Too many still won’t admit the truth about child grooming gangs
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/16/too-many-wont-admit-truth-about-child-grooming-gangs/
Too many still won’t admit the truth about child grooming gangs
We must secure justice for thousands of girls and also ensure that this type of industrial-scale cover-up isn’t repeated
By Suella Braverman
September 16, 2024
There are some people you never forget. For me, I’ll always remember that meeting in Rochdale with the brave women who had survived brutal sexual abuse. They told me how, as young girls, they had been preyed upon, trafficked and raped, mainly by Pakistani and Afghan men.
One woman told me how the violent sexual abuse had started when she was just 12 and how she had thereafter fallen pregnant. I heard how one woman had been raped by more than 150 men by the time she was 16.
They told me how police officers, social workers, teachers and councillors all knew about the paedophilia but turned a blind eye for fear of being called racist. They spoke angrily about how the authorities refused to believe them. The truth was covered up out of fear of inflaming racial tension.
They told me how grateful they were to the handful of professionals like Maggie Oliver – a policewoman whistle-blower – who saved their lives. The truth is that the Rochdale and Rotherham grooming scandals are one of the biggest injustices in our country and no one should ever forget what happened, and what still happens, in many parts of our country.
Last week, sentences totalling more than 100 years were handed down to seven Rotherham perpetrators. Credit must be given to the police and CPS for pursuing these investigations, eventually.
Child sexual abuse cases can take years to build, involve the handling of complex and sensitive evidence and depend on the courage of the victims who have to re-live the ordeal in court for convictions to be secured. The survivors have shown immense fortitude.
As Home Secretary I was passionate about making progress on this national scandal. Last year we set up a specialist task force, led by the National Crime Agency, to galvanise the investigative work with the police. I worked with the task force closely; it secured over 500 new arrests in its first year. Sadly, much was left undone by the time of the general election and so there is still a lot more to do. We must secure justice for thousands of girls and also ensure that this type of industrial-scale cover-up isn’t repeated.
A legal duty on professionals to report sexual abuse is needed to break through the inertia and fear that prevail in many of our organisations. This was one of the key recommendations in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and needs to come into force.
The police have been heavily criticised for their mishandling of the Rochdale cases for more than a decade – most recently in an independent report earlier this year. But have there been any consequences for their neglect? None. More accurate recording of the data is needed to smash the taboos around some incidents of child sexual abuse.
As the independent reports confirm, in Rotherham, Rochdale and Telford, the perpetrators were mainly Pakistani. This truth that dared not speak its name was a reason for the institutional silence and that’s why we need to keep talking about it now. This is not to smear a whole class of people but to be honest about a serious problem in some of our towns and cities.
And we need greater powers to deport foreign-born offenders after conviction. It cannot be right that a foreign criminal who has breached our values and rules in such an egregious way can still enjoy residency in our country.
It will require political courage to confront these problems if we are serious about securing justice for the survivors and protecting children in the future. This Labour Government must put child safety above political correctness, but I’m not so sure they will. I hope they prove me wrong.
Elon Musk is demanding prison time for the large numbers of Rotherham, U.K. police officers, government officials, teachers, social workers, news reporters, and other authority figures who, for many years, knowingly allowed large numbers of Muslim men to rape large numbers of young girls, because they did not want to be accused of “Islamophobia.”
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 3, 2025
Elon Musk recently tweeted, “So many people at all levels of power in the UK need to be in prison for this.”
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1874423327789551778
Musk is referring to the large numbers of Rotherham, U.K. police officers, government officials, teachers, social workers, news reporters, and other authority figures who, for many years, knowingly allowed large numbers of Muslim men to rape large numbers of young girls, because they did not want to be accused of “Islamophobia.”
Here’s a lot more information on this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal
https://www.economist.com/britain/2014/08/30/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil
The eight defining beliefs of wokeism, according to Daniel Alman from Squirrel Hill
1) Local governments should allow serial shoplifters to turn local neighborhoods into food deserts.
2) Commercial airplane pilots should be chosen based on DEI instead of on meritocracy.
3) People with penises should be allowed to participate in women’s boxing competitions.
4) Carbon dioxide is not plant food.
5) The most racist country in the world is the one that millions of people of all races are desperately trying to get into, and that millions of others are terrified of getting deported from.
6) The only time that slavery was ever wrong was when the slave owners were white.
7) Western civilization is not the best kind of society that has ever been put into widespread practice.
8) Weighing 600 pounds is just as healthy as weighing 150 pounds.
I wonder how many different “scientists” missed the simple math error in Megan Liu’s study that caused an unjustified panic over black plastic utensils. Oh look. Their organization is called Toxic Free Future. This is why I favor meritocracy instead of social justice or DEI.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1871248605719507289
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1871248605719507289
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/black-plastic-spatulas-really-bad-164241783.html
Are black plastic spatulas really that bad? Your exposure to toxins from popular cooking utensils may not be as extreme as recent study suggested.
By Korin Miller
December 13, 2024
In October, home chefs and foodies collectively freaked out when research was published that detected toxic flame retardants in black-colored plastic. The study, which was published in the journal Chemosphere, detailed how high levels of these flame retardants were found in kitchen utensils, food containers, trays used to hold meat and even toys. Those flame retardants are linked with cancer and developmental issues, among other things.
