White privilege bolstered by teaching math, university professor says

Professor Rochelle Gutierrez says the ability to solve algebra and geometry perpetuates white privilege.  (University of Illinois)

A math education professor at the University of Illinois says the ability to solve geometry and algebra problems and teaching such subjects perpetuates so-called white privilege.

Rochelle Gutierrez laid out her views on the subject in an article for a newly published anthology for math educators titled, “Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods.”

“School mathematics curricula emphasizing terms like Pythagorean Theorem and pi perpetuate a perception that mathematics was largely developed by Greeks and other Europeans," she says, according to Campus Reform.
She also says that addressing equity in mathematics education will come when teachers can understand and negotiate the politics outside the classroom.
“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as white,” she writes.
Further, she says mathematics operates with unearned privilege in society, “just like whiteness.”

Mathematics itself operates as Whiteness.

Gutierrez did not respond to an email from Fox News Tuesday seeking comment.
University of Illinois interim Provost John Wilkin told Fox News that Gutierrez is an established and admired scholar who has been published in many peer-reviewed publications.
“As with all of our faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Prof. Gutierrez has the rights of academic freedom necessary to pursue scholarship and research on important subjects and to reach conclusions even if some might disagree with those conclusions,” he said.
He added, “The issues around equity and access in education are real – with significant implications to our entire educational system. Exploring challenging pedagogical questions is exactly what faculty in a world-class college of education should be doing.”
In the book Gutierrez points out that mathematics operates as a proxy for intelligence, but asks, “are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?”
“As researchers, are we more deserving of large grants because we focus on mathematics education and not social studies or English?”
Gutierrez says evaluations of math skills can perpetuate discrimination against minorities, especially if they do worse than their white counterparts, Campus Reform reported.
“If one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned” because the average person won't necessarily question the role of mathematics in society, she writes.
According to the website, Gutierrez adds that there are so many people who “have experienced microaggressions from participating in math classrooms… [where people are] judged by whether they can reason abstractly.”
NEW YORK PUBLIC COLLEGE OFFERING COURSE CALLED 'ABOLITION OF WHITENESS'
Her solution is a call for teachers to develop political "conocimeinto," or knowledge, to better prepare them in deciding on what learning opportunities work best for their students.
The book, published by Information Age Publishing, is a collaborative effort among more than 40 educators who teach mathematics methods courses for prospective pre-K‐12 teachers.

With Flake retirement, Steve Bannon claims scalp in bid to reshape GOP

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon speaks at a rally for U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore, in Fairhope, Ala., Sept. 25, 2017.  (Associated Press)

The unexpected retirement of U.S. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., will likely further inflame the Republican Party's civil war -- with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon racking up the fruits of victory in his bid to reshape the party.

Flake announced his resignation Tuesday with a scathing attack on Trump from the Senate floor, calling the commander-in-chief’s behavior “reckless, outrageous, and undignified."

The senator also slammed the GOP, saying it had “given in or given up on the core principles in favor of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment,” and noted that “anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."
But Flake's speech was likely music to the ears of Bannon, who has announced plans to run pro-Trump candidates against Senate Republicans who don't back the president's agenda. And Flake's emotional speech was unlikely to change the views of GOP voters who see establishment Republicans such as Flake as obstacles for executing Trump's “America First” agenda.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., accompanied by his wife Cheryl, leaves the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017, after announcing he won't seek re-election in 2018.  (AP)

