The all things Political topic -In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

[Hurlshort]

7 hours ago, Darkpriest said:

Nice going California? Want to make everyone equally dumb? 

https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/

@Hurlshot

What's this about? Or is it some sensationalism writing? 

I don't teach math, and I don't really like the math teachers on my campus, so I have no clue.

Honestly though, there is no real easy answer for math levelling. The framework is not for High School, so when math gets serious, kids are still going to have some choice on what path they want to follow. At the middle school level, I work at a place where math is the big focus. None of the high level math kids do "only" the math class. They have weird math clubs, weekend stuff, competitions to get ahead.

Actually a lot of this equity stuff started with No Child Left Behind and the Bush administration, so it is funny to see it blamed on liberal Cali.

[Malcador]

10 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Honestly though, there is no real easy answer for math levelling

Sure there is. Grinding.

[Gromnir]

perhaps one o' the new brand o' trump brand republicans can explain why gaetz and others find section 230 relevant to trump's continued (albeit temporary) suspension from facebook. is irrelevant to our query, but it is worth noting the independent facebook review board agreed the initial suspension o' trump were appropriate, but they pointed out indefinite suspensions were not envisioned in terms o' service and rules o' facebook. so now is up to facebook to ban permanent and forever w/o the suspension silliness, or they should reinstate trump... by november.

again, the suspension stuff isn't relevant, but am not sure how section 230 is relevant neither. 

have more than once pointed out how a news organization prints the lies o' an individual, the reprinting o' those lies makes the news organization as a publisher, so for defamation and libel causes of action, a plaintiff may collect from newsmax, nyt, wapo, cnn or others in print and tv and radio media just as they could from the original liar. is an issue which comes up again and again when folks bemoan censorship by news organizations and we have tried to clarify a few times.

sec 230 would make facebook and twitter and your internet provider just as liable as all other publishers is when defamation and libel cases is at issue. so how on Gawd's green earth does repeal section 230 help a guy like trump get back his social media account? repeal section 230 would mean facebook and twitter and your internet provider would need to start active policing shared content 'cause those organizations would now be considered publishers for purposes o' monetary redress. repeal 230 and then give trump back his accounts would likely constitute prima facia evidence o' negligence on the part o' a publisher. 

have not been following the alt-right narrative on this, so when we saw multiple conservative types responding to the news o' the continuing suspension o' trump from facebook with pleas for section 230 repeal, we were confused.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

37 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Actually a lot of this equity stuff started with No Child Left Behind and the Bush administration, so it is funny to see it blamed on liberal Cali.

It seems there are more people who let Cali live in their head rent free than there are people who live in Cali.

[Amentep]

8 hours ago, Darkpriest said:

Nice going California? Want to make everyone equally dumb? 

https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/

@Hurlshot

What's this about? Or is it some sensationalism writing? 

It's sensationalism writing regardless of the subject; the article comes off as particularly hyperbolic in style.

It sounds like, reading between the lines as I haven't read the document they reference, they're trying to push the curriculum towards less computational focus to focusing on things like logic and structures which can be a benefit in later courses. 

It'd be nice if they threw in some practical accounting, but probably won't happen.

[Gromnir]

Just now, ArtistFormerlyKnownasKP said:

It seems there are more people who let Cali live in their head rent free than there are people who live in Cali.

to be fair, this same exact issue came up a few weeks ago and were an embarrassment for fox news and other conservative leaning sources. the thing is, at the time it were virginia as the "woke" state which were gonna get rid of higher math for high schoolers. a bunch o' news organizations had to walk back that claim.

ca were just the next in line? only difference will be this time the news organizations won't go so far as claiming calculus is being eliminated in some kinda misguided wokeness campaign. 

will illinois or colorado be next? probably. 

given this is just the second shot at the same issue, or so we assume from not reading dp link, is tough to single out ca as the target. am suspecting is more a frenzied attempt to reveal any evidence o' lib wokeness or cancel culture or whatever is the alt-right windmill o' the moment. don't wanna talk about trump deficit spending being ok with republicans in 2018 but biden deficit spending being untenable. wanna talk 'bout covid-19 other than as a way to complain 'bout how "unconstitutional" is mask mandates? nope. lord knows january 6 is verboten. 

california is an expected target, but the folks looking to deflect will grasp at any opportunity wherever might be the geographical loci.

