>School curriculum in Canada disputes view of math as 'objective' discipline, argues it has been used to 'normalize racism'
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-leave-lefty-politics-out-of-ontarios-math-curriculum
Leave lefty politics out of Ontario's math curriculum
Can we just teach math to kids in Ontario without a side dish of left-wing politics, or is that too much to ask? If you haven’t heard, Ontario’s new math curriculum teaches that math is racist, Eurocentric, and subjective rather than objective.
This is found in the newly-updated Grade 9 math curriculum that was brought in to replace the failing math curriculum championed by the Wynne government.
In the old system, the government developed a curriculum that failed so badly, standardized test scores fell over the previous decade while reading and writing did not.
Less than half of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard. In Grade 9, it was the same story for those in the applied streaming category with just 44% meeting the standard as compared to 84% for the academic stream.
Improving the system for those streamed into applied math — in part, by getting rid of streaming was supposed to be part of the solution.
One of the criticisms of the streaming system is that it pushed economically-disadvantaged kids away from a chance at higher education by streaming them into applied math when they would require advanced for university and many college courses. Many of those students were also from racial and ethnic minority groups, and the call went out to make sure the system was being fair to these students by stopping streaming and improving the curriculum.
Of course, in doing that, the academics and bureaucrats who wrote the curriculum had to insert their politics into the subject matter, including teaching that “mathematics can be subjective.”
“Mathematics is often positioned as an objective and pure discipline. However, the content and the context in which it is taught, the mathematicians who are celebrated, and the importance that is placed upon mathematics by society are subjective,” the new curriculum reads.
If we are talking about the history surrounding mathematics, then there may be some merit to this statement, but that is not the issue with this part of the curriculum.
“Mathematics has been used to normalize racism and marginalization of non-Eurocentric mathematical knowledges, and a decolonial, anti-racist approach to mathematics education makes visible its historical roots and social constructions,” the curriculum states.
Math, as we know it, has been developed by a myriad of cultures and ethnicities from the ancient Greeks and the Babylonians to brilliant mathematicians from India and China who developed their own systems. In the medieval era, it was Muslim scholars across the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia who synthesized and advanced many of these concepts.
Calling math Eurocentric is historically inaccurate and wrong on so many levels. Sadly, the woke warriors who populate our education system will always find a way to work their leftist political agenda into what students are taught, regardless of its accuracy.
Surprisingly, the Ford government is defending these statements in the curriculum by sounding like the old lefty Bob Dylan anthem, The Times They Are A-Changin.
“The world has changed, the economy has changed and so should the curriculum that inspires and informs our students and leaders of tomorrow,” said Caitlin Clark, spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce.
“We are taking action to ensure all children — especially those facing barriers to success — have meaningful pathways to quality learning, graduation, access to post-secondary education, and good-paying jobs.”
Math hasn’t changed, though, and calling mathematics subjective, racist, and Eurocentric does nothing to help students who were left behind by the old curriculum. This is the Ford government supporting a political agenda at odds with their own, and that has nothing to do with the academic success of students.
Changing the curriculum to focus on financial literacy, real-world applications and a system that works for students was the right thing to do. Letting the activists insert their lefty politics into the classroom and then defending it was the wrong thing to do.
Lecce should fix this.
>two kettles of water with three bags of sugar
>Savage
yeah that's a pretty hardcore
Simple syrup is a basic sugar-and-water syrup used by bartenders as a sweetener to make cocktails. Simple syrup is made by stirring granulated sugar into hot water in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and then cooling the solution. The ratio of sugar to water is 1:1 by volume for normal simple syrup, but can get up to 2:1 for rich simple syrup. For pure sucrose the saturation limit is about 5:1
>balancing a checkbook is racist
>she talks about what America First means to her
>Napalm Mommy
>President Trump: We will take back that Glorious White House.
"They were hoping, the federal government was hoping, they could sucker 90 percent of the population into getting vaccinated," Berenson said at CPAC, eliciting uproarious applause from the conservative audience.
CNN host Jake Tapper asked Fauci to respond to the conservative crowd cheering on Berenson's remarks during Sunday morning's State of the Union program. Berenson's comments tapped into the opposition to government public health officials that was apparent under former President Donald Trump.
"He just goes on to say things that are not true about the vaccine, but I want to get your reaction to is the crowd cheering when this gentleman [Berenson] talks about how the government was not able to achieve a 90 percent vaccine rate. The crowd cheered. As a public health official, what's your reaction watching that?" Tapper asked Fauci.
"It's horrifying. I mean, they are cheering about someone saying that it's a good thing for people not to try and save their lives," Fauci said of the CPAC moment which occurred Saturday.
"I mean, if you just unpack that for a second, Jake, it's almost frightening to say, hey, guess what, we don't want you to do something to save your life," Fauci continued. "Yes. Everybody starts screaming and clapping. I just don't get that. I mean, and I don't think that anybody who is thinking clearly can get that. What is that all about? I don't understand that, Jake."
s criticisms and mocking remarks at CPAC, with many attendees at least partially blaming the coronavirus pandemic for Trump's loss against President Joe Biden last year. Several speakers including Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Fauci of being incapable of doing his job.
"[The press said] Fauci is something other than a bureaucrat in a lab coat. Yeah," Trump Jr. said at CPAC on Saturday, drawing laughter from the conservative audience. "Fauci is better at pitching baseballs than he is at science, okay? Also true. I want to see them fact check that one, they have no chance."
Fauci in June was tied to numerous leaked emails to other public health officials in the federal government, exacerbating claims among pro-Trump critics that he was working against the former president during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci and top CDC officials have vehemently denied these accusations.
Newsweek reached out out to Fauci's office at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for any additional remarks.