Recent polls show there is little appetite among voters for anti-Trump legislators in the Senate, especially in Arizona – a state Trump carried in 2016 presidential election. Flake was trailing his primary challenger, Kelli Ward, a former state senator who is backed by Bannon.
After Flake's announcement, Bannon quickly claimed a scalp for his anti-GOP establishment movement, warning incumbents that his recruited candidates “will defeat you in primaries or force you to retire," according to Breitbart News Network Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, who tweeted the reaction.
"The days of establishment Republicans who oppose the people's America First agenda are numbered," Bannon added.
“Many more to come,” Bannon wrote to the Washington Post following Flake’s speech.
Andy Surabian, an adviser for Bannon's pro-Trump political PAC, Great America Alliance, told the Post that the resignation of Flake was a victory for the White House.
“This is a victory for President Trump and all of his supporters across the nation,” he said. “Jeff Flake was America’s top ‘Never Trumper,’ so getting his scalp is a signal to Never Trumpers everywhere that their time is up.”
From Alabama to Mississippi to Nevada, Bannon-backed candidates are emerging to challenge the establishment Republicans during the 2018 midterm elections, potentially reshaping the party beyond recognition.
And while the GOP is coming to realization that opposing Trump is bad politics, some top Republicans have criticized Bannon’s strategy to strengthen pro-Trump elements in Congress by replacing existing GOP senators rather than increasing the majority and taking seats from Democrats.
“Bannon’s so-called ‘war against the GOP establishment,’ is the worst strategic action Republicans could take right now,” wrote Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, noting that the candidates Bannon seeks to replace are senators who voted overwhelmingly for Trump’s agenda despite their public comments.
Noted Gingrich: "All voted to repeal Obamacare; all supported President Trump’s Cabinet nominations; all supported the American Health Care Act; all supported the so-called Skinny Repeal of Obamacare; and all voted to confirm conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.”

'Smoking gun' email reveals Obama DOJ blocked conservative groups from settlement funds, GOP lawmaker says

While Eric Holder was attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens.  (Reuters)

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee claims he obtained a “smoking gun” email that proves the Obama Justice Department prevented settlement payouts from going to conservative-leaning organizations, even as liberal groups were awarded money and DOJ officials denied “picking and choosing” recipients.

“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”

While Eric Holder was U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department allowed prosecutors to strike agreements compelling big companies to give money to outside groups not connected to their cases to meet settlement burdens. Republican lawmakers long have decried those payments as a “slush fund” that boosted liberal groups, and the Trump DOJ ended the practice earlier this year.
But internal Justice Department emails released Tuesday by Goodlatte indicated that not only were officials involved in determining what organizations would get the money, but also Justice Department officials may have intervened to make sure the settlements didn’t go to conservative groups.

“It is not every day in congressional investigations that we find a smoking gun,” House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Tuesday. “Here, we have it.”  (Associated Press)

In one such email in July 2014, a senior Justice Department official expressed “concerns” about what groups would receive settlement money from Citigroup — saying they didn’t want money going to a group that does “conservative property-rights legal services.”
DOJ ENDS HOLDER-ERA ‘SLUSH FUND’ PAYOUTS TO OUTSIDE GROUPS
“Concerns include: a) not allowing Citi to pick a statewide intermediary like the Pacific Legal Foundation (does conservative property-rights legal services),” the official, whose name is redacted in the email, wrote under the title of “Acting Senior Counselor for Access to Justice.”
The official added that “we are more likely to get the right result from a state bar association affiliated entity.”
The Pacific Legal Foundation responded to the email release Tuesday by telling Fox News it believes “permanent reforms to prevent such abuse are needed.”
“We are flattered that the previous administration would be concerned enough about our success vindicating individual liberty and property rights to prevent settlement funds from making their way to Pacific Legal Foundation,” PLF CEO Steven D. Anderson said in a statement.

