Thursday, May 15, 2014

US calls for probe of possible weapons deal between former bitter foes Iran, Iraq

Iranian weapons are turning up in the Islamic Republic’s former arch foe Iraq, a development one State Department official told FoxNews.com warrants an immediate investigation.

Photos of Iraqi soldiers bearing Iranian-made rifles and scopes as they battle Al Qaeda-linked Islamic extremists in western Iraq have surfaced on the Internet. The images have raised suspicions that Iraq, which already gets large amounts of arms from the U.S., is buying the weapons from the neighboring nation with whom it fought a bloody and bitter war throughout the 1980s. Such transfers would violate United Nations sanctions, and raise concerns about Iran's ever-increasing reach throughout the Middle East.

Conitnue reading at FoxNews.com... http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/05/15/iranian-weapons-in-former-arch-foe-iraq-prompt-state-department-call-for-probe/

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Wednesday, May 14, 2014

UCLA prof says stats prove school's admissions illegally based on race

By Maxim Lott

Public universities in California are barred from using race as a factor in admitting students, but a UCLA professor who once served on its admissions oversight team says he has proof they do it anyway.

While the first round of admissions consideration is handled fairly, African-American students are nearly three times as likely to make it out of the "maybe" pile than equally-qualified white students, and more than twice as likely as Asians, according to Tim Groseclose, a political science professor at the school and author of a new book titled, “Cheating: An Insider's Report on the Use of Race in Admissions at UCLA.”

“UCLA is using racial preferences in admissions,” Groseclose, who made his case using data from 2006-2009, told FoxNews.com.

After a first look results in most applications being either accepted or rejected, a handful of senior university staff sift through those marked for further consideration, according to Groseclose. That’s where the alleged bias happens. He found black applicants were accepted at a 43 percent rate in the second round, while whites were accepted at a 15 percent rate and Asians at an 18 percent rate.

"All of the cheating was done by the senior staff,” Groseclose said.

And race outweighs socioeconomic status, according to Groseclose. For instance, black applicants whose families had incomes exceeding $100,000 were about twice as likely to be accepted in round two as Asian and white kids whose families make just $30,000 and had similar test scores, grades and essays...

READ MORE AT:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/05/13/ucla-prof-says-stats-prove-school-admissions-illegally-favor-blacks/

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Friday, May 2, 2014

My GPG key (sending encrypted, confidential story tips)

If you have a story tip you'd like to keep extra secure, you can send it via encrypted e-mail to either maxim.lott@foxnews.com or maxim.lott@gmail.com using this program: http://support.gpgtools.org/kb/how-to/first-steps-where-do-i-start-where-do-i-begin

Only I will be able to read the e-mail. Everything is of course confidential, even if you don't use encryption.

For tech experts, the raw public key for maxim.lott@foxnews.com is here (but you don't need it if you are using the program linked above).