>freedom is an anti-government slogan
https://apnews.com/article/business-technology-media-social-media-election-2020-c766a2cf2458b29eee939d6dbc266442
QAnon has receded from social media – but it’s just hiding
https://twitter.com/AP/status/1413528642429280263
https://apnews.com/article/business-sports-baseball-arrests-mlb-5a3c4aa86fac5aa1905ac05e48a2d6c2
4 arrested, guns seized at hotel near All-Star Game events
Four people have been arrested and more than a dozen weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition have been seized at a downtown Denver hotel that is close to several events planned in conjunction with the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star Game.
Officers responding to a tip searched two rooms at the Maven Hotel, a block from Coors Field, on Friday night. Three men and a woman in their 40s were arrested, and two vehicles were impounded to be searched for evidence.
The recovered weapons included several rifles, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
So far, investigators have not found any evidence to suggest the group was plotting a mass shooting or other similar attack, the official said, while cautioning that the investigation is still in its early stages. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Authorities were called after an employee found the guns in a hotel room, the official said.
The men who were arrested are being investigated for possession of a weapon by a previous offender, and the woman, who has a separate warrant, is being investigated on a drug charge.
“We have no reason to believe this incident was connected to terrorism or a threat directed at the All-Star Game,” the FBI said in a statement released Sunday. “We are not aware of any threat to the All-Star Game events, venues, players or the community at this time.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Hancock and police Chief Paul Pazen praised the hotel’s staff for alerting authorities and sought to ease any concerns that the area around the ballpark is unsafe. They declined to say what, if anything, the suspects were planning to do with the firearms.
“We don’t know what we don’t know. That’s what the investigation is all about,” Pazen said during a news conference. “We need to identify exactly, to the extent possible, why (the) individuals were here in the first place, why (the) proximity to downtown. We don’t have those answers.”
Coors Field will host the All-Star Game on Tuesday, but festivities have been underway in and around the ballpark and downtown for the past several days.
Police said in a statement that visitors should always be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious or illegal behavior.
Mouaz
https://apnews.com/article/business-3cf631c55b15ec9f83b2306c7fb2e89d
Musk under fire again: CEO to testify over Tesla acquisition
In the runup to Tesla Inc.’s 2016 acquisition of a company called SolarCity, Elon Musk hailed the deal as a “no brainer” — a purchase that would combine the leading maker of electric vehicles with a manufacturer of solar panels that can recharge EVs.
It didn’t exactly work out that way.
On Monday in the Delaware Court of Chancery, the Tesla CEO will testify about the $2.5 billion deal in a shareholder lawsuit that alleges that Tesla’s acquisition was rife with conflicts of interest, overlooked SolarCity’s fundamental weaknesses and unsurprisingly failed to produce the profits Musk had promised.
Questioned under oath, Musk plans to defend the purchase as a justifiable acquisition.
At the time of the all-stock purchase, Musk was SolarCity’s largest stakeholder and its chairman. Seven shareholder lawsuits, consolidated into one, alleged that Tesla directors breached their fiduciary duties in bowing to Musk’s wishes and agreeing to buy the struggling company. In what the plaintiffs call a clear conflict of interest, SolarCity had been founded by Musk and two of his cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive.
Last August, a judge approved a $60 million settlement that resolved claims made against all the directors on Tesla’s board except Musk without any admission of fault. That left Musk, who refused to settle, as the sole remaining defendant. The trial that begins Monday had been scheduled for March of last year but was postponed because of the viral pandemic.
Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, called the acquisition a “clear black eye” for Musk and Tesla, in large part because SolarCity has failed to turn a profit.
“It basically was putting good money after bad,” Ives said. “For all the successes and all of the unimaginable heights Musk has achieved, this is one of the lowlights.”
Most investors, Ives said, place no value on the company’s solar business.
“I just think Musk and Tesla underestimated the challenges and the hurdles that the business brings,” he said.
That said, Ives said he thought Tesla’s energy business could still become “modestly successful.”
Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department, did not answer a message Friday seeking comment about the lawsuit. In its 2020 annual report, the company argued that the lawsuit was without merit and that Tesla would vigorously defend itself.
“We are unable to estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, associated with these claims,” the company report said.
Tesla’s energy generation and storage business generated $1.9 billion in revenue last year — 24% more than it did the previous year. Much of that revenue came from selling battery storage units. Tesla doesn’t specify whether the business made a profit, and it also has debt and expenses.
The lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs contends that Musk drove the decision to acquire SolarCity despite his clear-cut conflict of interest.
Musk has a history of fighting government agencies and lawsuits. He was forced to pay a $20 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for making statements on Twitter about having the money to take the company private when he didn’t. But he won a defamation lawsuit that was filed by a British diver involved in the rescue of a Thai soccer team that was trapped in a flooded cave. Musk had called the man “pedo guy” on Twitter.
Even if the trial ends with Musk having to pay personally for the whole SolarCity deal, $2.5 billion won’t much hurt the world’s third-wealthiest person. Forbes magazine has estimated that Musk is worth roughly $163 billion.
Ives suggested that while any such payment wouldn’t seriously affect Musk’s wealth, it would damage his reputation for choosing acquisitions.
Musk is fighting the lawsuit after others have settled “because that’s what Musk does,” Ives said. “I think Elon believes this was the right deal and still does.”
>Never see pedo Joe kissing his wife like that.
she gets dandelions
it's good for covid tea
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/al-waleed-to-launch-24-hour-news-channel-1.651024
>So they're not really "Astronauts" then ? . . . . .
“Delta COVID is really hitting these ruby red districts,” said Democratic strategist Max Burns. “I think the physical reality of watching loved ones die from this pandemic cuts right through any COVID-minimizing messaging coming out of the right-wing media network.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Burns