Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

The US and EU wanted that prosecutor fired because he held back corruption investigations. Removing him was exactly the opposite of what Joe Biden would have done if his goal was protecting his son.
 
Again, commendable goal, just not sure how "Who is doing the oppressing?" and "How can we change mathematics from individualistic to collectivist thinking" get us there.
The only place I can see those going is to a systemic feeling of being oppressed even when you are free, and a fundamental upending of values onto something which is more...I am not sure what because even the word "communist" has lost all meaning in the zeitgeist. In any case, not what you would like to hear on a math class, and certainly not what you want if you wish America to continue on a position of relevance in the upcoming decades.

Awareness of institutions and social systems doesn't have to result in a "feeling" of being oppressed, but being aware of how data can be manipulated to justify legislation, funding, or sentencing guidelines means we have a more informed public engaged with their government and thinking critically. If, after learning how institutions behave and manage data you "feel oppressed" maybe it's because there's something going on that needs to change.

EDIT Apologies for the late replay, for some reason I didn't get this thread on my notifications and when I opened it, none of the replies since populated until I submitted the above comment.
 
Awareness of institutions and social systems doesn't have to result in a "feeling" of being oppressed, but being aware of how data can be manipulated to justify legislation, funding, or sentencing guidelines means we have a more informed public engaged with their government and thinking critically. If, after learning how institutions behave and manage data you "feel oppressed" maybe it's because there's something going on that needs to change.

EDIT Apologies for the late replay, for some reason I didn't get this thread on my notifications and when I opened it, none of the replies since populated until I submitted the above comment.
Again that’s not the job of math class. Just like explaining how numbers work is not part of philosophy class.
 
Again that’s not the job of math class. Just like explaining how numbers work is not part of philosophy class.

I've never had a philosophy class cover this, statistics class, on the other hand is all about it.
 
I've never had a philosophy class cover this, statistics class, on the other hand is all about it.
Well stats class would explain how stats are done and caveats and such, but none of them ever went into “how it affects people”
 
Again that’s not the job of math class. Just like explaining how numbers work is not part of philosophy class.

I am afraid I will have to agree with this one. Though I must admit there is something to be said about the explanation of interpretations on statistics.
 
I am afraid I will have to agree with this one. Though I must admit there is something to be said about the explanation of interpretations on statistics.
I’m totally good with kids being taught how to be critical of stuff like statistics, I just think there should be a different class that explains it.

Like when I was taking C++ they didn’t cover the digital divide, but my ethics in the information age class did
 
I find this beyond puzzling, and more than a little disturbing.

https://www.motherjones.com/politic...renthood-patients-top-health-official-admits/

Missouri Has Been Tracking the Menstrual Cycles of Planned Parenthood Patients, Top Health Official Admits

Missouri’s top health official admitted that the state government has been tracking the menstrual cycles of Planned Parenthood patients as it weighs the fate of the state’s last remaining abortion clinic.


Randall Williams, the Missouri state health director, said Tuesday that the state health department had been keeping a spreadsheet of patients who had visited Planned Parenthood, with personal data on each patient including the date of the last menstrual period. The state collected this information as a part of its annual inspection of the clinic and later used this information to try to determine whether patients had undergone failed abortions. According to the Kansas City Star, which first reported the news, the spreadsheet also included “medical identification numbers, dates of medical procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses.”





“Today’s revelation is deeply disturbing,” Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region , said in a statement. She added, “Missouri politicians have gone too far. This is government overreach at its worst. It shadows the Trump administration’s history of tracking the periods of refugee girls under the government’s care. This is outrageous and disgusting.”


Williams’ testimony came during an administrative commission hearing taking place this week to determine whether Missouri’s last abortion clinic, a Planned Parenthood facility in St. Louis, will be allowed to keep its license to perform abortions. The hearing began on Monday morning and is set to end on Friday afternoon.


This hearing is the just the latest chapter in a fight between the Missouri Department of Health and the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region. In May, state regulators demanded to question clinic doctors over “ongoing concerns about deficient practices,” but the clinic declined to make providers available for interviews that it considered a form of intimidation. As a result, the health department refused to renew the clinic’s license to perform abortions, leading Planned Parenthood to sue the state.


If the St. Louis Planned Parenthood fails to get its license renewed, Missouri will become the first state without any abortion clinics since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling upholding the right to an abortion.


“This is the reality when people in power want to strip away our rights and freedoms,” Alexis McGill Johnson, the acting president of the national Planned Parenthood organization, said in a statement. They force medically unnecessary pelvic exams, investigate menstrual cycles, and do whatever it takes to take control of our bodies, our lives, and our futures. Enough is enough. Every person deserves access to safe, legal abortion without fearing their personal information will be used to wage political war.”
 
....what in the actual fuck?
 
Is anyone following project Veritas here? Looks like ABC got caught with their pants down... This type of thing just reinforces the argument that media is highly partisan and cannot be trusted to do proper reporting.
npr said:
In a leaked video posted Tuesday by the right-wing activist group Project Veritas, news anchor Amy Robach expresses her frustration to a colleague over ABC's failure to broadcast her interview with a key accuser of Epstein.

Robach complains that the network "quashed" her interview, suggesting that ABC had yielded to threats from powerful forces, including Buckingham Palace. Prince Andrew is among those men whom the accuser alleges Epstein trafficked her to for sex. The prince's representatives have denied that claim.

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/7764...epstein-coverage-after-leaked-video-of-anchor
 
It's been hard to believe that this isn't the biggest story on the news but now it all makes sense - the media is killing this story. It's amazing - they ran wild uncorroborated stories about Kavanaugh with zero evidence on a 24/7 cycle but when they get a lead on a global child rape ring they completely ignore it.
 
It's been hard to believe that this isn't the biggest story on the news but now it all makes sense - the media is killing this story. It's amazing - they ran wild uncorroborated stories about Kavanaugh with zero evidence on a 24/7 cycle but when they get a lead on a global child rape ring they completely ignore it.
It’s amazing to me how few people in my social circle are aware of this, yet they al lol know every dumb tweet Trump sends out... Talk about skewed reporting.
 
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