As well as above the fold on the front page.
When ESPN canceled its new program with Barstool Sports this fall after just one episode, the network tried to distance itself from the men’s blog that has stoked criticism for everything from calling Rihanna fat to saying girls wearing skinny jeans deserve to be raped, but a controversy about the treatment of women was already brewing inside the network.
The Bristol, Conn., juggernaut was under scrutiny for a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint filed this summer with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
And ESPN’s willingness to partner with Barstool emboldened others to speak out about the entrenched locker room culture, where men have made unwanted sexual propositions to female colleagues, given unsolicited shoulder rubs, and openly rated women on their looks, and, in at least one case, sent shirtless selfies, according to interviews with roughly two dozen current and former employees.
Remember when Bush creeped out Merkel and Biden putting his hands on Ash Carter's wife?
Some women said that the environment at ESPN can be so hostile — and plum positions for female sports journalists so precarious — that they hid pregnancies and felt pressured to take short maternity leaves in order to protect their positions. One anchor even did her scheduled broadcast while she was having a miscarriage to prove her commitment to her job, according to former employees.
Another woman, one of the few solo female anchors on SportsCenter, said she was told her show was moving in another direction and she’d no longer have a job on it weeks before she went on maternity leave last year. She is one of several who said they were given less desirable positions or laid off before, during, or after maternity leave.
I'm trying to think who they could be.
ESPN said the company has had several rounds of layoffs, including more than 100 this year, and blamed changes in strategy — not hostility toward women — for job losses. The company would not provide a gender breakdown of the layoffs, but it said women were not disproportionately targeted, but some current and former employees say the problems for women run deep.
“ESPN has failed to address its deeply ingrained culture of sexism and hostile treatment of women,” said Adrienne Lawrence, who filed the complaint this summer against ESPN. Lawrence had worked as a lawyer before she joined ESPN in 2015 as part of a fellowship designed to increase racial diversity at the sports network.
ESPN is one of the most coveted places for sports journalists, and its sheer size gives more opportunities to women than many other outlets. But over the years, the company has been plagued by sexual misconduct scandals that have resulted in several lawsuits and filled the pages of at least two books, “ESPN: The Uncensored History,” and “Those Guys Have All the Fun.” Many employees have said the isolated location in Bristol only exacerbates problems in a male-dominated workplace.
ESPN said that the company takes sexual harassment seriously. Just this week, ESPN suspended Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis, former NFL players who host shows on ESPN Radio, after they were named in a lawsuit claiming they sexually harassed an employee at the NFL Network.
See: Lawsuit alleges groping by NFL Network executive, ex-players
That gives me pause to mention that the domestic violence issue has taken a backseat to groping, etc. Looks to me like you ladies are being used. That's not to say the issue is not important; however, the flood of pre$$ is suspicious in and of itself. A larger agenda and ulterior motive is suspected.
“We work hard to maintain a respectful and inclusive culture at ESPN,” said Katina Arnold, an ESPN spokeswoman. “It is always a work in progress, but we’re proud of the significant progress we’ve made in developing and placing women in key roles at the company in the boardroom, in leadership positions throughout ESPN, and on air.”
That's the standard media response.
ESPN said that it has made great strides in creating opportunities for women in recent years, including hiring the first female studio host of NFL Countdown, the first female Major League Baseball analyst, and the first woman to lead ESPN The Magazine.
ESPN has tried to jettison its frat-boy reputation with new training and policies, including requiring employees to disclose personal relationships with each other to the company. ESPN says there are postings throughout the building advising employees of their rights and of the means for reporting complaints, but charges of insensitivity to women surfaced again last year when broadcaster Erin Andrews testified that ESPN would not let her return to work until she did an interview in 2009 about a stalker who leaked videos of her undressing at a hotel during a work trip in order to prove that she didn’t release the materials herself. Andrews, who left ESPN for Fox Sports in 2012, testified that she was crying while she waited to do an interview with Oprah.
I've never seen the tape and couldn't care less.
Many people who described concerns with the atmosphere at ESPN declined to speak on the record because they feared losing their jobs or being blackballed from other sports outlets who do business with ESPN. Some were reluctant to identify the alleged harassers because they worried it would out their own identities and subject them to retaliation, but others are speaking openly. In her complaint, Adrienne Lawrence describes a toxic environment at ESPN headquarters where men make unwanted sexual and romantic advances under the guise of networking or mentoring, and “mark” women as their own by spreading false rumors about sexual relationships with female employees.