The researchers ultimately concluded that recycling electronics that contain flame retardants was to blame, noting in the study that it was “resulting in unexpected exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items.”
Now, there’s a development in the story: As the National Post reports, the researchers made a miscalculation when crunching the data, suggesting that the findings aren’t as bad as they originally seemed.
So did you throw out your black plastic spatula for no good reason? Here’s what you need to know about the update — and what the data actually means for you and your kitchen.
The miscalculation was pretty big
The original study broke down a lot of different things, including the detection of decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) in black plastic products. DecaBDE is a type of brominated flame retardant banned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021.
In the study, researchers estimated that using black plastic kitchenware could cause an intake of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE. But, in a section of the study on “Health and Exposure Concerns,” the researchers said that amount “would approach” the established safe exposure limit set by the EPA (also known as a reference dose).
The study notes that the reference dose for decaBDE is 7,000 nanograms per kilogram of body weight a day; the reference dose for a 60-kilogram (132-pound) adult, it calculated, would be 42,000 nanograms a day. That would put this exposure at more than 80% of the EPA’s limit.
Here’s the thing: The math was incorrect. Sixty multiplied by 7,000 is actually 420,000, not 42,000. As a result, the exposure amount of 34,700 nanograms a day of decaBDE from black plastic is less than a 10th of the established EPA limit.
Megan Liu, lead study author and science and policy manager at Toxic-Free Future, tells Yahoo Life that this was a “minor point” in the study. “We feel bad that this happened,” she adds.
Liu says that she and her research team have submitted a correction to the journal, which should be published soon.
But this may not change the conclusion
Despite the mathematical error, Liu says that people should still be wary of black plastic kitchen utensils. “Our findings and conclusions are unaffected,” Liu says.
“Our conclusion was never drawn from this calculation comparison,” Liu continues. “These highly hazardous cancer-causing products shouldn’t be in the products that touch our food. There are safer alternatives out there.”
Liu also stresses that decaBDE “is just one type of chemical in one product that we saw,” noting that “some products had nine different flame retardants.”
Should you throw out your black plastic cooking utensils?
While the presence of decaBDE may not be as intense as previously thought, Liu still says that people should reconsider using black plastic cooking utensils.
“These products shouldn’t even have these flame retardants to begin with,” she says. “They’re still associated with cancer, neurological effects and developmental harm.”
But Dr. Kelly Johnson-Arbor, a toxicologist at MedStar Health, tells Yahoo Life that it’s important to keep the findings in perspective. “In the current study, researchers found high levels of bromine — and thus suspected contamination from brominated fire-retardant chemicals — in just around 10% of the black plastic household products tested, which suggests that the vast majority of black plastic household items do not contain these contaminants,” she says. As a result, most black plastic cooking utensils “may not pose an increased risk of toxicity to humans from this perspective,” Johnson-Arbor says.
Jamie Alan, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, also points out that the methodology for detecting these chemicals is different from how people use them.
“They measured the amount of chemicals in black cooking utensils by literally melting them down and running them through a machine,” Alan says. “We aren’t doing that when we are using these items. We still don’t know how much of the chemicals actually make their way into the food.”
And of the amount that does make it into food, only a certain portion will be taken in by the body, Alan says. “Overall we don’t know how much makes it into our body and the effects that these chemicals will have at that concentration, whatever that ends up being,” she says.
While the updated calculation has a lower impact than the original one, “this study just reveals one of the ways we’re exposed to flame retardants in our daily life,” Liu says. “We’re already exposed through our electronics, automobiles, furniture … this is part of the big picture of exposure,” she adds.
Liu says her advice is the same as it’s been: “If you can, reduce your use of plastic. Not just black plastic, but plastic in general, [which] can reduce your exposure to any harmful chemical additives.”
Jaguar commercial from 40 years ago vs one from today
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1859802052224057405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJX05mJ8tz4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLtFIrqhfng
What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment: A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/16/magazine/university-of-michigan-dei.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/F7nzQ
What to Know About the University of Michigan’s D.E.I. Experiment
A Times investigation found that the school built one of the most ambitious diversity programs in the country — only to see increased discord and division on campus.
By Nicholas Confessore
October 16, 2024
A decade ago, the University of Michigan intentionally placed itself in the vanguard of a revolution then beginning to reshape American higher education. Around the country, college administrators were rapidly expanding D.E.I. programs. They believed that vigorous D.E.I. efforts would allow traditionally underrepresented students to thrive on campus — and improve learning for students from all backgrounds.
In recent years, as D.E.I. programs came under withering attack, Michigan has only doubled down on D.E.I., holding itself out as a model for other schools. By one estimate, the university has built the largest D.E.I. bureaucracy of any big public university.
But an examination by The Times found that Michigan’s expansive — and expensive — D.E.I. program has struggled to achieve its central goals even as it set off a cascade of unintended consequences.
Here are some key takeaways from the Magazine’s article on Michigan’s D.E.I. experiment.
Michigan has poured a staggering quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I.
Striving to reach “every individual on campus,” Michigan has invested nearly 250 million dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation I obtained. Every university “unit” — from the medical school down to the archives — is required to have a D.E.I. plan.
