It would be easy to argue that Linda Ronstadt was the most popular female singer of the 1970s. Hit after hit‚ Linda Ronstadt’s wholesome vocals appealed to a mass audience that laid the foundation for a long‚ successful career. Linda Ronstadt’s songs intertwined country melodies and rock grooves‚ foreshadowing modern-day country pop in 2024. Furthermore‚ those great songs were elevated to an entirely new level‚ fueled by the pitch-perfect soulful county-blessed vocals of Linda Ronstadt. Linda Ronstadt’s recording career began in 1965 with her trio‚ The Stone Poneys. After releasing three albums with the Stone Poneys‚ Linda Ronstadt began a The post Top 10 Linda Ronstadt Songs That Leave You Breathless appeared first on ClassicRockHistory.com.

Last Epoch has a lot in common with games like Diablo 4‚ including its Hardcore Mode. However‚ it does have its differences. For players who are willing to leap‚ check out what the Hardcore Mode is in Last Epoch. Last Epoch: What is Hardcore Mode? – Explained Hardcore Mode turns the game up to 11. Death is permanent. Thankfully‚ you don’t lose that character. Instead‚ they get moved over to the Standard servers. Screenshot: Eleventh Hour Games Can I take my character back to Hardcore mode? When you die in the Hardcore Mode‚ and your character gets sent to the normal servers‚ that’s where they will stay — permanently. You need to create an all-new character if you want to reenter hardcore mode. It’s like Diablo 4 with a safety net. This feature alone could make ARPGs follow suit and make it easier to play for a wide variety of players. Diablo 4 and Last Epoch share a ton of gameplay mechanics. They also share the ability to customize your charac...

We don’t need any fancy mumbo-jumbo-sounding attachments to make our point. Here is how to get Operator Barebones kills in Modern Warfare 3. Modern Warfare 3: How to get Operator Barebones kills A new week opens the door for new Weekly Challenges for all of us to complete. However‚ what I have encountered quite often is that these Challenges do not explain very well what exactly you have to do‚ especially for specific types of kills. For Season 2 Week 3‚ we have a special Weekly Challenge that involves getting Operator Barebones kills‚ and it can get a bit confusing. You see‚ in prior games‚ Barebones was actually a playlist that disabled killstreaks and kill points‚ but it’s not present in Modern Warfare 3. So‚ what are Operator Barebones kills? This time‚ it has nothing to do with a specific playlist‚ but rather the gun itself you use to kill enemy Operators. You see‚ Barebones is a state of your weapon‚ and to make your kills count toward the tally‚ you need to ...

Learning to read is trending. The most fundamental of K-12 subjects is fueling YouTube videos and feature stories in People magazine and is now the subject of a report from Sen. Bill Cassidy‚ R-La.‚ ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health‚ Education‚ Labor‚ and Pensions. Let’s hope the renewed interest spreads‚ because a shocking proportion of American children cannot read‚ and the data have profound implications for these children’s futures—and the entire criminal justice system. Oliver James is the former convict who announced on social media that he taught himself to read as an adult‚ which sparked media coverage on how learning to read changed his life. As a student‚ James had been passed along from grade to grade without learning this basic skill. James took a video of himself in his van saying‚ “What’s up? I can’t read‚” turning him into an internet sensation and attracting the attention of the “Today” show‚ among others. James has since posted videos of his improvements and making his way through everything from Greek mythology to books on mental illness. James would find value in Cassidy’s report released this week. Cassidy’s team uses the abysmal reading test scores of fourth and eighth grade students to demonstrate that there is a reading crisis in schools‚ and it does not take long for the report‚ titled “Preventing a Lost Generation: Facing a Critical Moment for Students’ Literacy‚” to link incarceration and illiteracy. “Many previously struggling students end up as part of our nation’s institutionalized population‚” reads the report‚ and at a significant cost to taxpayers. Taxpayers spend some $80 billion per year on the corrections system‚ five times the amount taxpayers spend on education for children in low-income areas. In fact‚ the National Assessment of Adult Literacy finds that two-thirds of students who cannot read by the end of fourth grade will be incarcerated later in life or will be living in poverty as adults. Two out of three inmates did not have a high school diploma when they entered prison. Nearly 75% of incarcerated adults are illiterate. Not learning to read in school creates a chain reaction: Individuals have fewer opportunities in the workforce and become more likely to find themselves incarcerated. Sure enough‚ 51% of inmates were not employed full