressure from the Department of State, his superiors closed down work on terrorist outfits with which the San Bernardino murderers — Sayed Farook and Tashfeen Malif — were affiliated.
According to Haney, if this work had not been shut down, the Sen Bernardino killings might have been prevented.
Here, via Ginni Thomas at the Daily Caller, is Haney’s letter, about which I’ll have more to say later:
15 December, 2015
An Open Letter to Members of Congress:
In the aftermath of the most devastating and lethal jihadist attack in the United States since 9/11, Americans are rightly angry their government will not face the problem of Islamic terrorism honestly. I know this first hand.
...But the scrutiny we were authorized to apply was having results.
This investigation could possibly have prevented the San Bernardino jihadist attack by identifying its perpetrators, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, based on their associations with these groups.
Almost a year into this investigation, it was halted by the State Department and the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. 
They not only stopped us from connecting more dots, the records of our targets were deleted from the shared DHS database. 
The combination of Farook’s involvement with the Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah Mosque and Malik’s attendance at al Huda would have indicated, at minimum, an urgent need for comprehensive screening.
Instead, Malik was able to avoid serious vetting upon entering the United States on a fiancé visa and more than a dozen Americans are dead as a result..."

BREAKING: What Canada Just Did Proves It's Not Just the SOUTHERN Border We Need to Worry About

BREAKING: What Canada Just Did Proves It's Not Just the SOUTHERN Border We Need to Worry About:

"Canada’s recent decision to welcome tens of thousands of Syrian refugees across its border concerns many in the United States for obvious security reasons.

On Friday, Canada’s liberal prime minster, Justin Trudeau, welcomed 10,000 refugees to resettle in Canada. It’s part of the country’s plan to ultimately bring in over 25,000 refugees by February 2016. And that’s enough to have many Americans worried."

Dutch Museum Renames Historic Paintings With More Politically Correct Names

Dutch Museum Renames Historic Paintings With More Politically Correct Names - Hit & Run : Reason.com:
Those concerned about a growing illiberal and ahistorical streak on the American left can take comfort (or pity) in knowing that it's not just us.
In Amsterdam, for one, an iconic European art museum has begun renaming historic works whose titles or descriptions might be offensive to modern audiences.
Hence, Simon Maris' early 1900s painting, "Young Negro Girl," has been rechristened "A Young Girl Holding a Fan." 
A boy described as a "negro servant" in a 1668 portrait of Margaret of Raephorst is now a "young black servant."
References to "Eskimos," "Maroons," "Mohammedans," and "Hottentots" will also be removed, with original titles and descriptions preserved in an archive.
According to the U.K.'s Dazed magazine, some 300 works of art at the popular Rijksmuseum have been edited as part of the Adjustment of Colonial Terminology project. "Words such as 'negro,' 'nigger,' and 'Mohammeden' have been replaced with less racially charged terminology in order to avoid causing offense to an increasingly international audience–one that last year was made up of 2.5 million visitors," Dazed reports..."

We are a wonderful people!-----Walmart is a Holy Land

Walmart is a Holy Land | BossCook:
"...The initial responses were ones of shock and disbelief.
No one was rude, or dismissive.
They just wanted to know why.  
The girls answered that they were part of a family who decided this was the way they wanted to celebrate Christmas.
Then a few asked if they were with a church or an organization.
No, the girls said, we are just a regular family and this is our gift to you!
No strings attached!
From us!
Then the miracles came.
The first one, a young Mom, with a cart of food and just a couple of tiny presents for her little son, broke down in sobs, confiding that she “didn’t know how I could afford any of this”.  
Her hugs and her tears washed away all the nervousness our girls felt at first.
They helped her bag her groceries and they all held one another for a long time, before this young woman left the store, trying hard not to sob.
The girls then quickly went to an obviously worn-out and defeated looking Dad, with 4 young sons.  
Beat down and broke, you can bet.  
In the check-out line, counting the bills in his wallet, nervously..."
Read on and smile.