The number of employees who work in D.E.I.-related offices or have “diversity,” “equity” or “inclusion” in their job titles reached 241 last year, according to an analysis by Mark J. Perry, an emeritus professor of finance at the university’s Flint campus.
Michigan has struggled to improve Black enrollment — and students overall feel less included, not more.
The percentage of Black students, currently around 5 percent, remained largely stagnant as Michigan’s overall enrollment rose — and in a state where 14 percent of residents are Black. In a survey released in late 2022, students and faculty members across the board reported a less positive campus climate than at the program’s start and less of a sense of belonging.
Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics — the exact kind of engagement D.E.I. programs, in theory, are meant to foster.
While its peers reconsider aspects of D.E.I., Michigan has doubled down.
This year, both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced they would no longer require job candidates to submit diversity statements, or explanations of the candidate’s commitment to D.E.I. Such “compelled statements,” M.I.T.’s president said, “impinge on freedom of expression.” But at Michigan, a faculty committee this summer privately recommended that the school continue using such statements,” which are currently required by most of Michigan’s colleges and schools.
D.E.I. at Michigan has helped fuel a culture of grievance.
Instead of improving students’ ability to engage with one another across their differences, Michigan’s D.E.I. expansion has coincided with an explosion in campus conflict over race and gender. Everyday campus complaints and academic disagreements are now cast as crises of inclusion and harm.
In 2015, the university office charged with enforcing federal civil rights mandates including Title IX received about 200 complaints of sex- or gender-based misconduct on Michigan’s campus. Last year, it surpassed 500. Complaints involving race, religion or national origin increased to almost 400 from a few dozen during roughly the same period.
After Oct. 7, Michigan’s D.E.I. bureaucracy was tested like never before — and failed.
At Michigan, as at other schools, campus protests exploded after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza. So did complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry. This June, civil rights officials at the federal Department of Education found that Michigan had systematically mishandled such complaints over the 18-month period ending in February. Out of 67 complaints of harassment or discrimination based on national origin or ancestry that the officials reviewed — an overwhelming majority involving allegations of antisemitism, according to a tally I obtained — Michigan had investigated and made findings in just one.
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards. Here are 24 examples.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
October 15, 2024
Time and time and time again, “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and other similar words are being used as excuses to dumb down educational standards.
Here are 24 examples:
1) The New York Times wrote, “The Board of Regents on Monday eliminated a requirement that aspiring teachers in New York State pass a literacy test to become certified after the test proved controversial because black and Hispanic candidates passed it at significantly lower rates than white candidates.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-regents-teacher-exams-alst.html?_r=0
Archive: https://archive.ph/GzyQM
2) The New York Times wrote, “A 2009 Princeton study showed Asian-Americans had to score 140 points higher on their SATs than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks to have the same chance of admission to leading universities.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opinion/white-students-unfair-advantage-in-admissions.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/MEDXn
3) Patrick Henry High School, San Diego’s largest high school, cited “equity” as its reason for removing some of its classes in advanced English, advanced history, and advanced biology.
4) The Vancouver School Board cited “equity and inclusion” for why it got rid of its honors courses in math and science at its high schools.
Archive: https://archive.ph/MBOEo
5) In the name of equity, California will discourage students who are gifted at math
Original: https://reason.com/2021/05/04/california-math-framework-woke-equity-calculus/
Archive: https://archive.ph/N4CQC
6) PBS Boston affiliate WGBH: “Boston public schools suspends test for advanced learning classes; concerns about program’s racial inequities linger”
7) Lowell High in San Francisco, one of the country’s best public high schools, replaced its merit based admissions with a lottery based admissions, because the school had too many Asians.
Original: https://abc7news.com/sfusd-board-of-education-meeting-school-lowell-high-sf/10325219/
Archive: https://archive.ph/iGzom
8) Expecting math students to get the right answer is now considered to be a form of “white supremacy.” See page 6 at this link:
Original: https://equitablemath.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/1_STRIDE1.pdf
9) The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City canceled its honor society because whites and Asians were earning better grades than blacks and Latinos.
Archive: https://archive.ph/WNwvW
10) New Jersey stopped requiring new teachers to be proficient in reading, writing, and math, because the requirement was considered to be an “unnecessary barrier.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/vh6io
11) Washington Post: “Maryland school district worker fired after correcting student’s spelling in a tweet”
12) Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color
Archive: https://archive.ph/mV38Y
13) In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity,” and “diversity”
Original: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
Archive: https://archive.ph/ktv2R
14) The public schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts stopped offering advanced math classes to students in grades 6, 7, and 8, because students of some races had been doing better than students of other races.
15) Met applicants ‘functionally illiterate in English accepted in bid to improve diversity’
Archive: https://archive.ph/t3Pia
16) New York Times: “At N.Y.U., Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame? Maitland Jones Jr., a respected professor, defended his standards. But students started a petition, and the university dismissed him.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/iDG0t
17) New York Times: “Texas Wesleyan Cancels Play After Students Say Use of Slur Is Harmful. The play’s author, who is Black, said he crafted its language to be historically accurate in representing civil rights struggles. But the theater program at the university heeded the call of students.”
