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Why was a major candidate for the presidency just asked about a lesson set to be taught to middle school students in Florida social studies classes? Governor Ron DeSantis found himself answering yet more questions about his state’s new conservative-friendly social studies curriculum at a press event in Utah over the weekend as the Republican sees continued signs that his record on racial and social issues in the Sunshine State will be an issue in the upcoming GOP primary debates and, potentially, the 2024 general election. Mr DeSantis’s campaign held a summit with donors in Utah this past weekend where top advisers pledged a reboot to the Florida governor’s stagnating presidential bid including cutbacks to pricy expenditures including private events that have not helped his standings in the polls improve. The candidate himself held a press conference on Friday, where the question about Florida schools was directed to him. The Florida Department of Education’s social studies standards for the 2023-2024 school year, released this month, provide lesson topics for middle school teachers including a “benchmark clarification” which instructs educators to teach students that “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit”. It isn’t clear what “their personal benefit” would be in this scenario. The line is included as part of a broader lesson entitled: “Examine the various duties and trades performed by slaves (e.g., agricultural work, painting, carpentry, tailoring, domestic service, blacksmithing, transportation).” Mr DeSantis has come under fire for the curriculum changes, from both Democrats and Republicans alike. Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris railed against Mr DeSantis without naming the Florida governor. “There is a national agenda afoot. Extremist so-called leaders for months have dared to ban books. … Extremists here in Florida, passing a law ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ trying to instill fear in our teachers … And now, on top of that, they want to replace history with lies.” And former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie, who is seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, also called out the governor for what he claimed was a lack of leadership. While the change to the curriculum itself is subtle — a single sentence added to a much larger document — the news of its insertion played into a larger narrative of Florida’s right-wing shift under the DeSantis administration. Florida schools, in particular, are the biggest battleground for this war, where liberal groups and nonpartisan experts alike warn that students are increasingly the recipients of a whitewashed educational environment devoid of anything that conservatives find unseemly or uncomfortable, such as discussions of the sins of slavery, representation of LGBT+ persons in the classroom or teaching materials, and other narratives that brush up against conservative belief systems. The changes to Florida schools had already earned the state the condemnation of the NAACP and other civil rights groups, something that has enraged conservatives and drawn the state into an ugly national fight against any group or organisation that the governor perceives to have a liberal agenda, including the Disney corporation. Now, he is officially a candidate for president and facing the reality that his loyally conservative record in Florida has failed to allow him to make serious inroads against Donald Trump and his support base, while he remains engaged in fighting off competitive rivals like Vivek Ramaswamy and others in the crowded Republican primary contest. It remains to be seen whether his campaign reset (which continued this week with layoffs of roughly a third of his staff) will be a necessary fat-trimming measure or the sign of his campaign’s early demise; what is certain is that the issue of the quality of education in Florida’s schools is not going away, at least any time soon. Read More Four cars in Ron DeSantis motorcade crash into each other on way to Tennessee fundraisers Biden laughs off impeachment threat after McCarthy teases inquiry Trump goes on late-night Truth Social rampage against ‘loser’ and ‘lowlife’ Mitt Romney Ron DeSantis: The new Jeb Bush Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his presidency? DeSantis campaign fires aide behind neo-Nazi meme video

The buzzing mattresses used to be a staple of seedy motels everywhere. Then they disappeared.

By Douglas Gillison (Reuters) -Wall Street's top regulator on Wednesday adopted new rules requiring publicly traded companies to disclose hacking

Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud unit, determined to take on Microsoft and Google in the burgeoning market for generative artificial

A group of major automakers on Wednesday said they were forming a new company to provide electric vehicle

Wall Street’s main regulator is unveiling proposed restrictions for brokerages and money managers that use artificial intelligence to

The Loch Ness Monster has left people scratching their heads for years, with many claiming they spotted the beast itself. Now, it's got its own "eel hypothesis," a paper dedicated to the theory that such sightings could have been eels. Researchers looked at data from Loch Ness to understand the number of eels there and their average measurements, as per IFL Science. They discovered that the eels were on the smaller side, compared to the estimates of the Loch Ness Monster, said to be roughly 1-2 metres according to one sighting. Another suggested it could be 15-20 metres. "However, this is not quite the ‘monster postulated," the authors told the outlet."Indeed, the probability of finding a 6-meter [20-foot] eel in Loch Ness is essentially zero – too low for the software used to provide a reliable estimate." "Thus, while large eels may account for some eyewitness sightings of large, animate objects rising to the loch surface, they are unlikely to account for 'sightings' of extraordinarily large animals, which may instead be accounted for by wave phenomena, the occasional stray mammal, or other reasons." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It comes after several sightings last year were shot down by an academic who said they were simply whale penises. Michael Sweet, a professor in molecular ecology at the University of Derby, candidly, and informatively, added: "Whales often mate in groups so while one male is busy with the female the other male just pops his d*** out of the water while swimming around waiting his turn. "Everyone’s gotta have a bit of fun, right?" Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 26, 2023--

Fortnite update v25.20 features three new Reality Augments, including Pistol Recycle, Scoped Salvo, and Desperate Reload, to Fortnite WILDS.

When you think of Apple, it's likely that what first springs to mind is a conveyer belt of revolutionary tech rather than a pair of sneakers.

Futurama x Fortnite Bender, Fry, and Leela skins, along with matching cosmetics, are now available to purchase for 2,800 V-Bucks in the Item Shop.

Amazon.com’s cloud division has drawn thousands of customers to try out its service vying with Microsoft and Google