time before they were incarcerated‚ and 1 in 5 was unemployed. Despite the best efforts of education advocates in the justice system‚ 60% of incarcerated adults do not participate in education programs while they are in prison. While more research is needed to make causal claims‚ the overlap between illiteracy and incarceration has been widely studied—which makes data on improved reading scores invaluable to policymakers. Cassidy’s report is an urgent warning that the data on student illiteracy is effectively data on the next generation of incarcerated adults and the cost to taxpayers of corrections and the justice system. Cassidy’s report cites figures from a National Reading Panel report and estimates the cost to taxpayers of adult illiteracy is $409 billion annually‚ counting “welfare payments‚ crime‚ job incompetence‚ lost taxes‚ and remedial education.” Some state lawmakers have adopted solutions that can serve as a models to improve student literacy rates. Legislators in states such as Arizona‚ Mississippi‚ and Florida have adopted provisions that require third graders to demonstrate proficiency in reading before they can advance to the next grade level. Mississippi is home to the Barksdale Reading Institute‚ which promotes the “science of reading‚” a method that combines phonics instruction‚ which research demonstrates was a method that should not have been abandoned over the last 50 years‚ with other techniques to improve instruction. The average score of fourth graders in Mississippi has jumped nine points since 2013‚ the largest increase in the country over that period‚ and 19 points since 1992‚ the second-largest increase in those years. Florida students have seen similar increases. Lawmakers can easily reach across the aisle on this issue. Creating better readers would benefit all Americans—across racial and economic lines. Working-age black men without a high school diploma are more likely to be in prison than employed‚ and 1 out of every 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34 are incarcerated. It has great significance‚ then‚ that the average reading scores in Florida for black students in fourth grade have increased 22 points as state officials have adopted reforms focused on reading and education choice options such as education savings accounts. Mississippians are watching the same improvements unfold. Senate committee reports do not often go viral‚ but the state-based solutions Cassidy’s report contains should inspire teachers and state officials nationwide. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Solving the Literacy Crisis appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The government and private companies spy on us. My former employee‚ Naomi Brockwell‚ has become a privacy specialist. She advises people on how to protect their privacy. In my new video‚ she tells me I should delete most of my apps on my phone. I push back. I like that Google knows where I am and can recommend a “restaurant near me.” I like that my Shell app lets me buy gas (almost) without getting out of the car. I don’t like that government gathers information about me via my phone‚ but so far‚ so what? Brockwell tells me I’m being dumb because I don’t know which government will get that data in the future. Looking at my phone‚ she tells me‚ “You’ve given location permission‚ microphone permission. You have so many apps!” She says I should delete most of them‚ starting with Google Chrome. “This is a terrible app for privacy. Google Chrome is notorious for collecting every single thing that they can about you … [and] broadcasting that to thousands of people … auctioning off your eyeballs. It’s not just advertisers collecting this information. Thousands of shell companies‚ shady companies of data brokers also collect it and‚ in turn‚ sell it.” Instead of Google‚ she recommends using a browser called Brave. It’s just as good‚ she says‚ but it doesn’t collect all the information that Chrome does. It’s slightly faster‚ too‚ because it doesn’t slow down to load ads. Then she says‚ “Delete Google Maps.” “But I need Google Maps!” “You don’t‚” she replies. “You have an iPhone. You have Apple Maps … Apple is better when it comes to privacy … Apple at least tries to anonymize your data.” Instead of Gmail‚ she recommends more private alternatives‚ like Proton Mail or Tuta. “There are many others‚” she points out. “The difference between them is that every email going into your inbox for Gmail is being analyzed‚ scanned‚ it’s being added to a profile about you.” But I don’t care. Nothing beats Google’s convenience. It remembers my credit cards and passwords. It fills things in automatically. I tried the Brave browser but‚ after a week‚ switched back to Google. I like that Google knows me. Brockwell says that I could import my credit cards and passwords to Brave and autofill there‚ too. “I do understand the trade-off‚” she adds. “But email is so personal. It’s private correspondence about everything in your life. I think we should use