HA! Good Fun!

 

[Zoraptor]

42 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Sure there is. Grinding.

Funnily enough one of the big suggestions for fixing the declining maths standards here is grinding, ie going back to actually learning times tables etc at primary/ intermediate school level instead of jumping straight to a 'problem solving' approach for everything. Ironically (or not*) that approach was meant to help lift up poorer performing students who hated formulaic stuff like times tables etc, but has actually dropped average achievement down significantly instead.

*problem solving is great in theory but not really sure how it was meant to work when you didn't have the basics down properly first. But then I'm not a highly paid consultant or Ministry of Education apparatchik so I don't really know how the justification for it went beyond a mess of corporate speak about paradigms and the like- and a large part of my income doesn't rely on the system being permanently broken so I can write another report on it in 3 years time...

[Malcador]

3 minutes ago, Zoraptor said:

Funnily enough one of the big suggestions for fixing the declining maths standards here is grinding, ie going back to actually learning times tables etc at primary/ intermediate school level instead of jumping straight to a 'problem solving' approach for everything. Ironically (or not*) that approach was meant to help lift up poorer performing students who hated formulaic stuff like times tables etc, but has actually dropped average achievement down significantly instead.

*problem solving is great in theory but not really sure how it was meant to work when you didn't have the basics down properly first. But then I'm not a highly paid consultant or Ministry of Education apparatchik so I don't really know how the justification for it went beyond a mess of corporate speak about paradigms and the like- and a large part of my income doesn't rely on the system being permanently broken so I can write another report on it in 3 years time...

Yep, wasn't wholly joking - math is repetition  The way they teach it in Canada is a bit of a mess, at least in terms of when they start certain subject matters - Calculus here in last year of high school is ridiculously late, for example.

[Hurlshort]

I'm going to let everyone in on a little secret. Education frameworks and standards are all cyclical. Every set amount of years someone comes up with some new theory for their doctoral thesis, and it is really just a new name for the same thing we did previously. None of it really matters in the long run. What matters is the kids show up, they learn how to do some work and hopefully they learn to use their brains, and then they graduate. It's pretty simple.

[Raithe]

From the posts of Jeff Jackson, a NC political candidate..

BREAKING: This morning, a bill (S636) passed a Senate committee which would take dark campaign money and make it even darker.
The title of the bill is “Donor Privacy,” which right off the bat should raise a red flag. Political donations are an area where we need more transparency, not more privacy.
In short, the bill says that non-profits can now conceal who their donors are.
Sounds harmless? Here’s what’s really going on:
It turns out, there are a lot of non-profits that are actually “non-profits” in that they exist primarily to funnel dark money into elections.
So if you want to give a million dollars to a campaign, but you're blocked by the limitation on how much you can directly give to a candidate ($5,600 in NC), then you can give to a handy “non-profit” that will then spend it for you on that campaign.
This was already dark stuff. This bill would make it darker.
And what was the defense given in committee by members of majority?
“Cancel culture.” I’m serious. Three of them even made sure to use that phrase in their remarks.
What they want you to believe is that this bill is about protecting small-dollar donors from retaliation by the “cancel” folks.
That’s pretty wild. First, it gives the game away. It shows this isn’t really about non-profits, it’s about “non-profits” - i.e., groups that exist to funnel dark money into elections.
Second, small dollar donors aren’t the ones being protected here. They can give directly to candidates without hitting the limit. These “non-profits” exist for folks who want to give in increments of $100,000. And most people believe that as long as that money is going to sway elections, we should darn well know where it's coming from.
But look - the “cancel culture” thing isn’t intended to be a serious argument. They don’t expect many people to actually believe it. They just need some cover to pass a bill to help some mega-donors and big money groups.
This all stems from Georgia. They passed some voter suppression bills, a number of companies spoke out, which led to a round of bemoaning “cancel culture” on a particular news channel, and that created an opportunity to make dark money a little darker.
Now that it’s passed the Senate committee that means it’s probably a lock to pass the full Senate, which means this bill is moving.
This is the absolute opposite of the direction we should be headed when it comes to money in politics.
-Jeff

 

[Malcador]

Situation is getting a bit crazy in Colombia - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/may/06/colombia-protests-violent-unrest-police-crackdown

[Gromnir]

from the hippies at the national review:

Liz Cheney Is Not the Problem

"Of course, at the end of the day, the problem isn’t that Cheney is making controversial statements; the problem is that Republicans consider her obviously true statements to be controversial."

sadly the next offering is likely subject to a paywall... though is curious what wapo does and does not make access limited.