I may have to stop watching, but not today. I'll need to see if they do any reporting on themselves like the Globe did before burying it.
Lawrence accused John Buccigross, a longtime SportsCenter anchor whom she viewed as a mentor, of sending unsolicited shirtless photographs of himself and calling her “dollface,” “#dreamgirl,” and “#longlegs” in messages from 2016 reviewed by the Globe. Lawrence said she tried to remain cordial in the messages but at one point responded: “You need to wear clothes, sir.”
Nooooooooooooooo!
When rumors spread that the two were in a relationship, Lawrence repeatedly complained to company officials and was advised by a supervisor to drop the matter, according to the complaint.
Lawrence said ESPN retaliated against her by reducing her on-air shifts and ultimately denying her a permanent position. The other fellow, a male, received a job offer. The Globe interviewed three former employees whom Lawrence had confided in at the time about her treatment and confirmed her account.
Buccigross, roughly two decades older than Lawrence, acknowledged sending the photos but denied starting any rumors that the two were in a relationship.
“I considered Adrienne to be a friend,” Buccigross said in a statement to the Globe. “I’m sorry if anything I did or said offended Adrienne. It certainly wasn’t my intent.”
Buccigross noted that after he sent the first shirtless picture, Lawrence texted about the possibility of getting together that weekend. Buccigross said they texted frequently over a couple of months and talked about personal issues as well as advice on improving her on-air delivery.
ESPN said it conducted a “thorough investigation” and found Lawrence’s claims to be “entirely without merit.” Lawrence was never guaranteed a permanent position, ESPN said, and it notified her at the same time that other employees were told that their contracts would not be renewed.
Earlier this month, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities released Lawrence’s complaint at her request so she could sue in federal court rather than wait for the agency to make a ruling.
When Lawrence filed her complaint in August, ESPN was just weeks away from unveiling its new partnership with Barstool — a collaboration that some employees cautioned ESPN against. The site, founded in Milton, had made vulgar statements about ESPN journalists, including anchor Sam Ponder, host of Sunday NFL Countdown. In 2014, she was the target of a profane rant by Barstool’s founder Dave Portnoy that made derogatory comments about her child and her life as a working mother.
“No person who watches Game Day wants to see a picture of her and her ugly kid. Nobody cares, Sam Ponder,” Portnoy said. “We want to see you sex it up and be slutty . . .”
Ponder and other employees denounced the partnership on social media, and the show was canceled after one episode.
He claims it was a hatchet job.
The Barstool partnership also drew fire from Jenn Sterger, a writer and actress, who felt she had been sexually harassed at ESPN when she tried out for an on-air position in 2006.
During her months-long audition, Sterger said an executive showed her a copy of a Playboy magazine that she had modeled for and then she was taken to a strip club by Matthew Berry, who was interviewing as a contributor for The Fantasy Show.
The strip club outing was not a formal ESPN activity, but it followed a dinner with company employees and involved several male job candidates. Sterger said she initially did not realize where they were going and she was teased about being uncomfortable once there.
Sterger and Berry say they were both admonished for the strip club outing, but Sterger did not get a job at ESPN while Berry did. ESPN said it chose another woman who had more experience, though an e-mail from the network at the time also said Sterger could have improved her chances by showing “more professional behavior.” Berry is now ESPN’s senior fantasy analyst and one of the most influential personalities in fantasy sports.
I will never see these people the same again.
Today, Berry said visiting the strip club “was not a smart decision and I regret going.” He described a photo from that work trip in which he is pointing at Sterger’s breasts as “personally embarrassing and I did not mean any offense.”
He did an Al Franken!!
Sterger said she had another uncomfortable encounter with Berry two years later, claiming that Berry made sexual comments when she visited ESPN to talk about a potential job opportunity — an accusation that Berry denies. When asked whether he had ever been suspended or disciplined for inappropriate behavior, Berry said, “I was talked to once about an alleged issue in 2007, which was ultimately resolved.”