Lunch video-----Females and the media

Noon-toon

VIDEO: Congresswoman Stands Up For Sharia Law And Actually Gets This Disgusting Response ⋆ US Herald

VIDEO: Congresswoman Stands Up For Sharia Law And Actually Gets This Disgusting Response ⋆ US Herald:

"According to Rep. Waters, in 2012, House Republicans were attacking the Islam as a security threat to the U.S. Of course, anyone that has not lived under a rock or rather anyone alive, has extremism, terrorism, and violence from only one religion since 2001. To be historically accurate, potentially, since the 1990s.

Regardless, Rep. Waters made a speech during this time in which she made a case for Sharia law, Breitbart News reported. As disturbed as that may sound, that is what happened. Though, the speech is roughly eight minutes long, one juicy morsel was prepared by Freedom Outpost."

"Moderate Islam"-----Man rapes grand-daughter, mom kills her

Man rapes grand-daughter, mom kills her - Emirates 24|7: "
Mother drowns her in water bucket to avert scandal
An Egyptian man pulled his two-year-old granddaughter from her mother’s arms while she was asleep and raped her, prompting the mother to kill her daughter to avert a scandal, newspapers in the Arab country reported on Thursday.
The 59-year-old grandfather, identified as Faraj, waited for his daughter Merfat, 23, to go to bed before pulling her daughter out of bed and raping her in his room at their house in the East-central town of Sohag.
Newspapers said the mother, after discovering what happened, drowned her daughter in a water bucket to avert a scandal in the conservative countryside town.
Police arrested the mother and her father on murder and rape charges, they added."

School moves to fire lunch lady for giving away $1.70 meal to needy student

School moves to fire lunch lady for giving away $1.70 meal to needy student | EAGnews.org: "POCATELLO, Idaho – Lunch lady Darlene Bowden could lose her job for giving away a free lunch to a hungry student, despite offering to pay for the $1.70 lunch out of her own pocket.
Bowden told the Idaho State Journal she was placed on unpaid “termination leave” by her supervisor at the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 for giving away a lunch to a hungry 12-year-old at Irving Middle School who didn’t have money to cover the meal.
“I love my job, I really do,” Bowden said.
“This just breaks my heart, and I was in the wrong, but what do you do when the kids tells you that they’re hungry and they don’t have any money? I handed her the tray.”
District officials wouldn’t discuss Bowden’s predicament, but told the media students can charge up to $11 on their lunch account before their parents are notified, Boise Weekly reports.
Superintendent Douglas Howell told the Idaho State Journal local schools never “deny students a lunch,” but rather give those without money a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and milk.
“They try to do it privately and discreetly,” district spokesman Shelley Allen said.
Bowden alleges that’s not exactly accurate.
“If the kids can’t pay, and they’re over their limit, the workers take their tray away and dump it right there in the line,” she said, countering that the lunch she gave away did not come at the expense of other students.
...“I admit it – I screwed up and I gave her lunch,” she said. “I offered to pay for the meal, but it didn’t matter.”"

More fake "science" from Warmists-----NOAA Overestimated US Warming by 50%

Study: NOAA Overestimated US Warming by 50% - Breitbart:
"Another week, another study showing that our official climate data gatekeepers have been exaggerating the extent of “global warming” to make it look more scary, more urgent, more desperately in need of extra funding for our official climate data gatekeepers…
This one, co-authored by meteorologist Anthony Watts (of Watts Up With That? fame) shows that at least half of the “global warming” in the US since 1979 has been fabricated by NOAA.
While satellite records have shown no global warming for at least 18 years, the land based data sets like the ones maintained by NOAA for the US Historical Climate Network (USHCN) continue to show a warming trend.
One reason for this discrepancy, the study suggests, is that NOAA has been cherry-picking its raw data.
That is, it has ignored the evidence from those weather stations showing little or no late Twentieth century warming and instead placed undue emphasis on the ones that do show warming.
But the ones that do show warming also happen to be the least trustworthy.
These are the ones, the study shows, which have been most corrupted by the Urban Heat Island effect – and other environmental factors.
Some, for example, have been surrounded by buildings or had roads built next to them since they were first sited. 
Others have had airports vastly expand next door to them.
What this inevitably means is that their more recent temperature measurements have been running hot – i.e., they have been distorted by factors which have nothing to do with weather or climate.
Yet, bizarrely, these are the ones that NOAA has been using as the basis for its claims about “global warming” in the US.
If, however, you look at those weather stations that haven’t been corrupted – “unperturbed” stations – what you get is US global warming roughly half as much as NOAA claims..."
Read on and see the lies!