Original: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/texas-wesleyan-play-racism.html
Archive: https://archive.ph/uIz1L
18) University bans sonnets as ‘products of white western culture’
Original: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/05/14/university-bans-sonnets-products-white-western-culture/
Archive: https://archive.ph/RrXCi
19) The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center temporarily placed Professor Julie Overbaugh, an award winning HIV researcher, on administrative leave, after the school found out that she had once dressed up as Michael Jackson for Halloween.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Overbaugh
Archive: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Julie_Overbaugh&oldid=1234427714
20) Canadian court declares math test for new teachers ‘unconstitutional’ because of racial disparities in passage rates
Original:
Archive:
21) The English Touring Opera fired 14 of its musicians because they were white.
Archive: https://archive.ph/Rl9Ub
22) Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, cited “equitable grading” as the reason why “students no longer will be given an F grade – no matter how bad they did on an assignment or test or if it was turned in late or not at all.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/JkGij
23) The UCLA Anderson School of Management placed lecturer Gordon Klein on involuntary administrative leave because he refused to dumb down his curriculum for black students after the murder of George Floyd.
Archive: https://archive.ph/XCdng
24) Washington Post: “Students hated ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ Their teachers tried to dump it. Four progressive teachers in Washington’s Mukilteo School District wanted to protect students from a book they saw as outdated and harmful.”
Archive: https://archive.ph/H6Z6A
Democrats are claiming that this question from a firefighters’ exam “discriminates against Black candidates.”
https://x.com/cremieuxrecueil/status/1844058406434283824
Justice Department Secures Agreement with Durham, North Carolina, to End Discriminatory Hiring Practices in City’s Fire Department
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
The Justice Department announced today that it has secured a settlement agreement with the City of Durham (City), North Carolina, to resolve the department’s claim that the hiring process for firefighters in the Durham Fire Department (DFD) violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Specifically, the department alleges that the City’s fire department screens applicants with a written test that discriminates against Black candidates.
Title VII is a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin and religion. Title VII prohibits not only intentional discrimination but also employment practices that result in a disparate impact on a protected group, unless such practices are job related and consistent with business necessity.
The settlement agreement resolves a civil pattern or practice investigation the Civil Rights Division opened in February 2020. As part of the investigation, the division conducted an in-depth review of DFD’s hiring practices, applicant data and other information received from the DFD. The division concluded that the fire department was using a written test that does not meaningfully distinguish between applicants who can and cannot perform the job of a firefighter. The test also disqualified Black applicants from employment at significantly disproportionate rates. The department thus concluded that the test violates Title VII.
“Discriminatory employment tests do more than cost applicants a fair chance to compete for public service jobs like firefighting; they also prevent communities from being served in these crucial positions by the most qualified candidates for the job,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The under-representation of Black people in the fire department workforce in Durham, and across the country, undermines public safety efforts. This settlement agreement requires the Durham Fire Department to reform its unlawful hiring process and provide monetary and other relief to those already harmed. The Justice Department will continue to work to ensure that all qualified applicants have a fair and equal opportunity to serve their communities.”
“Employers should identify and eliminate practices that have a disparate impact based on race,” said U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina. “The Justice Department will continue to work to eliminate discriminatory policies that deprive qualified applicants of a fair chance to compete for employment opportunities.”
The complaint, filed yesterday in the Middle District of North Carolina, alleges that the City’s uses of the written test called the Comprehensive Examination Battery (CEB) disproportionately exclude Black candidates from employment as firefighters. The department further alleges that DFD’s uses of the CEB are not job-related and consistent with business necessity, and thus violate Title VII.
Under the terms of the consent decree also filed yesterday, DFD will:
Adopt a written test that does not discriminate in violation of Title VII and provide data to the department on the administration of the new test to ensure compliance;
Pay $980,000 in back pay to applicants who were disqualified by DFD’s uses of the challenged test; and
Hire up to 16 applicants who were unfairly disqualified by the challenged test and who successfully complete the new firefighter selection process.
The full and fair enforcement of Title VII is a top priority of the Civil Rights Division. The division has issued a fact sheet on combating hiring discrimination by police and fire departments to help applicants for public safety jobs understand their rights to be free from discriminatory hiring processes. More information about the Civil Rights Division can be found at http://www.justice.gov/crt.
I’m 100% completely and totally indifferent to the gender or the sexual orientation of a ship captain. The only thing that I care about is that they do their job properly.
https://x.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1844438923323506914
I support meritocracy because I want ship captains who don’t crash their ship into a reef and spill oil and other toxic chemicals into the ocean.
Supporters of DEI were so focused on giving the job to a lesbian that they neglected to care about the person’s qualifications or experience.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/07/world/new-zealand-navy-ship-sinks-intl-hnk/index.html
This article says that criticism of her is based on “sexism and homophobia.”
I can’t speak for other critics, but I myself am 100% completely and totally indifferent to the gender or the sexual orientation of a ship captain. The only thing that I care about is that they do their job properly.
https://gayexpress.co.nz/2024/10/sexism-and-homophobia-cant-diminish-commander-grays-heroic-actions/
Here are two quotes from the New York Times which prove that DEI = “Didn’t Earn It.”
https://twitter.com/DanielAlmanPGH/status/1772731581209190422
Here are two quotes from the New York Times which prove that DEI = “Didn’t Earn It.”