Sterger said women in sports journalism face a particularly difficult environment because they are subjected to unwanted sexual advances not just from colleagues, but from the athletes they cover. In 2010, Sterger found herself at the center of controversy after Deadspin published lewd e-mails, voice-mails, and pictures that Brett Favre had allegedly sent to her when he was the Jets’ quarterback and she was working as a sideline reporter for the team.
“Sexual harassment for women in sports journalism is a huge problem,” Sterger said, “but it’s one we have been taught from day one comes with the territory.”
Sterger said she decided to speak out about her experiences at ESPN when the Barstool fiasco surfaced because “it just struck me as hypocritical. The very behavior that they say they are against is happening in their own company.”
The same could be said of the Bo$ton Globe, for it was gone the next morning to be seen nevermore.
Current and former employees say the network still faces problems when it comes to older men preying on younger women, particularly production assistants just out of college.
“It’s like cutting your arm in an ocean full of sharks,” said one current employee, who said she has received unwanted physical contact from one colleague and listened to another rate women on a score of one to ten. “The second new blood is in the water, they start circling.”
They don't call it the dating pool for nothing.
A current employee said a male coworker accompanied her to the cafeteria to protect her from an older male colleague who had made unwanted advances, including an attempted kiss. One former employee said that she faced sexual harassment from at least four men and that complaints to human resources went nowhere, but Sarah Spain, a radio host and a columnist for espnW who works out of Chicago, said she has not personally experienced sexual harassment by colleagues at ESPN. And Spain said she felt comfortable sharing concerns with her bosses at espnW — a brand marketed to women — about a male anchor who was cracking jokes at the expense of female athletes.
Spain last year appeared in a video “More than Mean” that went viral and featured men reading harassing and threatening tweets that Spain and another female journalist had received. The day after the video aired, ESPN’s president John Skipper reached out to Spain and they worked together to try and address concerns about the trolls on Twitter.
Spain declined to comment on the company’s short-lived Barstool Sports partnership, but said, “ESPN is very conscious of being a place that women want to work for,” but some current and former employees describe a highly competitive environment where female anchors feel disposable and where their dedication is sometimes challenged by male superiors. That’s what colleagues say happened to Sara Walsh, the anchor who had the on-air miscarriage.
Shortly after Mike McQuade took over as vice president of SportsCenter in 2014, he questioned Walsh’s commitment because she also worked for The Fantasy Show during the football season. Walsh, who had recently signed a multi-year contract and helped host an opening for ESPN’s new digital center, was shocked that her new boss was raising concerns, according to three former employees briefed on the matter at the time.
Walsh was so worried about her job that she decided not to call in sick when she started bleeding from a miscarriage during a work trip to Alabama. Instead, she went to the studio and anchored the show. She described the on-air miscarriage in an Instagram post on Mother’s Day this past year, but Walsh told the Globe she could not comment because she is still under contract.
I had no idea and I can't even imagine. Oh my God.
Former employees said that Walsh was upset that McQuade did not respond to an e-mail she wrote from the hospital about the miscarriage, and she was soon sent back to the same Alabama set where she had miscarried.
McQuade acknowledged that he “likely” discussed with Walsh her work on the Fantasy Show but said it “should not have given Sara any concern about her job.” McQuade said if he failed to respond to Walsh’s e-mail about the miscarriage, “it was certainly not done with malicious intent.”
After Walsh raised concerns about her treatment, she was told the matter had been investigated and was handled properly even though she was never interviewed, according to the former employees. Shortly after, Walsh was assigned to fewer shows, a move that she viewed as retaliation for speaking up, according to the employees.
Walsh eventually conceived again and talked to human resources before she went on maternity leave to get assurances her position was safe, but days before she planned to return from maternity leave this past April, ESPN notified her that she was part of the layoffs.
Oh, that's what happened to her!
McQuade denied any retaliation and said he was not involved in determining who was let go during layoffs.
Walsh’s experience was not isolated, according to other women at ESPN. Anchor Jade McCarthy said she lost on-air opportunities after getting pregnant. McCarthy said she was moved off weekend SportsCenter shows when she returned from her first pregnancy at ESPN and was laid off this past April when she was nearly eight months pregnant. Lindsay Czarniak — one of the few female solo SportsCenter anchors in 2016 — said she chose to walk away after the company offered her a different job at a significant pay cut when she returned from maternity leave this year.
