Quote:John Bear
...
Ph.D., Communication, Michigan State University, 1966 [Grade point average: 4.0]

Quote:Three dead, 5 wounded in US campus shooting: police

AFP
13 Feb 2023

Three people were killed and five others wounded Monday when a gunman opened fire on a university campus in the United States, before fleeing the scene, local police said.

The suspect opened fire inside a building at [regionally accredited] Michigan State University shortly after 8 p.m. local time, said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of campus police.

The gunman then moved on foot to a nearby building where more shots were fired.

?There are three confirmed fatalities,? Michigan State University police said in a statement on Twitter. ?This is in addition to the five victims who have been transported to the hospital.?

Some of the wounded had suffered life-threatening injuries, Rozman told reporters.

Police released a photo of the suspect, a short Black man, wearing red shoes, a denim jacket and a baseball cap.

?We currently have hundreds of police officers and law enforcement officials ? state, local and federal ? on campus working in a coordinated effort to ensure the safety of campus and identify and apprehend the suspect,? Rozman said.

Police responded quickly to the scene and students and staff were ordered to shelter in place.

Officials said all campus activities will be canceled for the next 48 hours.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was briefed on the shooting and said police were working to secure the area.

?Let?s wrap our arms around the Spartan community tonight,? she wrote on Twitter, referring to the university?s athletic logo.

School and university shootings are alarmingly common as part of a broader wave of gun violence in the United States, where the proliferation of firearms has soared in recent years.

Quote:In 2000, Bear, who has a Ph.D. in communications from Michigan State University, conducted diploma mill research with Rich Douglas, a long time Air Force education officer. They sent questionnaires to 300 university registrars asking whether they would accept degrees from a variety of schools "always, usually, sometimes, rarely or never.’’

"The LaSalle response was ‘never’ in every case,’’ Bear said.

Quote:Fact-Checker Snopes On Verge of Financial Meltdown Amid Divorce Scandal
By Andrew West | July 26, 2017

In the new liberal war on information, the very definition of the word "fact"? has been called into question in order to create doubt among their voter base.

While Hillary Clinton was floundering in the 2016 election spin-masters in the mainstream media, along with her campaign advisors, found themselves struggling to find a scapegoat for their "inevitable" candidate's coming demise. They had previously tried to attack Donald Trump on several fronts, but to no avail. It seemed as though Hillary Clinton's purported, and later proven, corruption was too far embedded in the character of her candidacy. That's when the democrats decided to try something desperate: They would fight a war of perception.

Instead of arguing with journalists and outlets with whom they disagreed, the democrats and the mainstream media would simply decide that those outlets were "fake news"?. It was a quick and easy dismissal to use, and the concept went viral. Soon, any and every conservative news outlet found themselves on some imaginary "list"?, concocted by some low-level liberal arts professor at You Name It Community College. In short, it was a mess. Who, then, would validate the validity of these claims?

Enter Snopes.com, one of the earliest authorities on the internet. As the advent of the world wide web created a need for verifying the identity of those Nigerian Princes and getting the real story behind that photo of the guy on top of the Twin Towers, Snopes became the de facto destination for separating the wheat from the chaff of internet urban legends. As the internet grew, so did Snopes, who began branching out into real world legends shortly after.

As the war against Fake News continued to devolve into pure madness, with no authority truly able to right the ship, Facebook and Google decided that Snopes was the answer. These two liberal leviathans of the online world would give the job to the husband and wife team behind the debunking website, and then forcefully interject the Snopes opinion in their own search results. The obviously flawed plan is currently still in place.

But for how long?

"So-called 'fact-checking' website Snopes.com is reportedly on the verge of financial collapse since one if its founders has been accused of using company cash to fund his contentious divorce and to pay for fancy vacations with his new wife, a former escort and porn actress.

"The financial situation has apparently become so dire that Snopes owner David Mikkelson launched a crowd-funding website to solicit donations, according to London's Daily Mail. Readers contributed more than $500,000 in just the first 24 hours.

"Snopes.com's founders, former husband and wife David and Barbara Mikkelson, have been embroiled in a lengthy and bitter legal dispute in the wake of their divorce. At one point, Barbara accused the CEO of using company money for prostitutes. Barbara Mikkelson also accused her ex-husband of embezzling more than $100,000 in company funds. She urged the court to limit access to David's bank account because she said she feared he would drain the company funds due to his wild spending habits.

"David claimed Barbara took millions from their joint accounts and bought property in Las Vegas. He has since remarried to a former escort and porn actress, Elyssa Young, who is one of the site's staff members. Young, who was a Las Vegas escort until at least 2015, charged $500 for her services. She also starred in porn films as "Erin O'Bryn."?

This, folks, is the group in charge of determining "fake news" for the liberals.