The New York Times wrote, “The Board of Regents on Monday eliminated a requirement that aspiring teachers in New York State pass a literacy test to become certified after the test proved controversial because black and Hispanic candidates passed it at significantly lower rates than white candidates.”
The New York Times wrote: “A 2009 Princeton study showed Asian-Americans had to score 140 points higher on their SATs than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics and 450 points higher than blacks to have the same chance of admission to leading universities.”
Whoever came up with “Didn’t Earn It” as the description of DEI might have saved the world.
https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1770894676939153569
America’s top universities should abandon their long misadventure into politics, retrain their gaze on their core strengths and rebuild their reputations as centers of research and learning.
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1733927077085143263
https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1733927077085143263
In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity”
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 15, 2023
In Mississauga, Ontario, a public high school library removed every book that had been published in 2008 or earlier, under the justification of “inclusivity,” “anti-racism,” “equity” and “diversity.”
Gee, I always thought that the word “inclusivity” was about including things, not excluding things.
And I always thought the word “diversity” meant there should be more choices, not fewer.
And I’m not sure how getting rid of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank contributes to the fight against racism.
You can read about it in this article:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/peel-school-board-library-book-weeding-1.6964332
‘Empty shelves with absolutely no books’: Students, parents question school board’s library weeding process
Books published in 2008 or earlier removed from school library amid confusion around new equity-based process
September 13, 2023
Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Those are all examples of books Reina Takata says she can no longer find in her public high school library in Mississauga, Ont., which she visits on her lunch hour most days.
In May, Takata says the shelves at Erindale Secondary School were full of books, but she noticed that they had gradually started to disappear. When she returned to school this fall, things were more stark.
“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said Takata, who started Grade 10 last week.
She estimates more than 50 per cent of her school’s library books are gone.
Way to go Ana Kasparian!
Ana Kasparian of the Young Turks spends 15 minutes criticizing the people who see racism everywhere. She says she regrets that she herself used to be one of those people. She criticizes DEI training in the workplace. She says it’s better for people of different races to spend time together without some third party moderator who is getting paid huge sums of money to divide people instead of unite them. This is by no means the first time that I have seen her being highly critical of the radical left. She is basically in the same camp as other liberals like Bill Maher and Russell Brand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bzOoBhjnBM
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
I think it’s absolutely horrible that they are punishing responsible behavior and rewarding irresponsible behavior. This is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/mortgage-fee-changes-good-high-credit-scores/
‘It’s going to hit the consumer hard,’ Those with higher credit scores may pay higher mortgage fees
By Courtney Cole
April 26, 2023
BOSTON – Changes in the mortgage industry could spell bad news even if you have good credit.
Beginning May 1, some people with higher credit scores may actually end up paying a higher fee while those with lower scores will pay less.
“It’s really a big change,” explained mortgage loan officer and credit score expert Al Bingham. “It’s going to hit the consumer hard when they go to apply for a mortgage.”
The changes are part of the federal government’s effort to provide equitable access to home ownership.
According to Bingham, it comes down to fees that lenders pay back to federal programs that back the mortgages. For some first-time homebuyers those fees are often rolled into a higher interest rate paid by the consumer.
Here is what it will mean for first-time homebuyers who fit certain income guidelines.
For a homeowner with a $500,000 purchase price who puts down the minimum down payment, a person with a 660 credit score will get a rate of about 6.25% while a buyer with a 740 score will pay 6.5%.
The changes will also make it more expensive for borrowers to refinance and to pull equity out of their homes to pay off consumer debt.
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, while some fees are being eliminated for lower-income buyers, and fees are being increased for for some buyers with higher credit scores, the two are not cause-and effect. “Higher-credit-score borrowers are not being charged more so that lower-credit-score borrowers can pay less,” they said in a statement. “Some updated fees are higher and some are lower, in differing amounts. They do not represent pure decreases for high-risk borrowers or pure increases for low-risk borrowers.” You can read their full explanation of the fee changes on their website.
SF parents sue local school district to put Algebra I back in middle school
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sf-parents-sue-local-school-202200892.html
SF parents sue local school district to put Algebra I back in middle school
By Ryan General
March 22, 2023
San Francisco parents are suing the city’s public school district for not offering Algebra I to middle school students and for requiring students to retake the course in ninth grade even if they have already passed it elsewhere.
The lawsuit, filed on March 22, calls for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to offer Algebra I in middle school, arguing that current policies and practices hinder students’ academic growth in mathematics and creates barriers to excelling in the subject.
According to the suit, advanced students have become bored with what their parents have referred to as dumbed-down math. The parents have also expressed concerns that their children are falling behind those enrolled in private schools and in other districts that offer a middle school option.
In an interview with the San Francisco Examiner, SFUSD alumnus and parent Maya Keshavan accused the district of misleading the public about key metrics of its math program.
[District officials] claimed to dramatically reduce algebra 1 failure after it was delayed to ninth grade but have offered no evidence to back this claim. In fact, the rate fell only because the district eliminated an exit exam students were required to pass. Public data requests revealed the purported success could not be replicated, and the district refused to explain.