companies that don’t read our emails. Using those services is also a vote for privacy‚ giving a market signal that we think privacy is important. That’s the only way we’re going to get more privacy.” She also warns that even apps like WhatsApp‚ which I thought were private‚ aren’t as private as we think. “WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted and better than standard SMS [text messaging]. But it collects a lot of data about you and shares it with its parent company‚ Facebook. It’s nowhere near as private as an app like Signal.” She notices my Shell app and suggests I delete it. Opening the app’s “privacy nutrition label‚” something I never bother reading‚ she points out that I give Shell “your purchase history‚ your contact information‚ physical address‚ email address‚ your name‚ phone number‚ your product interaction‚ search history‚ user ID‚ crash data‚ performance data‚ precise location‚ course location … ” The list goes on. No wonder I don’t read it. She says‚ “The first step before downloading an app: Take a look at their permissions‚ see what information they’re collecting.” I’m just not going to bother. But she did convince me to delete some apps‚ pointing out that if I want the app later‚ I can always reinstall it. “We think that we need an app for every interaction we do with a business. We don’t realize what we give up as a result.” “They already have all my data. What’s the point of going private now?” I ask. “Privacy comes down to choice‚” she replies. “It’s not that I want everything that I do to remain private. It’s that I deserve to have the right to selectively reveal to the world what I want them to see. Currently‚ that’s not the world.” COPYRIGHT 2023 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC. The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com‚ and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post Our Sneaky Phones Are Spying on Us appeared first on The Daily Signal.

New Scientist: Combat Colonialism With ... Cannibalism?

Pro-Palestinian Group of Harvard Employees Removes Names‚ Loses a Prominent Professor

Everylife diapers‚ a pro-life diaper brand‚ just launched its second billboard campaign. Their first was in New York City‚ just before the national March for Life. And this weeks billboard hit the streets of Atlanta‚ Georgia. The 100-foot sign plays a digital ad that Everylife crafted‚ where the brand squashes the typical leftist talking point that abortion helps with population control. The billboard also features a tweet from X CEO Elon Musk from September where he wrote‚ “Having children is saving the world‚" hence the “Make More Babies” slogan the brand regularly utilizes. In January‚ when Everylife first used Musk’s tweet on a billboard‚ the tech giant CEO noted that while he didn’t have anything to do with getting the billboard up‚ he did endorse the message that it put out. To accompany the two-day Atlanta campaign‚ Everylife is hosting a diaper drive where the company will give away nearly 20‚000 free diapers to families who need them in the area.  "We're excited to bring this movement to Atlanta and we're looking forward to meeting EveryLife moms‚ dads‚ and babies in person‚” said Sarah Gabel Seifert‚ co-founder and president of EveryLife. “Together‚ we're amplifying a movement that champions the creation of life and the values that make families strong.” We’re Taking “Make More Babies” on the road! On February 21 &; 22‚ EveryLife and our iconic “Make More Babies” digital billboard to will be in Atlanta‚ Georgia-and the 100 ft sign is massive! 🤯 Get all of the details about our Atlanta diaper drive‚ a sneak peek of our ATL sign… pic.twitter.com/PqoGl6cEtV — EveryLife (@everylife) February 19‚ 2024 Following the launch‚ Everylife plans to take part in the Georgia March for Life on Thursday to‚ again‚ amplify the message that life is sacred‚ has innate value and is something to celebrate! In response to the campaign‚ users and groups on X were thrilled that Everylife is continuing its messaging and campaign to fight for all life. The Georgia Life Alliance‚ a pro-life group‚ said that the ad and Everylife’s commitment to life was “*fire emoji*” and encouraged everyone to attend the Georgia March for Life.  Others posted things like‚ “this is wonderful‚” “nice‚” and “AMAZING!” Luckily‚ Georgia is a relatively pro-life state. As it stands‚ abortion is banned after six weeks and women are required to wait 24-hours before receiving an abortion after receiving counseling about what happens during an abortion to fully understand whether or not they want to follow through with it. Hopefully‚ those who advocated for such pro-life laws to be passed will show up for Thursday’s state march where speakers like Dr. Alveda King from the Alveda King Ministries‚ Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr‚ and Georgia Labor Commissioner Bruce Thompson will be in attendance. It really is great to see a brand so boldly stand up and fight for the lives of the unborn. Kudos Everylife!