Quote:Bircham International University revisited

by John Bear » Wed May 22, 2013 3:40 am

More than ten years ago, my daughter and I included a listing for Bircham International University in the thirteenth edition of our book, Bears Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning. The book, in effect, separates schools into three categories: those with recognized accreditation, those that operate legally but without recognized accreditation (or the equivalent in other countries), and those that we identify as degree mills. Bircham is included in the middle category.

The CEO of Bircham, William Martin, has asked us to revisit that listing, and we are pleased to do so.

For purposes of reference, here is the original listing:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bircham International University
Madrid, Spain
Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorates
Degrees by correspondence at all levels in business, arts, health, psychology, engineering, computers and science. Website lists “delegation” addresses in Spain, England, United States (a Mail Boxes Etc. in Miami, Florida), Bahamas, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, and New Zealand. We were told that the offices in Spain and Taiwan were the main offices, and that the offices in England and the Bahamas are strictly administrative and do not serve students, The Internet site is registered to an address in Madrid, Spain. Until 2000, the school was called Oxford International University; the name change was motivated, at least partly, by entanglements with its more venerable namesake. Will consider an “honorary doctorate” on submission of your curriculum vitae, two reference letters, and a minimum donation of $1,200 (U.S.).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The main thing we would add, if we were doing a new edition of our book (which, alas, we are not at this time), is to address the concept of non-formal learning, a concept which has become increasingly popular in most European countries in recent years. It is, in effect, a middle ground between formal education and informal everyday learning. Non-formal learning typically occurs in a formal learning environment, but often one that is not formally recognized. It can involve seminars, workshops, colloquia, distance or online courses, independent study, etc. An Internet search will find many articles on the topic. For instance, Malcolm Tight (Key Concepts in Adult Education and Training, London: Routledge) writes that non-formal education is about “acknowledging the importance of education, learning and training which takes place outside recognized educational institutions.”

Bircham International University describes itself as a practitioner of non-formal education. As such, while it operates legally under Spanish law, it is not formally recognized by the Ministry of Education of Spain (where it is located), although the Ministry has acknowledged the relevance of the concept, and, along with other countries in the European Union, is working toward establishing policies to identify, evaluate, and recognize those entities offering non-formal education. Bircham does not have (nor does it need to have) recognized accreditation.

In the matter of the use of the Oxford name, Mr. Martin writes that “In 2000 BIU bought a UK ‘shelf company’ called Oxford International College that was immediately changed to Bircham International College with the purpose of opening a branch office in the UK. We did not get the authorization to issue degrees in the UK, so neither the UK company, nor the office, was ever opened. There was never any interaction with the University of Oxford…”

For many years, we have written that in the process of choosing any school, the prospective student should determine, as best he or she can, that their credential will meet both their current and predictable future needs. Based on the testimonials offered by Bircham, it seems clear that there are many satisfied people with the [sic] their credential.

Mr. Martin has asked us to post this message on the DegreeDiscussion.com and DegreeInfo.com forums, and to send a copy to the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, which we have done. He has also asked us to respond to any responses that may be posted on this forum. But there is really little more we can say, other than that we stand by what we have written.

--John and Mariah Bear, May, 2013

John Bear Wrote:After writing favorably about WISR for 30+ years, and being regularly asked, I agreed last week to join their Board of Directors. Earlier this year, they surveyed all their PhD students to see whether they would prefer the WISR Ph.D., or a DETC-accredited D.Ed. or D.Psy. The vote was 26 to 0 in favor of the Ph.D.

Quote:John Bear, PhD is WISR’s newest Board member. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on nontraditional higher education and distance learning. He is an actively involved critic of diploma mills, and a supporter, and co-founder, of many legitimate and solid nontraditional programs of higher learning. He received his BA in Psychology (1959) and his M.J. in Journalism (1960) from the University of California at Berkeley; his PhD in Communications (1966) is from Michigan State. He is the author of 35 books with major publishers—on higher education, computers, travel, US history, cooking, publishing and consumerism. He is especially well known in the higher education community for his numerous guides to nontraditional higher education and distance learning. He was the Head of New Business Development or the Financial Times division of Pearson PLC, which is the world’s largest educational publisher. Years ago, he was a tenured Associate Professor of Journalism at the University of Iowa and head of the Senior Honors Program there.

John Bear Wrote:Gus, your response to my latest email...

Postby John Bear on Mon Feb 20, 2012 1:16 am
...will help us decide which approach to take in our response to the O'Block lawsuit, so it will be very helpful to hear from you as soon as possible. Thank you. John on Sunday at 5 pm.

John Bear
Senior Member

Quote:Goliath's height

Postby John Bear on Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:52 am
I was able to find this authentic photograph, which proves that either Goliath was 16.475 feet tall or David was 27 inches tall.

Image

John Bear, M.J., Ph.D.
Licensed minister of the American Fellowship Church

John Bear
Senior Member

Posts: 2314
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:12 am
Location: California