The suit also alleges that students who took Algebra I outside the district were forced to retake it, violating California’s education code, which prescribes that students who complete the course prior to high school already satisfy the Algebra I graduation requirement in the state.
Currently, only those who took Algebra I before high school and demonstrated proficiency by passing a “math validation test” will not be required to retake it.
SFUSD’s math policy, implemented in 2014, keeps all students together in math until junior year, when advanced students can then surge ahead by taking a combined Algebra II and precalculus course, followed by calculus during their senior year.
However, the policy has been criticized for not offering equitable access to advanced math and for resulting racial gaps in enrollment in higher-level math courses. According to the concerned parents, the current system makes it almost impossible for students to access calculus in high school.
Parents are pushing for those consolidated courses to be offered in middle school instead as completing these courses would give their children an advantage when applying to colleges.
In 2016, the parents petitioned the district to restore Algebra I to the middle school curriculum, submitting over 1,000 signatures.
The study noted that figures from before and after the reform was implemented were the same: “White and Asian students in SFUSD enroll in Precalculus at rates roughly two to four times higher than their Black and Hispanic peers.”
According to Stanford researcher Thomas Dee, he is hoping the study will inspire a “rethink about what is going on here to prevent equitable access to advanced math.”
I support meritocracy because I want banks that don’t fail
Woke head of ‘risk assessment’ at Silicon Valley Bank ‘prioritized’ LGBT initiatives – including organizing a month-long Pride campaign – before bank lost BILLIONS and collapsed
Jay Ersapah was head of risk assessment for Silicon Valley Bank’s EMEA region
She launched a host of woke initiatives including ‘safe space catch-ups’ for staff
In one video she said she ‘could not be prouder’ to work for the bank which collapsed spectacularly on Friday
11 March 2023
A head of risk assessment at the beleaguered Silicon Valley Bank has been accused of prioritizing pro-diversity initiatives over her actual role after the firm imploded on Friday.
Jay Ersapah – who describes herself as a ‘queer person of color from a working-class background’ – organized a host of LGBTQ initiatives including a month-long Pride campaign and implemented ‘safe space’ catch-ups for staff.
In a corporate video published just nine months ago, she said she ‘could not be prouder’ to work for SVB serving ‘underrepresented entrepreneurs.’
Last year professional network Outstanding listed Ersapah as a top 100 LGTBQ Future Leader.
‘Jay is a leading figure for the bank’s awareness activities including being a panelist at the SVB’s Global Pride townhall to share her experiences as a lesbian of color, moderating SVB’s EMEA Pride townhall and was instrumental in initiating the organization’s first ever global “safe space catch-up”, supporting employees in sharing their experiences of coming out,’ her bio on the Outstanding website states.
It adds that she is ‘allies’ with gay rights charity Stonewall and had authored numerous articles to promote LGBTQ awareness.
These included ‘Lesbian Visibility Day and Trans Awareness week.’
Separately she was also praised in a Facebook post by the group ‘Diversity Role Models,’ a charity which campaigns against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in UK schools.
In a corporate document for the bank she said: ‘”You can’t be what you can’t see” has always been a quote that stuck with me.
‘As a queer person of color and a first generation immigrant from a working class background, there were not many role models for me to ‘see’ growing up.
‘I feel privileged to help spread awareness of lived queer experiences, partner with charitable organizations, and above all create a sense of community for our LGBTQ+ employees and allies.’
To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-increase-equity-school-districts-eliminate-honors-classes-d5985dee
To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes
Supporters say uniform classes create rigor for all students but critics say cuts hurt faster learners
By Sara Randazzo
February 17, 2023
CULVER CITY, Calif.—A group of parents stepped to the lectern Tuesday night at a school board meeting in this middle-class, Los Angeles-area city to push back against a racial-equity initiative. The high school, they argued, should reinstate honors English classes that were eliminated because they didn’t enroll enough Black and Latino students.
The district earlier this school year replaced the honors classes at Culver City High School with uniform courses that officials say will ensure students of all races receive an equal, rigorous education.
These parents disagreed.
“We really feel equity means offering opportunities to students of diverse backgrounds, not taking away opportunities for advanced education and study,” Joanna Schaenman, a Culver City parent who helped spearhead the effort, said in the run-up to the meeting.
The parental pushback in Culver City mirrors resistance that has taken place in Wisconsin, Rhode Island and elsewhere in California over the last year in response to schools stripping away the honors designation on some high school classes.
School districts doing away with honors classes argue students who don’t take those classes from a young age start to see themselves in a different tier, and come to think they aren’t capable of enrolling in Advanced Placement classes that help with college admissions. Black and Latino students are underrepresented in AP enrollment in the majority of states, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit that studies equity in education.
Since the start of this school year, freshmen and sophomores in Culver City have only been able to select one level of English class, known as College Prep, rather than the previous system in which anyone could opt into the honors class. School officials say the goal is to teach everyone with an equal level of rigor, one that encourages them to enroll in advanced classes in their final years of high school.
“Parents say academic excellence should not be experimented with for the sake of social justice,” said Quoc Tran, the superintendent of 6,900-student Culver City Unified School District. But, he said, “it was very jarring when teachers looked at their AP enrollment and realized Black and brown kids were not there. They felt obligated to do something.”
