CNN Is Outraged that Oklahoma Wants Leftist Teachers to Pass PragerU’s Common Sense Assessment to Get a Job

From Breitbart.com

By  Alana Mastrangelo

Educators who have relocated to Oklahoma from radical leftist states must now pass an assessment designed by conservative organization PragerU to earn a certificate that allows them to teach in Oklahoma schools. The move is meant to ensure the state is successfully weeding out left-wing agendas in education. Unsurprisingly, CNN and leftists throughout the country are outraged at what they consider an “insult” to the teaching profession.

While CNN and Democrat leaders are freaking out over the notion that a conservative organization could have even the slightest influence over what happens in a school, the test developed by PragerU simply aims to ensure teachers are “not pushing a left-wing agenda on to our kids,” Oklahoma’s top education official said.

“Every teacher that teaches in the state of Oklahoma will have to have a certificate that goes through my office,” Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent for public instruction, told CNN.

Walters added that if educators fail the assessment, they will not earn a certificate that allows them to teach in public schools in the state this school year.

“We will not allow these leftists’ plans and schemes to take place here in Oklahoma,” he said. “They are trying to warp the minds of our kids to turn them into social justice warriors, instead of kids that are getting the most of their god given talents to go get a good job, to go live a fulfilling life.”

While Oklahoma is currently giving the test to educators who have to relocated to the state from California and New York, the assessment may expand to applicants from up to eight states in the future, Walters added.

In its report, CNN bizarrely referred to the PragerU assessment as “controversial,” suggesting this is because the popular conservative organization “has been embraced by the political right for offering curriculums that champion ideas aligned with the Make America Great Again movement.”

The outlet, however, then appeared to inadvertently counter its own assertion by citing some of the test questions it had obtained, revealing the assessment is not actually political in nature, but rooted in common sense and basic facts.

One question, for example, reportedly gives teachers a series of multiple-choice answers, asking them to select which chromosome pairs determine biological sex. Failing to correctly answer such a query would suggest an educator does not have a basic understanding of science.

Another question simply asks educators why freedom of religion is important to America’s identity. Other queries ask for the first three words of the Constitution, naming the two chambers of the U.S. Congress, and identifying the number of U.S. Senators.

Oklahoma Democrat Party Chairman John Waldron told CNN that teachers are not signing up to be educators because they “hate America,” and insisted that no such educators exist in schools.

If that is the case, then the teachers taking PragerU’s assessment should have no problem passing the test, given the sample questions CNN provided in its report.

Waldron further complained to the outlet by describing the PragerU assessment as a “loyalty test” from “an unaccredited agency,” adding that he feels it is “an insult” to the teaching profession.

But PragerU’s test was developed in partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Education, which shared the state’s required standards and certification tests with the conservative organization.

Walters told CNN that PragerU compared Oklahoma’s education standards against what is required for teachers in California and New York in order to create the assessment.

“You’re gonna teach that there’s biological differences between males and females, period,” Walters told the outlet. “You’re going to teach American history and use primary source documents, not pushing a left-wing agenda on to our kids.”

Oklahoma’s top superintendent added that California and New York have required teachers to “do things that are antithetical to our standards and values as a state.”

Therefore, educators passing the assessment developed by PragerU will help to ensure that “these teachers agree to teach what is required in the state of Oklahoma,” Walters said.

Notably, CNN also claimed in its report that PragerU “is not an accredited university or education institution.”

Institutions deemed to be “accredited universities,” however, have fallen out of favor with a growing number of Americans, who are increasingly saying they have little or no confidence in higher education.

A Gallup poll conducted last year revealed U.S. adults who say they have “great deal or quite a lot of confidence” in higher education plummeted by 21 percentage points since 2015, while those who have “little or no confidence” in accredited institutions skyrocketed by 22 percentage points.

“Oklahoma’s partnership with PragerU is a clear sign of the influence the company has gained in the U.S. education system amid the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape U.S. education,” CNN reported.

What is omitted in the report, however, is a reminder that President Donald Trump won the 2024 election in a landslide victory that involved securing not only the Electoral College, but the popular vote and every swing state in the nation as well.

The results were seen by many as not only President Trump receiving a clear mandate to enact his agenda — but also served as a stark indication that the majority of Americans across the country are vying to see the woke era finally come to an end.

As Breitbart News reported, PragerU’s educational material have already been approved for use as curriculum offered to public school teachers in nine other states in addition to Oklahoma, causing leftists to collectively have a meltdown every time another state announces it will begin providing the organization’s resources, that celebrate the rich history and values of the United States, in schools.