Opinion: What Trump has to fear from Rudy Giuliani

"Even before he peddled nutso election-fraud claims, Giuliani had firmly established himself as one of the world’s worst lawyers. He’s the bumbler who blurted out on national TV that his client, Individual-1, had reimbursed a $130,000 payment made to a porn star, a transaction that triggered a sprawling and ongoing New York grand jury investigation into Trump’s overall business affairs."

...

"All this boggles the mind of anyone who has followed Giuliani’s lengthy career. It’s as though someone dropped him on his head. Still, as a former associate attorney general and former U.S. attorney, he surely understands that federal search warrants against lawyers don’t just fall off trees. The Justice Department doesn’t like them, out of respect for the attorney-client privilege. Prosecutors will use them if they have really strong evidence a lawyer is up to no good, and if very senior personnel in Washington agree. And, of course, only with the blessing of a federal court."

HA! Good Fun!

[Pidesco]

That's a pretty low bar for being a hero. 

[Malcador]

9 hours ago, Pidesco said:

That's a pretty low bar for being a hero. 

Such is North America

[Gfted1]

What are you guys talking about? Thats a textbook example of a heroic "whistleblower" making the world aware of governmental misdeeds. A ticker tape parade should be thrown in her honor (with biodegradable confetti nats)! 

[Guard Dog]

The battle for 1042 Cutler St.
 

Hell will freeze before I ever get back into residential rentals. 

[Malcador]

The landlord boasting that "We saved this city" was amusing.

"The landlord had broken into his own apartment early on a Sunday morning, held the tenants at gunpoint, restrained them with zip ties, hauled them out of his apartment, and then deposited them at a cemetery 30 miles from the property.

“When you kick a dog, eventually it’s going to bite,” one of the landlords said.

“That guy’s a hero,” said another."

Good crowd.  The tenant was right to say "We're just money", good way to think.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Malcador

[Gromnir]

7 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

The battle for 1042 Cutler St.
 

Hell will freeze before I ever get back into residential rentals. 

to some people, the landlord is always the bad guy. am lucky 'cause the only rental properties we still have are in a gated community and as long as our tenants pay utilities and don't trash the place, we won't suffer too much. but what about the +70 year old retiree who lost her husband a few years ago and moved into assisted living and the only income she has is social security and the rents from the home she and her spouse spent much o' their life paying monthly to finally cover the mortgage? 

of course is 'bout money for the landlord, but for many small-time landlords, they depend on the money from rents no less than does the short order cook depends on wages from his job. landlord doesn't equal rich, but try an explain that is a dead end to those folks who made up their mind 'bout the villain o' the story as soon as you said "landlord."

HA! Good Fun! 

ps one o' our tenants is a butcher who had hard times with rent last year, so after we finally got in touch with him (the hardest part is getting ahold o' a tenant to discuss matters, 'cause nobody wants to talk to the landlord to discuss rent issues) we cut his rent in half (his suggestion as to what would make a difference) and told him we could go lower if need be, just as long as he let us know there were a problem before we had multiple missed payments and no returned phone calls and/or letters. Gromnir has the leisure to be flexible, but we sympathize for the innumerable small scale landlords who is financial dying at the moment and few people give a damn if they are losing their life's savings and going into debt from which they will never be able to recover. doesn't matter. the landlord is the villain. 

[Guard Dog]

I was very fortunate in my tenants. I had that townhouse for three years and in that time rented to two different families. Both of which could be described as model tenants. I’m not going to tempt fate by wading back into those waters. I am very pleased with my current business model. I’m not making any money off of it. at best the leases are mostly cash neutral. I earn almost enough to cover the cost of maintaining the land. But let’s face it the real endgame in the real estate has always been equity.

[Guard Dog]

Foxitis

[Gfted1]

I too had a good experience with tenants. When I got out of the military I rented out my very first starter home and after a few years they asked to buy it, so I sold it. But I didnt handle it myself, I hired a real estate company (I think it was Century 21), and at that time their services cost 10% of whatever the rent was. But for that price they always had a tenant in it and if anything needed fixing they would send over the appropriate trade. It was easy peasy and I simply set the rent amount to cover my mortgage and the 10% handling fee.