“Breaking the News‚” the latest entry in PBS’s documentary series “Independent Lens‚” celebrated the 2020 launch of leftist journalism start-up The 19th* (asterisk included)‚ which became a popular source for the most woke of PBS NewsHour journalistic guests. The doc’s creators are clearly on the same wavelength with the feminist‚ LGBTQ-oriented site. From the “About” page: Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo‚ banding together to launch The 19th*‚ a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation…. It opened with Emily Ramshaw‚ former Texas Tribune editor and co-founder of The 19th* at home with her husband David -- wincingly identified as “He/Him” on screen. Stuck at home in March 2020 during COVID‚ she's talking to a white male potential funder about how women are underrepresented in the industry. As for that pretentious asterisk? Let editor-at-large Errin Haines explain(?). Haines: I work in a newsroom that's named for the 19th Amendment but with an asterisk in our logo for the omission of the black women‚ who were‚ frankly‚ sacrificed so that white women could get their access to the ballot. What have they done with it? You know‚ used that access largely to uphold systems of patriarchy and oppression‚ right? So‚ you know‚ that is a dynamic that persists‚ and it's a dynamic that we have to confront. Yikes. The no-narrator‚ fly-on-the-wall approach still allowed the leftist flavor to seep out‚ with mentions of stories about “Trans voter disenfranchisement” and a valued source‚ the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center‚ an organization fond of bestowing the “hate group” label on its political opponents. There was some mortifying internal drama for spice‚ provided by trans-man (i.e. biological woman) Kate Sosin‚ sad about being “misgendered” in staff meetings (“I spent the whole day in my apartment‚ crying in bed”) in between shots of Zoom meetings and cute dogs. This quote from founder Ramshaw rang true. Ramshaw: We’ve tried to be as transparent as we can be about the fact that our journalism isn’t about both sides. In some cases there aren’t two sides. There you have it: A one-sided media outlet celebrated by PBS‚ a one-sided tax-funded news network. Journalists from The 19th have already made several appearances on the taxpayer-funded PBS NewsHour‚ talking about abortion or transgenderism in decidedly fierce‚ non-objective terms. Haines shamelessly held Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis “at least partly responsible” for a racist killing in Jacksonville. NewsHour anchor Amna Nawaz actually appeared on The 19th itself‚ lamenting the loss of rights abortion bans would entail. PS: The doc’s accompanying 16-page Discussion Guide was a woke work of art‚ worth reading for the unintentional humor supplied by self-important leftists‚ from the lead image of a woman wearing a COVID mask (in 2024!) to the Maoist-lite insistence on proper pronouns to avoid misgendering when discussing the doc (isn't it presumptuous to assume people will be gathering in groups to talk about this earnest snoozer?). Under the subhead “Being Mindful of Language” was this speech policing: When discussing the film‚ it’s important that everyone be respectful about their pronoun use. This includes references to the people in the film‚ as well as to panel participants and audience members. Anyone involved in the conversation is welcome to state their pronouns prior to discussion. And if someone is misgendered‚ gently remind the person who misspoke of the correct pronoun to use. The journalistic tenet of balance was casually tossed into the trash. In addition to these foundational tenets‚ newsrooms across the country pledge to be fair and balanced‚ showing both sides of a story. For decades this framework gave reporters the means to avoid bias and anchor their story in facts. This method‚ known as bothsidesism‚ was adopted and upheld as the gold standard in journalism. We’re pretty sure no one has ever used the dismissive term “bothsidesism” when defending the goal of fair reporting. Ramshaw made the case for denying conservative voices access to the media. But in the last few years‚ some newsrooms‚ including The 19th*‚ have come to realize that bothsidesism doesn’t really serve the audience. As The 19th* CEO and co-founder Emily Ramshaw asks in the film‚ if one side isn’t interested in the facts or truth‚ why bother giving them a platform if they’re only going to spread hate and false facts that hurt and harm particular groups of our community? Another suggested activity: “Hold a workshop on how cisgender white men can be better allies.”