AMEN! I PRAY THAT THIS SPREADS FAR & WIDE!

Explosion on Cargo Ship Near Baltimore’s Key Bridge Prompts U.S. Coast Guard Response

From cbsnews.com

An explosion was reported aboard a cargo ship in Baltimore’s harbor, near the site of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Monday. No injuries were reported.

The vessel, W-Sapphire, a 751-foot bulk carrier registered in Liberia, had 23 crewmembers and two pilots on board. It was hauling coal and leaving the harbor when it experienced what appeared to be a fire and explosion, according to the Baltimore City Fire Department.

Coast Guard responds to explosion

A 2,000-yard safety zone around the site of the explosion has been set up, spanning from the Key Bridge to Brewerton Angle Channel LB “14,” according to the Coast Guard.

“The U.S. Coast Guard and partners are responding to reports of an explosion aboard the merchant vessel W-Sapphire while it was outbound from Baltimore Harbor, Monday,” the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

As of Tuesday morning, the Fort McHenry Federal Channel is closed, according to Port of Baltimore officials. 

Port officials said the Coast Guard will “determine when the channel can safely reopen, as well as the timing of vessels arrivals and departures.”

Cargo ship assisted back to port after explosion

The vessel remained afloat after the explosion. The fire has been contained, and the ship is being removed from the channel with the help of tugboats, according to Baltimore Fire officials.

A source familiar with the situation said the cargo ship “Sapphire,” from Liberia, is on its way back to port to anchor under its own power.

The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed assets and is working with partners Baltimore City police and fire department.

The cause of the explosion is currently unknown.

Father and son witness explosion

Jay Steinmetz and his son, Sam, were sailing in the Patapsco River on Monday when they heard a loud sound before they were hit by a plume of smoke.

They said the explosion happened in the area where the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in March 2024.

“We were out sailing and we heard a really loud explosion,” said Jay Steinmitz. “We turned around, and there was a 200-foot plume of smoke. We are like, ‘Holy crap.’ Within two or five minutes, we hear, ‘Mayday, mayday.'”

The father and son initially thought that work was being done on the remaining portions of the Key Bridge, which started in July.

“We thought it was them doing demolition on the Key Bridge,” said Sam Steinmetz. “We had just passed under the bridge, and the Sapphire ship had passed right by us. It was right next to the bridge, where it happened.”

The Steinmetzes said their first thoughts were to step in and help, but they were in a sailboat, and they saw other vessels race toward the cargo ship.

“You are not sure how many people are on that boat entirely, but it was a big explosion and there was a huge cloud of smoke,” Sam Steinmetz said.

Key Bridge demolition

In July, crews started demolition work on the remaining portions of the Key Bridge that were still standing from the collapse after it was struck by a cargo ship.

The Key Bridge’s replacement process is expected to be completed in 2028.

When touring the progress last month, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore emphasized that the extraordinary work is moving along at a quick pace and said funding is secure for the Key Bridge rebuild.

“This is a team that has now gotten the permitting done in a matter of months, that’s been able to keep us on track to deliver something that’s going to be powerful,” Moore said.

The demolition efforts are expected to take at least nine months with the use of heavy machinery, the state warned.

Crews have been removing slabs of concrete piece by piece, six feet at a time, on the remaining structure.

“They have equipment up there that will essentially peel those slabs off. They set them on a loader that then brings them down,” said Brian Wolfe, the Director of Project Development at the Maryland Transportation Authority.

What will the new Key Bridge look like?

The new, taller, and wider bridge is not in the same spot. It is parallel and several hundred feet to the east, allowing construction to begin at the same time as removal.

“We can actually start rebuilding before the demolition is done,” Wolfe said.

The bridge will be built to current federal interstate standards, and although it will be two lanes in each direction, like the old bridge, it will include wide shoulders that the collapsed bridge lacked.

According to the MDTA, other bridge features include: 

  • Two 12-foot lanes in each direction, 10-foot-wide outside shoulders and 4-foot-wide inside shoulders per direction of travel
  • Total Bridge length more than 2 miles
  • Two bridge towers more than 600 feet tall
  • Distance between main span pylons exceeding 1,600 feet
  • Total length of cable-stayed main span exceeding 3,300 feet
  • Expected life span of 100 years

“Our new bridge will also be constructed in accordance with the most advanced industry standards and the very best in infrastructure design,” Gov. Moore said. “We are going to use the best materials available and employ many Marylanders to build it.”

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Something smells fishy to me……..