Iran Deal, Paris Climate Change Talks Among Obama’s Favorite Moments of 2015 | Video | TheBlaze.com

Iran Deal, Paris Climate Change Talks Among Obama’s Favorite Moments of 2015 | Video | TheBlaze.com:

"Since it’s a great time of year to make lists, President Barack Obama said he’s made one of his own — the top 10 things that happened in 2015.

From the economy to healthcare, Obama spent his weekly address counting the accomplishments of the year thus far “that should make every American confident about 2016.”


Climate Change - The distraction they want you to focus on while they concentrate on their real mission.

This is "moderate" Islam-----Muslim airline cancels flight rather than allow Jewish passengers

Muslim airline cancels flight rather than allow Jewish passengers | Pamela Geller
"More “moderation” from “moderate” Muslim countries.
But it proves yet again that Islamic Jew-hatred is a basic tenet of Islam and the very existence of the tiny Jewish state is deeply offensive to Muslim countries (no matter how many they have).
The thought of one Jewish state drives the Muslim world bloody mad.
Kuwait hates Jews so much that its national airline has ditched a popular and lucrative New York-to-London flight rather than allow Israelis on its planes, authorities said Thursday.
The airline says they cannot allow Israelis on the planes because the Middle Eastern kingdom prohibits it citizens from doing business with citizens of the Jewish state.
“On December 15th, Kuwait Airways informed the United States Department of Transportation that they will be eliminating service between JFK and London Heathrow,” said a department spokesperson.
The airline has at least twice refused to let customers with Israeli passports buy tickets on flights from New York to London because of the Islamic state’s ban on trade with Israel...
We went to war for these bastards."

History for December 22

History for December 22 - On-This-Day.com
Lady Bird Johnson 1912, Barbara Billingsley 1922, Steve Garvey 1948 - Baseball player,


Robin Gibb (Bee Gees) 1949, Maurice Gibb (Bee Gees) 1949, Ralph Fiennes 1962, Ted Cruz 1970 - Politician from Texas 


1864 - During the American Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to U.S. President Lincoln from Georgia. The message read, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." 


1894 - French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated. 


1895 - German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand. 


1939 - Gloria Jacobs became the first girl to hold a world pistol record when she shot 299 out of a possible 300 points. She was 17 years old at the time. 


1961 - James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while U.S. involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers. 


1984 - New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Goetz claimed they were about to rob him. 


1989 - Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising. 


1990 - Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president. 

Former Republican Congressman Calls for Political ‘Revolution’ Among GOP — and Has Eye-Opening Words About Violence | TheBlaze.com

Former Republican Congressman Calls for Political ‘Revolution’ Among GOP — and Has Eye-Opening Words About Violence | TheBlaze.com:

"According to Walsh, the first step for “revolutionaries” — or, conservatives, Tea Partiers and grassroots activists — is to “clean out the Republican Party.” If that does not work, he said, a new political party or movement could be on the horizon."