Over the years‚ we’ve witnessed many Washington Post hit pieces against Republican presidential candidates‚ and the most shameless ones are about what happened in their youth. One of the first ones to come to mind is Mitt Romney being attacked in May of 2012 for apparently being a vicious prankster who gave some other kid an involuntary haircut on the quad. On Tuesday afternoon‚ Post reporter Michael Kranish – a man who used to buff the image of the lanky windsurfer John Kerry when he worked at The Boston Globe – put out a 3‚000-word article trying to make Nikki Haley look bad. This was the headline: Haley’s nearly all-White high school lacked lessons of racism‚ some say Haley left her hometown’s integrated public school system and attended a high school newly created from the merger of two “segregation academies.” An entire hit piece based on what “some say.” They mean what “liberals say.” This didn't appear in the Wednesday paper. At its robust length‚ it's probably meant to appear on Sunday. The thesis came in the second paragraph: But as Haley began her sophomore year of high school in the fall of 1986‚ she left Bamberg‚ S.C.‚ commuting 20 miles north to a radically different environment: Orangeburg Preparatory‚ a newly created private school formed from the merger of two institutions known locally as “segregation academies” because of their nearly universal White enrollment in a majority-Black city. Are they serious? Was South Carolina “segregationist” in 1986? If so‚ why was Nikki the Indian-American allowed?  Kranish hammered on the alleged lack of “lessons in racism‚” especially about the “Orangeburg Massacre” in 1968‚ when three young black men were shot and killed by cops at a civil rights protest. To be educated at Orangeburg Prep was to “swim in the current” of the way Whites thought and were taught‚ said Katrice Shuler‚ the valedictorian of Orangeburg’s 1989 class‚ who recalls sitting through classes with Haley. “It could be very easy for someone to go through the school system‚ the private school system‚ and feel that‚ oh‚ racism isn’t a problem because they haven’t been negatively affected by it‚” said Shuler‚ who is White. No one at the Post could confirm what Haley was actually taught about race and history in high school the 1980s. One classmate says they learned all about race and the local shooting in Advanced-Placement History‚ but he doesn't know if she took that class. But wild conjectures are allowed!  Haley’s school was somehow quietly….Jim Crow! So said Jack Shuler [no relation to Katrice‚ they say]‚ who went to Haley’s school and clearly hates it‚ and wrote a whole book about it: Some students say that the legacy of Orangeburg Prep as a nearly all-White school born from segregation academies was clear in the curriculum and the composition of the student body.... “In the 1980s and 1990s Orangeburg Prep was a quiet manifestation of Jim Crow‚” Shuler‚ who is White‚ wrote in the book‚ published during Haley’s governorship. The story also featured Cleveland Sellers‚ a black student protester who was shot by the police in 1968‚ and his son Bakari Sellers‚ who gets a chance to rip Haley:  “Nikki Haley is the most shrewd‚ talented politician in the country. She is not racist by any stretch‚” said former state Rep. Bakari Sellers‚ a Democrat who is Black and grew up in Bamberg County and whose father was among those wounded in the Orangeburg Massacre. “But she knows better. … Either you are wholly ignorant‚ which she’s not‚ or you’re intellectually dishonest for the purpose of political gain.” "Intellectually dishonest for political gain" could be the slogan on the masthead of The Washington Post.