Culver City English teachers presented data at a board meeting last year showing Latino students made up 13% of those in 12th-grade Advanced Placement English, compared with 37% of the student body. Asian students were 34% of the advanced class, compared with 10% of students. Black students represented 14% of AP English, versus 15% of the student body.
The board saw anonymous quotes from students not enrolled in honors classes saying they felt less motivated or successful. One described students feeling “unable to break out of the molds that they established when they were 11.”
Tuesday marked Ms. Schaenman’s first time attending a school board meeting in person in years. She wandered the hallways of City Hall with fellow parent Pedro Frigola looking for the right room, clutching a stack of copies laying out the two-page resolution they and a few dozen other parents are asking the board to adopt.
Mr. Frigola said he disagrees with the district’s view of equity. “I was born in Cuba, and it doesn’t sound good when people are trying to achieve equal outcomes for everyone,” he said.
His ninth-grade daughter, Emma Frigola, said she was surprised and a little confused by the decision to remove honors, which she had wanted to take. She said her English teacher, who used to teach the honors class, is trying to maintain a higher standard, but that it doesn’t always seem to be working.
“There are some people who slow down the pace because they don’t really do anything and aren’t looking to try harder,” Emma said. “I don’t think you can force that into people.”
For a unit on research, Emma said her teacher gathered all the reference sources they needed to write a paper on whether graffiti is art or vandalism and had students review them together in class. Her sister, Elena Frigola, now in 11th grade, said prior honors English students chose their own topics and did research independently.
In Santa Monica, Calif., high school English teachers said last year they had “a moral imperative” to eliminate honors English classes that they viewed as perpetuating inequality. The teachers studied the issue for a year and a half, a district representative said.
“This is not a social experiment,” board member Jon Kean said at a meeting last spring. “This is a sound pedagogical approach to education.”
Gail Pinsker, a Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District spokeswoman, said the shift this school year “has increased access and provided excellent educational experiences for all of our students.”
Several school districts have scaled back plans to eliminate honors classes after community opposition. San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School planned to eliminate 11th-grade honors American literature and U.S. history last year, but reinstated both after listening to students and families, a district spokeswoman said.
The school district in Madison, Wis., pulled back on plans last year to remove stand-alone honors classes and now lets students earn an honors label within general classes. A Rhode Island district made a similar move.
Those who support cutting honors classes point out that the curriculum of honors courses often doesn’t differ substantially from regular classes. Honors classes often move at a faster pace and the students complete more assignments. Some can boost grade-point averages or give students an advantage when applying for college.
Critics say attempting to teach everyone at an elevated level isn’t realistic and that teachers, even with the best intentions, may end up simplifying instruction. Instead, some educators and parents argue schools should find more ways to diversify honors courses and encourage students to enroll who aren’t self-selecting, including proactively reaching out to students, using an opt-out system, or looking to teacher recommendations.
“I just don’t see how removing something from some kids all of a sudden helps other kids learn faster,” said Scott Peters, a senior research scientist at education research nonprofit NWEA who has studied equity in gifted and talented programs.
In Culver City, Mr. Tran said he isn’t going to mandate that other departments move away from honors but that he would listen to any teacher-driven suggestions. As for English, he said he is throwing his support behind the high school’s teachers to try to elevate education for all students.
“We will keep moving forward,” he said.
In the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a Connecticut bill would require fire departments to hire female firefighters who aren’t strong enough to do their job
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 23, 2023
In the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a Connecticut bill would require fire departments to hire female firefighters who aren’t strong enough to do their job.
I’m against this proposal.
As always, I support 100% meritocracy.
For the record, I am male, and I am too weak to pass their strength test. Weaklings like me should not be firefighters. Any woman who is strong enough to pass the test deserves to be hired.
I support meritocracy because I want airplanes that don’t crash, bridges that don’t fall down, doctors who don’t kill their patients, and firefighters who fight fires and save lives.
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/proposed-bill-could-alter-female-firefighter-test/2958127/
Proposed Bill Could Alter Female Firefighter Test
A proposed bill is stirring up debate on whether the physical test for female firefighters should be changed.
By Briceyda Landaverde
January 19, 2023
“In the fire service, everybody pulls their own weight,” firefighter Kori Kelly said.
Kori Kelly is a 13-year veteran career firefighter.
“I know I’m held to a standard and on top of that, I hold myself to a higher standard to make sure that I don’t slip,” Kelly said.
Kelly is concerned over newly proposed legislation that would lower the physical test requirements for women to become firefighters.
“It’s a huge safety liability, the whole point of having the national standard is having a bar that everyone has to reach,” Kelly said.
Currently, all candidates regardless of gender are required to wear a 50-pound vest during the test. It is supposed to mirror the experience of wearing heavy gear and an air tank while performing firefighter duties.
The risk, Kelly said, if someone does not have to meet these capabilities, will they still be able to save lives?
“I can’t change any of the weights of the civilians I have to rescue,” Kelly said.
Five democrats introduced the bill earlier this month. According to the language, the purpose is to allow for a more diverse class of candidates by offering an alternative to the 50-pound vest component.
