Texas High School Senior Wins Right To Fly Palestinian Flag At Graduation…

Weasel Zippers

Last time I checked there is no country named “Palestine.”

Via the pro-Palestinian site Electronic Intifada:

Malak Abdallahi had to fight to be allowed carry the Palestinian flag at her graduation ceremony in Texas earlier this month.

She overcame opposition by administrators at the Fossil Ridge High School just outside Fort Worth.

Officially, the school is happy to celebrate the diverse origins of its students by displaying the flags of numerous countries during the graduation procession.

When Abdallahi decided that she wished to have her Palestinian identity recognized during this year’s ceremony, she went first to her vice-principal Buddy Read. He told her that there shouldn’t be any problem with obtaining a Palestinian flag for the event.

A few days later, the vice-principal called her into his office where he informed her that the administrators were not comfortable with her carrying the Palestinian flag. Abdallahi was shocked but did not know how to respond. “I’m not one to argue, and I didn’t want to come off aggressive, immature, or unprofessional,” she said

She asked Read for an explanation. Read informed her that there was a conflict and that she could not carry the Palestinian flag, she recounted. He explained that her commencement is a public ceremony and that the administrators did not want to make any of the attendees uncomfortable.

“He was so uncomfortable and couldn’t look me in the eye,” Abdallahi said. “He offered that I could carry another flag. I told him that if he was trying to suggest Israel, then no thank you.”

Keep reading…

CBO: Feds siphoning billions from student loan program to fund Obamacare

Free Republic

The Affordable Care Act is set to cost students enrolled in the government’s loan program $8.7 billion in extra interest over the next decade, according to a report published by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

If savings were kept inside the loan program, instead of transferred to Obamacare, as some Republican senators are suggesting, they could allow the Department of Education to lower student interest rates to 5.3 percent from 6.3 percent, according to the CBO.

The nearly $9 billion being used to fund Obamacare is derived from $61 billion the government says it will save by administering student loans in-house.

Late last month former secretary of education and ranking member of the

According to a report from the CBO, Obamacare is costing students enrolled in

Senate Committee on Health, Education,

the government’s loan program an extra $8.7 billion in interest.

Labor and Pensions Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) seized on the diversion of the funds as one solution for lowering student interest rates, which are set to double on Monday.

“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if we applied that $61 billion savings to student loans, we could have reduced the interest rates to about 5.3 percent and save the average student $2,200 over 10 years,” said Alexander, speaking from the Senate floor.

(Excerpt) Read more at campusreform.org …

NSA Surveillance Database: Backdoor to a National Gun Registry?

 The New American

A large group of mostly Democratic U.S. senators penned a letter to National Intelligence Director James Clapper (shown) asking if the NSA had created a national gun registry by keeping all electronic business transactions in a permanent database. And the NSA just might have done this, contrary to existing law.

First pictures of the 19 elite ‘hotshot’ firefighters who perished in wildfire