Yeah, and they replaced her with the bile-spewing hatred of Mike and Jemele. No wonder their ratings are sagging.
In 2005, an employee sued ESPN, claiming she was terminated because she was pregnant. The case was later settled.
ESPN said it would not comment on employees who were laid off or had their contract offers reduced or contracts not renewed.
“There were more than 100 on-air talent and journalists who were impacted in 2017 as part of the company’s revised content strategy,” said Arnold, ESPN’s spokeswoman. “These decisions were not based on sex, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic.”
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Her race had never occurred to me.
I hate to say I told you so, but who didn't see this coming?
Related: ESPN ramps up its game for Patriots-Steelers
Don't worry, it won't spoil the game and please don't hold my hand on the way in.
(FLIP)
"Disney Makes $52.4b deal for 21st Century Fox in big bet on video streaming" by Brooks Barnes New York Times December 15, 2017
LOS ANGELES — Walt Disney Co. said Thursday that it had reached a deal to buy most of the assets of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., the conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, in an all-stock transaction valued at roughly $52.4 billion.
While the agreement is subject to the approval of antitrust regulators — and the Justice Department recently moved to block a big media company, AT&T, from becoming even bigger — the once unthinkable acquisition promises to reshape Hollywood and Silicon Valley. It is the biggest counterattack from a traditional media company against the tech giants that have aggressively moved into the entertainment business.
Disney now has enough muscle to become a true competitor to Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook in the fast-growing realm of online video.
At the same time, the agreement means that one of moviedom’s most celebrated studios, 21st Century Fox, will be downsized, with some operations folded into Walt Disney Studios or refocused to make films designed for online distribution. Founded in 1935, the Fox studio championed Marilyn Monroe, produced classics like “The Sound of Music,” released the first “Star Wars” movie and, more recently, turned “Avatar” into the biggest ticket-seller of all time, but lately, like most of Hollywood, 21st Century Fox has struggled to keep pace with the changing way younger audiences view content — namely on an Internet-connected device.
Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement, “We’re honored and grateful that Rupert Murdoch has entrusted us with the future of businesses he spent a lifetime building.”
Disney is a fine one to talk!
Not included in the acquisition: Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, and the FS1 sports cable channel. Murdoch said he would spin those businesses and a handful of other properties into a newly listed company.
Speaking of Fox, wasn't it Ailes and O'Reilly that got this ball rolling?
“I know a lot of people are wondering, ‘Why did the Murdochs come to such a momentous decision?’” Murdoch said on a conference call with investors. “Are we retreating? Absolutely not. We are pivoting at a pivotal moment.”
But not because of sexual harassment.
Murdoch’s eldest son, Lachlan, 21st Century Fox’s executive chairman, added that the move was “about returning to our roots as a lean, aggressive challenger brand” that would be “focused at the beginning on must-watch news and live sports.”
Disney owns ABC and ESPN.
Uh-oh.
Most of Disney’s profit still comes from the United States, where ESPN dominates, despite recent struggles, and annual attendance at Walt Disney World in Florida and the Disneyland Resort in California totals 162 million people.....
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So what gift do you give the girl in the office, or do you just stay in neutral (I'm told consumers' daily Internet experience will not change, they will just pay more)?
*******
"A prominent neurologist, already charged with groping patients at a Philadelphia clinic, is facing a growing number of accusations that he preyed on especially vulnerable pain patients at medical facilities in three states. Dr. Ricardo Cruciani is accused of using his impressive reputation as a healer to trap women in long-term doctor-patient relationships marked by abuse. At least 17 women in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey have stepped forward to accuse Cruciani of sexual misconduct that goes back at least a dozen years, either reporting him to police or retaining an attorney to pursue civil claims, according to an Associated Press review of documents and interviews with the lawyer and three of the accusers. In other developments....."
Guilty.