“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people— not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.  (Associated Press)

Goodlatte, who is sponsoring the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017, disclosed the emails during a speech on the House floor, taking aim at then-Associate Attorney General Tony West.
“Aiding their political allies was only the half of it,” Goodlatte said. “The evidence of the Obama DOJ’s abuse of power shows that Tony West’s team went out of its way to exclude conservative groups.”
The documents indicate West played an active role in helping certain organizations obtain settlement information.
“Can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money to an organization of our choosing?” Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Elizabeth Taylor wrote in one November 2013 email.
Groups who received funding also expressed appreciation for West’s efforts, according to the emails.
“Now that it has been more than 24 hours for us all to try and digest the Bank of America settlement, I would like to discuss ways we might want to recognize and show appreciation for the Department of Justice and specifically Associate Attorney General Tony West,” wrote Charles R. Dunlap, executive director of the Indiana Bar, in an August 2014 email.
Dunlap wrote that West “by all accounts was the one person most responsible” for the Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts group receiving money.
One person, Bob LeClair, responded to Dunlap’s email by saying, “Frankly, I would be willing to have us build a statue [of West] and then we could bow down to this statue each day after we get our $200,000.”
West, who now works as an executive vice president at PepsiCo, did not immediately return an email from Fox News seeking comment.
In 2015, however, Geoffrey Graber, who oversaw the Justice Department’s big banks settlements, told Goodlatte during a congressional hearing that the department “did not want to be in the business of picking and choosing which organizations may or may not receive any funding under the agreement.”
“But internal DOJ documents tell a different story,” Goodlatte said Tuesday. “They show that contrary to Graber’s sworn testimony, the donation provisions were structured to aid the Obama administration’s political friends and exclude conservative groups.”
Even before the release of Tuesday’s emails, Republicans had blasted these settlements as a “slush fund” for favored groups.
Gibson Guitars was forced to pay $50,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2012, though that organization has nothing to do with the case. In 2014, Bank of America gave money to the National Urban League, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America and the National Council of La Raza as part of a major mortgage fraud settlement stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.

'Aiding their political allies was only the half of it.'

Asked about the emails, the Justice Department on Tuesday referred Fox News to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ statement in June after he announced the end to the practice.
“When the federal government settles a case against a corporate wrongdoer, any settlement funds should go first to the victims and then to the American people — not to bankroll third-party special interest groups or the political friends of whoever is in power,” Sessions said.
Goodlatte on Tuesday praised Sessions’ move to end mandatory donations, but called his legislation a “good governance measure,” and called it necessary to prevent a future Justice Department from reversing the action. The bill prohibits the Justice Department from requiring defendants to donate money to outside groups as part of a settlement with the federal government.
The Obama administration has been accused of unfairly targeting conservative organizations before — most famously after the revelation the IRS applied extra scrutiny to groups with “Tea Party” in their names.

Tax Cartoons

Pres. Trump Urges House GOP to Move Quickly on Budget, Tax Reform

FILE – In this July 24, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks about healthcare in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

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President Trump urges House Republicans to move quickly on the budget and tax reform in order to avoid a “political failure” during next year’s election season.
President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence held a conference call with House Republicans on Sunday.
Sources say the president told lawmakers the GOP cannot afford to disappoint the nation by failing on fiscal overhaul ahead of the looming midterm elections.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reaffirmed his commitment to work with President Trump and House Republicans to speed the progress on tax reform.
“We’ve been waiting for the opportunity to do it, and Donald Trump being elected President, and Republicans having a majority in House and Senate, give us an opportunity to accomplish something really important for the country, to get it growing again,” announced McConnell.
During Sunday’s call House Speaker Paul Ryan said he hopes to pass a revised senate budget this week, which would allow them to enact tax reform by the end of the year.
President Trump also expressed confidence his tax reform is — quote — “the right thing to do for the country.”

Struggling to get signed, Kaepernick 'meeting publishers' to pitch book idea

Colin Kaepernick is reportedly meeting with publishers as he explores the possibility of writing a book.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is “taking meetings with publishers in the New York offices of WME,” according to a Page Six source. IMG-WME agent Carlos Fleming is representing Kaepernick.