“We know there are not enough women involved in the fire service and really the big barrier to get into the fire academy is the candidate physical ability test,” Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett said.
Garrett is pushing for the bill to pass. In town, the fire department has been forced to turn women away because they didn’t pass the required test by a small margin.
“I’m looking at just taking a few pounds of the backpacks, the weighted vest so that we can get more women to pass the CPAT test and then not at all changing the standard with the Connecticut Fire Academy,” Garrett said.
The language did not address exactly what the alternative would be. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Public Safety and Security.
Instead of building enough desalination plants, California is trying to solve its water shortage by removing the racism from water
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
January 16, 2023
While the brilliant people of Israel have built enough desalination plants to end their water shortages, and the country pays only 40 cents per cubic meter for as much water as people want, all in a densely populated country which is a desert with perpetual drought, the idiotic people of California have chosen to reject desalination in favor of continued water shortages.
But that doesn’t mean that California doesn’t have a plan for its water.
California is planning to remove all of the racism from its water. This is the text of their plan:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/board_info/agendas/2023/jan/011823_4
STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD
BOARD MEETING SESSION – EXECUTIVE OFFICE
JANUARY 18, 2023
ITEM 4
SUBJECT
RACIAL EQUITY ACTION PLAN.
DISCUSSION
The Racial Equity Action Plan is a compilation of goals, actions, and metrics intended to advance the State Water Board’s efforts to create a future where we equitably preserve, enhance, and restore California’s water resources and drinking water for all Californians, regardless of race, and where race is not a predictor of professional outcomes for Water Boards employees.
On August 18, 2020, State Water Board staff presented an informational item to the State Water Board on a framework for addressing racial equity. The State Water Board acknowledged the historic effects of institutional racism that must be confronted throughout government and directed staff to develop a priority plan of action.
In fall 2020, State Water Board’s Executive Director, Eileen Sobeck, convened a Water Boards Racial Equity Team with the purpose of advancing racial equity both for the communities that the Water Boards serve, and internally within the organization. The Water Boards Racial Equity Team is comprised of Water Boards staff representing all levels of the organization and includes support staff, engineers, scientists, technologists, and executives. The Racial Equity Team has been tasked with three major priorities: 1) establish a foundation of internal and external engagement that values listening and collaboration to drive action; 2) draft a resolution on racial equity to be considered for adoption by the State Water Board and leveraged by the nine Regional Water Boards to adopt their own resolutions; and 3) develop racial equity strategies and action plans to drive efforts for the coming years.
The Water Boards reached a major milestone on November 16, 2021, when the State Water Board adopted the Racial Equity Resolution, “Condemning Racism, Xenophobia, Bigotry, and Racial Injustice and Strengthening Commitment to Racial Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Access, and Anti-Racism” (Resolution No. 2021-0050). The Resolution directs staff to develop a plan of action to advance racial equity within the Water Boards.
In March 2022, the Water Boards Racial Equity Team began working with a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant to articulate a vision and strategic directions that serve as the framework for our action planning.
Throughout spring 2022, Water Boards staff, community partners, tribes, and communities impacted by racial inequities began to identify draft actions to incorporate into a Racial Equity Action Plan. In April 2022, the Water Boards began soliciting requests for government-to-government tribal consultations. And in May 2022, community partners and State Water Board management and staff came together for visioning and strategizing sessions, as well as a series of action planning workshops.
The Water Boards Racial Equity Team compiled draft actions through feedback from members of the public, tribes, and Water Boards staff and leadership and partnered with community organizations to host four public workshops in July 2022 to present the draft action ideas. The Racial Equity Team incorporated feedback received during the July 2022 workshops and Water Boards staff and released the draft for public comment on September 23, 2022.
On October 19, 2022, the Racial Equity Team presented the draft Racial Equity Action Plan at a State Water Board workshop. That version of the draft action plan was posted online for public review and comment on September 23, 2022, and comments were accepted through October 24, 2022. The Water Boards Racial Equity Team incorporated resulting feedback and worked with leadership from State Water Board Divisions and Offices to finalize the draft.
The State Water Board will not take action to approve or deny the Racial Equity Action Plan, which was designed to be a living document that is updated periodically through Board and community engagement. California Native American tribes can continue to request government-to-government consultations to provide feedback and guidance on this work on an ongoing basis. Other interested parties may still provide general comments about the Water Boards’ racial equity work by emailing
racialequity@waterboards.ca.gov. Although this is an action plan for the State Water Board, the Regional Water Boards have strongly supported the State Water Board’s racial equity efforts and may leverage this plan to inform their own racial equity work, as they have the State Water Board’s Racial Equity Resolution.
POLICY ISSUE
This is an informational item to present the 2023-2025 Racial Equity Action Plan. The State Water Board will not approve or deny the Racial Equity Action Plan. However, staff will update the Board on its implementation at least annually.
FISCAL IMPACT
No additional fiscal impact to currently budgeted program resources.
REGIONAL BOARD IMPACT
The State Water Board will not take action at this public meeting; there is no Regional
Water Board impact at this time.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The State Water Board will not take action at this public meeting; there is no staff recommendation at this time.
Dan from Squirrel Hill's Blog 