"A retired Indianapolis fertility doctor accused of inseminating patients with his own sperm will serve no jail time after pleading guilty Thursday to charges that he lied to investigators. A Marion County judge gave Dr. Donald Cline a one-year suspended sentence but ruled his actions justified him having a felony criminal record. The 79-year-old doctor had pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice and faced up to three years in prison on each charge. Some of the now-adult children of Cline’s former patients filed a complaint with the Indiana attorney general’s office in 2014 after they became suspicious that Cline had inseminated some of his patients with his own sperm. Paternity tests indicate Cline is likely the biological father of at least two of his patients’ children, according to court records. Those children allege that online genetic tests show he may be the father of 20 others....."
Think of it as an immaculate conception, and half of them have already booked appearances on Maury.
"Two couples that gave birth to children with a genetic defect later traced to donated eggs won a lawsuit against a New York fertility doctor and his clinic in the state’s highest court Thursday. The two children, both born in 2009, have Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that can lead to intellectual and developmental impairments. The parents, identified by initials and last names in legal papers, were told the egg donors were screened for genetic conditions. The parents are seeking legal damages for the added expenses of raising a disabled child. The case hinged on the state’s statute of limitations, which bars lawsuits filed more than two-and-a-half years after the alleged act of malpractice — or the patient’s last treatment by the physician....."
They had the wombs implanted?
"A federal grand jury in Oklahoma has indicted a 63-year-old man accused of kidnapping his stepdaughter and holding her captive for 19 years in Mexico and elsewhere while fathering her nine children. Henri Michelle Piette is accused of kidnapping Rosalynn Michelle McGinnis in 1995 or 1996 and traveling with the intent to have sex with her, according to an indictment a grand jury in Muskogee, Okla., handed up Wednesday. FBI agent Adam Reynolds wrote in an affidavit in the federal case that Piette first had sex with McGinnis when she was 11 or 12 in the back room of a residence in the eastern Oklahoma city of Wagoner, where she shared a bunk bed with another female....."
Cut it out.
"Republicans Hunt for Ways to Pay for Tax Cuts" by Alan Rappeport December 15, 2017
WASHINGTON — House and Senate Republicans faced a new round of uncertainty Thursday about the fate of their $1.5 trillion tax bill with the possible defection of a Republican senator, Marco Rubio of Florida, amid continuing questions about how the bill will be paid for and how much of the benefits will flow to low- and middle-income people and how much to corporations.
Republicans, who reached agreement Wednesday on a merged version of the House and Senate tax plans, expect to unveil the final bill Friday and vote on the legislation early next week so that it can be sent to President Trump before Christmas, but those plans were thrown into some disarray Thursday when Rubio said that he would vote no on the bill unless it included a more generous version of the child tax credit, which he and another Republican senator, Mike Lee of Utah, have been pushing for to benefit lower-income individuals.
In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Rubio needled Republican leadership, saying “Tax negotiators didn’t have much trouble finding a way to lower” the top tax bracket and to have the corporate tax cut take effect a year early.
Republican negotiators responsible for merging the two bills have made a host of changes to assuage the concerns of businesses and some fellow lawmakers, but on Thursday, Republicans were running out of time to make changes and showed little patience for acceding to new demands. Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, cast doubt on further altering the child tax credit.
“We’re at 11:59 on the clock and really the pens ought to be down,” he said on CNN.
So they are voting on it in the dead of night again?
Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican and member of the House-Senate committee that negotiated the final tax bill, said the Senate had already battled the House to preserve the Senate’s more generous version of the child tax credit, which doubled to $2,000, with $1,100 of that amount refundable and able to be claimed by families who face no federal income tax liability.
“We’ve already won,” Portman said. “We should take our victory.”
At the White House, Trump predicted that Rubio would “be there” on the tax bill, and the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, pledged to keep working with the senator “until we get the job done,” but she, too, highlighted the expansion of the child tax credit that had already been passed in the Senate’s tax bill, even if it fell short of what Rubio wanted to see in the final version.
The last-minute demand by Rubio demonstrates the leverage individual Republican senators have in the final moments of the tax debate.....
Don't worry, the children will be taken care of, and MIT will make sure they are fed.
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A Democrat immediately took issue with the decision to cut taxes, and the afternoon slide came on news that some Republican senators’ support for the GOP’s proposed tax overhaul bill was faltering.