The athlete, who’s currently a free agent, has been struggling to get signed by an NFL team, many attributing his political activism and kneeling during the national anthem as one of the reasons teams are wary to sign him.
Green Bay Packers’ coach Mike McCarthy dismissed last week any possibility of signing Kaepernick while Arizona Cardinals is the latest team to snub the athlete on Monday, saying they have no intention of signing him, the Washington Post reported.
Kaepernick also filed last week a collusion grievance, accusing the owners of NFL teams of conspiring against him for kneeling during the national anthem last season and decided to keep him out of the league.
His political activism inspired multiple NFL athletes to kneel during the anthem as well following President Donald Trump remarks that kneeling players should be fired for disrespecting the country.

Sessions: All bets are off in hunt for MS-13 street gang

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spoken out against MS-13 and promised a new push to combat the violent gang.  (Reuters)

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday promised an all-out assault on the brutal MS-13 street gang “just like we took Al Capone off the streets.”

Sessions said the gang’s members are suspected in a series of killings in New York City's suburbs and the U.S. “will use whatever laws we have” to get them off the street.

The new designation directs prosecutors to pursue all legal avenues, including racketeering, gun and tax laws, to target the gang, said Sessions, a Republican former U.S. senator from Alabama.
Sessions designated the gang with Central American ties as a "priority" for the Department of Justice's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, which has historically focused on drug trafficking and money laundering. MS-13, or La Mara Salvatrucha, is generally known for extortion and violence rather than distributing and selling narcotics.
"They leave misery, devastation and death in their wake. They threaten entire governments. They must be and will be stopped," the attorney general said, while in Philadelphia.
The gang has become a prime target of President Trump's administration amid its broader crackdown on immigration.
Members of the gang are suspected of committing several high-profile killings in New York, Maryland and Virginia. The gang's violence drew the Republican president's attention after two teenage girls was beaten and hacked to death in a suspected gang attack on Long Island.
The girls were among 22 people believed to have been killed by the gang on Long Island since the start of 2016. Most of the people arrested in those killings were in the U.S. illegally, law enforcement officials have said.
After Trump took office, he directed federal law enforcement officials to focus resources on combating transnational gangs, including MS-13. But the new designation will allow officials to target MS-13 with a "renewed vigor and a sharpened focus," said Sessions, who flew to El Salvador in July, in part to learn more about how the gang's activities there affect crime in the U.S.
MS-13 originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s, then entrenched itself in Central America when its leaders were deported.
Making a street gang like MS-13 a priority marks a shift for the drug enforcement task force, said James Trusty, who headed the Department of Justice's organized crime and gang section before he left in January.
Some MS-13 cases have drug connections, but "you'd be hard-pressed to come up with evidence that MS-13 is part of a cartel," he said. "The most common aspect of MS-13 prosecutions has been murder and witness intimidation or retaliation, not drug trafficking."

Clinton Uranium One deal: FBI informant blocked by Obama-era AG can unlock key info, attorney says

An informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is under a gag order that prevents him from testifying before the United States Congress that Russian nuclear officials were involved in fraudulent dealings in 2009 before the Uranium One deal was approved.
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch blocked the informant from testifying last year and threatened criminal action against him if he were to do so.
In an interview with FOX Business’ Loud Dobbs, Victoria Toensing, the attorney representing the FBI informant, said she has never heard of a criminal penalty for breaching a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
“If it does and it is unconstitutional and it’s invalid, if it prohibits my client from giving information to the legislature, the executive cannot say to people, ‘Hey, you can’t give information to another body of the government,’” Toensing said.

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The former Reagan Justice Department official and former chief counsel of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the impact of her client’s knowledge of the Russians’ ability to use the Clintons’ position of power is significant.
“He can tell what all the Russians were talking about during the time that all these bribery payments were made,” Toensing said on “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
The House Oversight Committee is investigating the Obama-era Uranium One deal, and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) is calling for the Justice Department to remove the NDA that prevents the former FBI informant from testifying.
“We are glad Ron DeSantis is doing it because he is a former federal prosecutor, and he is a go-getter on this and I think he’ll do a great job,” Toensing said.