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Timonium, Feb.12.─ In 1968, the country’s culture wars pitted a rebellious young generation against the values of their parents. The rift was fodder for Ralph Jaffe, a social studies teacher at Ridgely Middle School in Timonium, to take his ninth-grade students through an experiment in participatory democracy.

They would spend all of their time in class trying to pass a bill through Congress to help create a rapport between the embittered generations.

Students lobbied Maryland’s then-2nd District Rep. Clarence Long, who later introduced a bill. A word-of-mouth campaign began for students outside the class to write their representatives. Students called members of the House Appropriations Committee to make their case.

It's a full terrorists war

Over 150 dead and more than 200 wounded in six coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris  

Paris, Nov.14 (BBC).─ France has declared a national state of emergency and tightened borders after at least 120 people were killed in a night of gun and bomb attacks in Paris.

Eighty people were reported killed in of the terrorists targets after gunmen burst into the Bataclan concert hall and took dozens hostage.

The U.S. says it has Putin and Assad right where it wants them  

Nov.2.─ So the U.S. government that was surprised by Vladimir Putin’s takeover of Crimea, surprised by his invasion of eastern Ukraine, surprised by his plan to sell S-300 missiles to Iran, and surprised by his intervention in Syria now thinks the Russian strongman will sue for peace in Syria on U.S. terms and oust Bashar Assad.

“Russia’s intervention is a powerful example of the law of unintended consequences,” said Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a security conference in Bahrain this weekend. “It will have two primary effects. First, it will increase Russia’s leverage over Assad. But second, it will increase the conflict’s leverage over Russia. And that in turn creates a compelling incentive for Russia to work for, not against, a political transition.”

• Turkish police detains supporters of Erdogan rival Gulen in raids
• 44 people have been arrested 'suspected' of having links to an exiled Islamic cleric accused of seeking to overthrow the government 

Ankara, Nov.4.─ Top bureaucrats and police officers were among those held in a crackdown on supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the state-run Anadolu agency said.

Mr Gulen is a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK party regained its majority in Sunday's election.

European observers said violence and media restrictions marred the polls.