19 Signs That You Live In A Country That Has Gone Completely Insane

19 Signs That You Live In A Country That Has Gone Completely Insane | RedFlag News
Do you ever feel like you are living in a “Bizarro World”?
#1 When those occupying the highest offices in the land tell you that an $18,000,000,000,000 debt is “under control“, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#3 When the greatest dream in life for millions of your fellow citizens is to win the Powerball jackpot, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#6 When a boy can sue his high school for not letting him use the girls’ restrooms and win $75,000 in “damages”, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#10 When 30 million of your fellow citizens are taking antidepressants, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#11 When an endless stream of gang members, drug dealers, sexual predators, welfare parasites and Middle Eastern terrorists can enter the country illegally and nothing is done, but anyone who criticizes this is in danger of being put on an “enemies list“, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#13 When your military airdrops huge loads of weapons into the hands of the very terrorists that they are supposed to be fighting, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#15 When a fifth-grade student can get suspended from school for making an imaginary gun with his fingers, you live in a country that has gone completely insane.
#16 When Congress has to pass a law to keep federal workers from watching porn all day long, you live in a country that has gone completely insane."
Read on.

Gonna cost your kids a bunch!!-----Inside the Billion-Dollar Battle for Puerto Rico’s Future

Inside the Billion-Dollar Battle for Puerto Rico’s Future - The New York Times:
"The money poured in by the millions, then by the hundreds of millions, and finally by the billions. Over weak coffee in a conference room in Midtown Manhattan last year, a half-dozen Puerto Rican officials exhaled:
Their cash-starved island had persuaded some of the country’s biggest hedge funds to lend them more than $3 billion to keep the government afloat.
There were plenty of reasons for the hedge funds to like the deal:
They would be earning, in effect, a 20 percent return.
And under the island’s Constitution, Puerto Rico was required to pay back its debt before almost any other bills, whether for retirees’ health care or teachers’ salaries.
But within months, Puerto Rico was saying it had run out of money, and the relationship between the impoverished United States territory and its unlikely saviors fell apart, setting up an extraordinary political and financial fight over Puerto Rico’s future..."
Read on.
This is gonna be EXPENSIVE!!

Bush immigration official: Trump’s Muslim ban is ‘completely legal’

Bush immigration official: Trump’s Muslim ban is ‘completely legal’:

"Ting also emphasized that critics who believe prospective immigrants are having their rights infringed are forgetting something.

"In this case, we're talking about people outside the United States who want to come into the United States," he said. "They're outside knocking on our door. The Supreme Court has clearly said, 'You know what? We can use any criteria we want in letting people in or out.'

"The people outside the United States do not have any constitutional right to come into the United States if the government of the United States doesn't want them to," Ting said."

THE PALACE GUARD DEFENDS THE PALACE: CBS Edited Out Harsh Critique of Obama...

Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE PALACE GUARD DEFENDS THE PALACE: CBS Edited Out Harsh Critique of Obama, U.S. ‘Militarism’ by M…:
THE PALACE GUARD DEFENDS THE PALACE: CBS Edited Out Harsh Critique of Obama, U.S. ‘Militarism’ by Muslim Focus Group. “They ripped into Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but CBS wanted its own tidy narrative of patriotic Muslims who have no problem with this president.”

Plus:

He shut me down when I said that President Obama and Hillary Clinton has killed many Muslims under the administration when we were discussing Trump, and ironically for a GOP strategist, he shut me down when I talked about how Democrats have enacted some of the most deadliest and discriminatory policies against Muslims. . . .

The edited version of the focus group interview was mainly about proving our American identity, condemning terrorism, and Trump’s bashing of Muslim-Americans. This is problematic.

He kept saying how he felt bad that no one listens to Muslims and how he wanted to give us an opportunity to talk to the general population. But how can that happen when we’re manipulatively edited to have us fit their own narrative and agenda?

"They call that journalism, these days. 
Interesting that they muted criticism of Obama and Hillary, but focused on complaints about Trump.Posted at 5:09 pm by Glenn Reynolds" 

Education Fail!-----National 2015 NAEP Scores

National 2015 NAEP Scores | StudentsFirst.org:
"Proficiency Comparison
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what American students know and can do in different grades and subjects. In 2015, the percentage of 4th and 8th grade students scoring proficient or advanced decreased in every case except 4th grade reading, which increased slightly.
More than 60% of 4th and 8th graders scored below proficient levels in math and/or reading."