"Wife to run for seat of Kentucky lawmaker who killed self" by Adam Beam Associated Press December 15, 2017
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The wife of a Kentucky lawmaker who killed himself after a sexual assault allegation surfaced this week defended her husband Thursday and said she will run for his seat because ‘‘these high-tech lynchings based on lies and half-truths can’t be allowed to win the day.’’
In a statement a day after Dan Johnson’s suicide, Rebecca Johnson said she has been fighting behind her husband for 30 years and ‘‘his fight will go on.’’
‘‘Dan is gone but the story of his life is far from over,’’ she said.
Johnson shot himself Wednesday night near a road in a secluded area. Two days earlier, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting published a story detailing allegations that he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl in his basement in 2013. The story prompted state leaders of both major political parties to call for his resignation, and authorities reopened the investigation that had been closed without charges.
Johnson, who pastors a church in Louisville, held a news conference from his pulpit on Tuesday, defiantly denying the allegations. Rebecca Johnson was by her husband’s side during that news conference, which the pastor began by leading friends and family in singing a portion of the Christmas carol ‘‘O Come All Ye Faithful.’’
The 57-year-old said the allegations against him were ‘‘totally false’’ and part of a nationwide strategy of defeating conservative Republicans. He referenced Republican Alabama US Senate candidate Roy Moore, who faces accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women.
David Adams, a political operative who worked with Dan Johnson, said Rebecca Johnson was unavailable for a phone interview because she was at a funeral home.
Earlier Thursday, a sheriff said an ominous Facebook post that Dan Johnson made Wednesday night is part of what prompted his family to report him missing.
In the post, he asked for people to take care of his wife and wrote that post-traumatic stress disorder ‘‘is a sickness that will take my life, I cannot handle it any longer. It has won this life, BUT HEAVEN IS MY HOME.’’
The post appears to have been removed.
The accusations came amid a sexual harassment scandal involving other Republican lawmakers at the state Capitol. Nationwide, a growing number of celebrities, politicians, and businessmen have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent months, leading many to lose their jobs or resign.
Bullitt County Coroner Dave Billings said Johnson died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Police recovered a .40-caliber pistol next to Johnson’s body.
Johnson was elected to the state legislature in 2016, part of a wave of Republican victories that gave the GOP control of the Kentucky House of Representatives for the first time in nearly 100 years. He won his election despite Republican leaders urging him to drop out of the race after local media reported on some of his Facebook posts comparing Barack and Michelle Obama to monkeys.
The pastor of Heart of Fire church in Louisville, Johnson sponsored a number of bills having to do with religious liberty and teaching the Bible in public schools, but he was mostly out of the spotlight until the investigative story broke.
Michael Skoler, president of Louisville Public Media, which owns the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, said everyone at the organization is ‘‘deeply sad.’’
‘‘Our aim, as always, is to provide the public with fact-based, unbiased reporting and hold public officials accountable for their actions,’’ Skoler said. ‘‘As part of our process, we reached out to Rep. Johnson numerous times over the course of a seven-month investigation. He declined requests to talk about our findings.’’
That's all fine, but have you investigating your own newsroom for it?
In the Kentucky statehouse scandal, former Republican Kentucky House Speaker Jeff Hoover resigned his leadership position after acknowledging he secretly settled a sexual harassment claim with a member of his staff. Three other lawmakers were involved in the settlement, and all lost their committee chairmanships.
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Related: Less is Moore
"Young Democrats were also more engaged politically than at the same time during the 2014 midterm cycle, the institute said in a statement, according to a recently released poll conducted by Harvard’s Institute of Politics. John Della Volpe, the institute’s polling director, tweeted Tuesday night that the Alabama Senate race showed younger voters should not be ignored. Younger voters helped propel a Democrat to victory....."
Brother, where art thou?
Hot fire below.
Farenthold, Texas Congressman Accused of Sexual Harassment, Will Not Run Again
"Over the past decade, the Interior Department has primarily been dogged by reports of harassment and intimidation within the National Park Service. A department survey conducted earlier this year also demonstrated the lack of consequences when allegations of harassment or intimidation were reported to managers within the Interior Department. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in an interview, adding that he had personally fired four people over accusations of harassment. “Harassment — intimidation — is a cancer that can destroy even the best organizations.”
That would be Obama's negligence, 'er, watch, and it reminds me that there is nothing about Trump today.