[Gromnir]

Just now, Guard Dog said:

I was very fortunate in my tenants. I had that townhouse for three years and in that time rented to two different families. Both of which could be described as model tenants. I’m not going to tempt fate by wading back into those waters. I am very pleased with my current business model. I’m not making any money off of it. at best the leases are mostly cash neutral. I earn almost enough to cover the cost of maintaining the land. But let’s face it the real endgame in the real estate has always been equity.

if you got $100k and wanna get into residential real estate, you can buy a cheap $100k property and rent it, or you can buy five rental properties with the $100k acting as down payment money, leaving you with multiple mortgages to nurse. 1 property and 1 rent v. 5 (or more) properties and 5 rents ordinarily is an ez choice. 'tween property taxes, mortgages and unavoidable upkeep and repair costs, rents is not gonna make you rich, but one assumes the equity is gonna be the payoff when you sell those multiple properties. can be a big risk, and if you get caught in a situation such as we had 2008, then you are screwed unless you can hold on for the years is gonna take for the market to recover, which it will do, inevitable and eventual.

'course there is a whole lotta landlords who is indeed living off their rents. the seventy year old we mentioned earlier is not an example we imagined outta the ether but is somebody we know. she is hardly a singular example. no sympathy for her and those like her.

for Gromnir, rent is just kinda gravy, but am knowing how lucky we are. nevertheless, am tired o' the hassles and am gonna sell remaining properties sooner rather than later. had one lease just end april 31, but am letting the the tenant (a single mom) and her kids stay on month-to-month 'til at least next year as the current rental inventory in this area is near non-existent and am knowing she would have few options if she had to find a new place to live. if we lose a little money by not selling right now, is not a big deal to us in the long run, but our blasé attitude is not how you survive in residential real estate. twenty or fifteen years ago and we woulda' been a bit less huggable as we were on the proverbial razor's edge more than a few times.

HA! Good Fun!

[Gromnir]

32 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Foxitis

keep in mind, trump's kraken lawyer tried to use the tucker carlson defense recent.

You Literally Can't Believe The Facts Tucker Carlson Tells You. So Say Fox's Lawyers

conclusion: reasonable people do not believe fox.

the thing is, civil litigation ordinarily uses a reasonable person standard. criminal is different. for many crimes with a common law origin you need actual intent. however, there is a whole bunch o' statutory crimes where your intent is a non-factor. simple example: if your speedometer is busted and you didn't know you were traveling at excess speeds, you will still be given a speeding ticket and you won't be able to claim your busted speedometer as a defense. 

foxitis might seem like twinkie defense kinda stuff, but diminished mental capacity is not new and foxitis might not be as ludicrous an option as it first appears. won't be just foxitis or foxmania, but show that fox viewing exacerbated some kinda preexisting mental defect could be enough to reduce or even eliminate charges in a few situations.  is still kinda a desperation defense, but is not hard to imagine that a few o' these clowns is, from a legal pov, defective. 

would be amusing if fox were compelled to add a warning to their broadcasts informing viewers the risks to susceptible viewers o' watching their programing.

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

I don’t have Fox News anymore. It went with the DIRECTV. However I think people are mistaking commentary for news reporting. Tucker Carlson and whatever gang they have on at night are commentators. They can get up there and say anything they want and it does not necessarily have to be factual. It’s their opinions. If Fox News on a news report says “this is so“. I expect that it will be. Even if it’s only from a certain point of view. Same with CNN or MSNBC. Carlson, Maddow, insert commentator name here are bound only by their personal sense of ethics if they even have one. But I think facts presented as a fact can be expected to be a fact. “The President went here today and said this: yardda yadda yadda” . After that the anchor will no doubt turn to a commentator who will give an opinion on it that’s where the news ends and the opinions start. People have to be sophisticated enough to know the difference. And if they’re not well that’s why we have so many idiots running around storming capitals and what not.
 

Like I have said many times the news media is not here to inform you. They are here to tell you a story. They will tell you everything you need to know to flesh out that story. And while everything in the news report might be true it is certainly not all the truth. It might not be presented in a way that suggests an honest recounting of the facts.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Guard Dog

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

Foxitis

Those Mesothelioma lawyers have a golden opportunity here.