Lunch-video--Short and frightening!!-----Star Wars Conspiracy - Is Star Wars About The Holocaust?

Star Wars Conspiracy: 
Is Star Wars About the Holocaust? 
Is there a resemblance between the Darth Sidious Dictatorship and Adolf Hitler's? 
Take a look at how the past can quickly repeat itself if we don’t stand up to the Dark Side. 
Learn More & discover which Star Wars character you are!: http://libertyawakens.learnliberty.org/

Noon-toon

ALERT: Look Who Obama Hosted at White House While You Weren't Looking... We're Under Attack

ALERT: Look Who Obama Hosted at White House While You Weren't Looking... We're Under Attack:

"President Obama also reportedly did not invite any moderate Muslim groups, like the Muslim Reform Movement, to the discussion on discrimination.

Ironically enough, in 2008 the FBI forbade any outreach to CAIR because of its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Apparently President Obama won’t even listen to his own FBI.

“Why would the White House include CAIR when FBI policy is to avoid the group?” terrorism expert Steve Emerson asked."


The executive sides with our enemies.

Gonna be BIG. And EXPENSIVE. To the taxpayers...of course!-----Jackpot-fixing investigation expands to more state lotteries

Jackpot-fixing investigation expands to more state lotteries - The Washington Post:
"DES MOINES, Iowa — The allegations read like a movie plot: a lottery industry insider installs undetectable software giving him advance knowledge of winning numbers, then enlists accomplices to play those numbers and collect the jackpots. 
And they secretly enrich themselves for years — until a misstep exposes them.
Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, has been convicted of fraud for fixing one jackpot in Des Moines, but prosecutors say his high-tech scheme extended far beyond Iowa. 
He’s accused of tampering with lottery drawings in four states over six years, and investigators are expanding their inquiry nationwide.
Investigators have asked states to review jackpots produced by the number-generators Tipton had access to, and whose winning numbers were specifically requested by the ticket buyer.
They hope to talk with anyone aware of such payouts being collected by someone other than the person who ends up with the money, said Rob Sand, a state prosecutor in Des Moines who is leading the probe..."

If Obama had an airport-----Homeless reign over LaGuardia to come to an end: Port Authority

Homeless reign over LaGuardia to come to an end: Port Authority | New York Post:
"The Port Authority said Friday it will turn La Guardia Airport into a bum-free zone — but not until after the holidays.
The agency made the move following an exposé in The Post showing that at least 50 homeless squatters had moved into the busy airport, sleeping on vents, stealing food from shops and getting naked to wash themselves in the bathrooms.
The homeless have also been taking up chairs meant for passengers while snoring under blaring televisions.
Some hang around during the day, arguing with cleaning crews and bothering shop workers.
PA officials said they made the decision because the growing homeless population forced them to station dozens of cops at the airport to keep the vagrants under control, and that safety had become a huge concern..."

The DOOMSDAY plan if America's power systems are wiped out by cyber attacks

The DOOMSDAY plan if America's power systems are wiped out by cyber attacks | Daily Mail Online
The DOOMSDAY plan: Military bosses reveal survival system that is in place if America's power systems are wiped out by cyber attacks

• Plan is dubbed Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation and Characterization
• It will include automated systems that will help restore power within 7 days
• Follows a warning by General Keith Alexander that the US is at a growing risk of cyber attacks, with energy infrastructure a prime target

The US is at an ever growing risk of a cyber attacks, with energy infrastructure likely to be hackers' prime target.

This was the stark warning made by General Keith Alexander, the retired general and former chief of the National Security Agency, earlier this year.

Now, the Pentagon says it has a plan to do something about the threat.