"The slow pace of restoring electricity following Hurricane Maria has become a symbol of the US government’s uneven response. Just 61 percent of electricity had been restored as of Wednesday, according to data on a website run by the island’s government. The Army Corps is a key part of a task force of US government and outside groups working with Puerto Rico’s government to restore power on the island....."
Like sands through the hourglass.....
Maura Healey sues Betsy DeVos, again
What hope do you women have if you are just going to fight with one another?
Fenway Health Center directors ‘eager for change’
After being reluctant to kick people out and say no more.
Boston tech chief to step down
What took so long?
Survey finds 42 percent of women report discrimination at work
State Police officials who retired amid scandal collected big payouts
The judge's daughter was harassed?
Tom Brady’s lifestyle brand is now an app
Red Sox spreading holiday cheer
Spurlock on sexual harassment: ‘I am part of the problem’
Said it with a Smiley:
"PBS said it was suspending Tavis Smiley following an independent investigation by a law firm found "troubling allegations" of sexual misconduct by the radio and TV host. PBS said the firm uncovered "multiple, credible allegations of conduct that is inconsistent with the values and standards of PBS." His show's page at PBS was scrubbed on Thursday. Smiley responded to the allegations on Facebook, saying PBS "overreacted" and calling it "a rush to judgment." He said he has never harassed anyone and claimed one relationship the network uncovered was consensual. "If having a consensual relationship with a colleague years ago is the stuff that leads to this kind of public humiliation and personal destruction, heaven help us," he said. "This has gone too far. And, I, for one, intend to fight back." PBS responded to Smiley's accusations by saying it stands by the integrity of the investigation. "The totality of the investigation, which included Mr. Smiley, revealed a pattern of multiple relationships with subordinates over many years," a PBS spokesperson said. The ouster comes weeks after PBS cut ties with anchor and talk show host Charlie Rose, citing "extremely disturbing and intolerable behavior" by him toward women at his PBS talk show. The dismissals of Smiley and Rose at PBS follow dozens of firings and suspensions of prominent men who have been accused of sexual misconduct or harassment. The wave began this fall with allegations lodged against Harvey Weinstein and has impacted numerous high-profile TV and media figures, with Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor, journalist Mark Halperin, NPR news chief Michael Oreskes, reporter Glenn Thrush and New Republic editor Leon Wieseltier all felled, among others....."
At least there is new management at the Times.
Three women say that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them
There’s now a searchable database of accused Hollywood predators
Perhaps you would like to take a brief look at the blotter.
*********
How is this for female activism?
Supporters attended a Hamas rally to mark the group's 30th anniversary, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip on Thursday, and many waved the movement’s green flag (Mohammed Saber/EPA/Shutterstock).
Didn't think so.
"Hamas marks 30th anniversary at low point of Gaza rule" by Fares Akram Associated Press December 14, 2017
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Hamas marked the 30th anniversary of its founding with a mass rally of many thousands of supporters Thursday, staging a show of strength at a low point in the Islamic militant group’s history.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a combative speech that the United States and Israel have found themselves isolated following President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Hamas has called for a new Palestinian uprising against Israel in response to that recognition.
Trump’s decision last week has triggered Palestinian protests in the West Bank and Gaza, including some that escalated into deadly clashes with Israeli troops, but it remains unclear whether widespread Palestinian anger at the United States will lead to a full-fledged uprising.
Hamas’ rival, the Fatah movement of West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, seeks to establish a Palestinian state in lands Israel captured in 1967, with east Jerusalem as a capital. Hamas wants to set up an Islamic state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, which includes Israel.
OMFG! That is such a misrepresentation and distortion one hardly knows where to begin. Hamas' position is the Palestinian Authority under Abbas has authority to negotiate, and any deal should be put before the Palestinian people for a vote. It also ignores the greater Israel project that continues to this very day.
Thursday’s rally drew tens of thousands of Hamas supporters, many waving the movement’s green flag or sporting Hamas headbands. Masked Hamas militants marched behind the group’s political officials on a raised stage.
That's a lot of people for a low point.
The anniversary came at a difficult time in Hamas’ turbulent history. A decade after seizing Gaza by force, it has been compelled to seek reconciliation with Abbas’ Fatah.
There they go again! They didn't "seize" Gaza, they won election before being "compelled" to reconcile.
An Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah in October has seen Hamas give up control of Gaza crossings, but differences over collecting revenues hinder its progress.
Egypt brokered a deal and soon afterward a mosque was blown up.
Can you say Lavon Affair?
Hamas blames an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade, lack of support from Arab and Muslim nations, and Abbas’ alleged attempts to undermine the group for the hardships in Gaza.
That's about right.
The coastal territory suffers from 43 percent unemployment and worsening blackouts. In recent days, rolling blackouts lasted for 24 hours, followed by four hours of electricity.
The power has been cut at Abbas's request, proving he is nothing but an USraeli tool.
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"Kenya’s opposition leader was targeted in a virulent online campaign created by a US-based company during the recent election turmoil, a privacy watchdog said Thursday, while another rights group reported multiple gang-rapes by men in uniform in opposition strongholds. The reports highlight the volatility of the months during which the Supreme Court nullified the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ordered a new vote that opposition leader Raila Odinga boycotted and Kenyatta won. Anger remains high among Odinga supporters; scores were killed in clashes with security forces. The data-driven social media campaigns allegedly created by Texas-based Harris Media contributed to one of the most divisive votes in the East African nation’s history, the London-based Privacy International said. Harris Media’s previous clients include President Trump’s election campaign and several far-right parties in Europe, according to Privacy International."
Kenyatta probably feeling a lot like Trump, and those European leaders are being arrested for allegedly stirring up hatred with hate speech. Better if you have a Western-educated former banker that can bridge a deepening rift between his right-wing government and Brussels.
So much for free $peech, 'eh?
The sad part is the pre$$ is more free in Russia, and I'm tired of the ax-grinding insults.
"Dozens of Nigerian state governors on Thursday approved the transfer of $1 billion to aid the federal government’s fight against the deadly Boko Haram insurgency, signaling that previous announcements of victory over the Islamic extremists had come too soon. Attacks have increased in recent weeks as Boko Haram turns to using women and children, often abducted and indoctrinated, as suicide bombers to target cities and towns in the country’s vast northeast. Boko Haram’s eight-year insurgency has proven to be one of Africa’s more persistent threats, killing more than 20,000 people....."
Why did Iraq and Syria just come to mind as they come at you in waves:
"An Islamic extremist suicide bomber disguised as a police officer killed at least 18 people at a police academy in Somalia’s capital on Thursday, authorities said. The Somalia-based Al Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility. Another 20 officers were wounded, some of them seriously, Colonel Mohamud Aden said. The bomber, with explosives strapped around his waist and torso, infiltrated General Kahiye Police Academy and targeted officers rehearsing for Somalia’s Police Day celebrations scheduled for Dec. 20, Captain Mohamed Hussein said. The bomber walked into the academy undetected and joined a line of officers before he detonated the explosives under his sportswear, Hussein said. Al Shabab has been blamed for the massive truck bombing in the capital in October that left 512 dead. Only a few attacks since 9/11 have killed more people....."
At least it isn't ethnic cleansing.
"Teva Pharmaceuticals to cut 25 percent of jobs in huge reshaping" by Chad Bray New York Times December 14, 2017
Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs, said Thursday that it would cut about a quarter of its workforce, or 14,000 jobs, close manufacturing and research facilities, and suspend its dividend as it seeks to simplify its structure and reduce its debt.
The Israeli company has faced management turmoil and been squeezed by increased competition as well as lower prices in a challenging market environment for generic drugs in the United States. It cut its full-year forecast after it reported disappointing results in the third quarter this year as revenue from its generics business in the United States fell sharply.
The massive reshaping of Teva came just over two years after it agreed to buy the generic drug business of Allergan for $40.5 billion amid a rush of consolidation in the pharmaceuticals industry.
In addition to pressure on its generics business, Teva is saddled with some $35 billion in debt, much of it taken on in a spree of acquisitions in recent years.
As part of its reshaping, Teva said it would seek to improve its margins through price increases or the discontinuation of some drugs.
It also plans to close or sell a significant number of manufacturing plants in the United States, Europe, Israel and other markets.
Teva’s shares rose 10 percent in New York trading Thursday after the announcement.....
They have been $terilized.
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