Its research division, Darpa, has launched a new program to target security threats that have the potential to wipe out all of America's power systems. 

The US is at an ever growing risk of a cyber attacks, with energy infrastructure likely to be hacker's prime target. 
This was the stark warning made by General Keith Alexander, the retired four-star general and former chief of the National Security Agency, earlier this year 

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE NOT PREPARED FOR A CYBER ATTACK 

Nuclear power plants throughout the world are in denial over the risk of a serious cyber attack, a report has warned.

The study claims that the civil nuclear infrastructure in most countries is unprepared for such attacks.

The consequences could be devastating, as even a small-scale attack, it found, could release deadly radiation into the local area.

The report claims that cyber criminals could trigger an incident similar to that seen at Fukushima Daichi in Japan in 2011.

Nearly 16,000 people lost their lives in the natural disaster and subsequent devastation. 

Published by think tank Chatham House, it looked at cyber security in power plants over a period of 18-months and cites 50 incidents globally, of which only a handful have been made public.

The report found a worrying lack of security protocols at nuclear plants throughout the world.

For instance, standard factory-set passwords, such as '1234', were found to be on a range of computer systems that control a power plant's critical system.

An early warning capability for power suppliers could prevent an attack entirely or blunt its effects, such as damage to equipment.

...'The greatest risk is a catastrophic attack on the energy infrastructure. 
We are not prepared for that,' General Keith Alexander said earlier this year.  

He envisioned a worst case-scenario where hackers targeted oil refineries, power stations, and the electric grid. 
The payments nexus of the major banks could also be paralysed he warned. 

'We need something like an integrated air-defence system for the whole energy sector,' he said. 

The current NSA chief Michael Rogers testified late last year that China is capable of cyber attacks that could cause 'catastrophic failures' of the water system or the electricity grid.

FED UP Trey Gowdy Destroys Obama Official, Makes 1 Simple Proposal to Help End Terror Attacks

FED UP Trey Gowdy Destroys Obama Official, Makes 1 Simple Proposal to Help End Terror Attacks:

"In response to President Barack Obama trying to bar people on the “no-fly list” from purchasing firearms, Rep. Trey Gowdy issued a bombshell proposal of his own that made a whole lot more sense, both logically and legally.

“If we’re going to create a list with, by the way, no due process, called a watchlist — then at a minimum you ought to give the list of visa overstays to federally licensed firearms dealers, because that list already exists,” he explained to two Obama officials at a congressional hearing on Thursday."

This video made me cry-----Chilling!-----American students don’t know history

American students don’t know history | Intellectual Takeout

It’s one reason why we can’t rationally discuss things
As we and many others have pointed out, many policy debates these days devolve quickly into emotionalism. 

Should we be surprised when too many American students lack the tools with which to engage in public discourse?
According to the Nation’s Report Card, produced by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) which is considered the gold-standard for evaluating the job schools are doing educating students, only a paltry percentage of high school seniors know their history.
Yes, only a meager 12% of high school seniors are considered “proficient” in U.S. history. 

If you’d like to examine the test, you can do so here. 

We’ll probably do some separate posts on it.
These statistics show how videos like the one below are possible. 

In the video, Rhonda Fink-Whitman who is a daughter of a Holocaust survivor “interviews Pennsylvania public school graduates currently enrolled at four different Pennsylvania universities to see what they know about the Holocaust, World War II, and genocide in general.”
Here’s one question:
Rhonda Fink-Whitman: Which country was Adolf Hitler the leader of?
Student: I think it’s Amsterdam.
Watch and weep.

If you have no baseline for history or civics, how can you rationally engage in discussions? 

You can’t. 

It’s that simple.
Sure, you can have an opinion and you can vote, but you have no real understanding of the lessons of the past, both good and bad. 

Indeed, if you don’t know your history, you have no idea where we have come from and how it formed the present. 

The future is not yours to shape, but merely to stumble blindly into.
Time for a new education system?"