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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#237026: Mar 29th 2018 at 12:47:27 PM

It's not uncommon for teachers to have a "getting to know you" exercise, and those always involve personal details. Even if it's not part of an exercise, knowing minor details about their personal life is a good way to build trust. The teacher in question should be allowed to feel as open as she wants about the gender of her spouse.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237027: Mar 29th 2018 at 12:55:41 PM

Yeah I see no reason to give the school the benefit of the doubt and I don't know why "women is fired for mentioned she is married to another woman" is something that should bring up any questions regarding her conduct. Would we assume the same if it was a women mentioning her husband?

edited 29th Mar '18 12:56:04 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#237028: Mar 29th 2018 at 12:57:31 PM

yeah I have distinct memories of knowing when teachers were getting married because their names were changing in elementary school

Most were rather tight lipped about their private life, so even if there was an actual breach in privacy, that doesn't sound like a reason to fire a teacher. It sounds like a reason to talk to them at most.

Read my stories!
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#237029: Mar 29th 2018 at 12:58:25 PM

[up][up]

She was suspended, not fired - but yeah, it's very common for students to want to know more about their teachers (at least at first). Hell, it was one of my preferred tactics when I used to sub - "If you're good and finish up the coursework early, I'll leave the last 5 minutes for a little Q&A" type of deal.

edited 29th Mar '18 12:58:45 PM by ironballs16

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237030: Mar 29th 2018 at 1:10:22 PM

[up]Thank you for the correction, yeah that mirrors my knowledge on the issue. I don't see a good reason to not suspect if not assume bigotry.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#237031: Mar 29th 2018 at 1:13:31 PM

[up][up] Heck, sometimes teachers bring up a personal anecdote that relates to the subject.

edited 29th Mar '18 1:14:05 PM by DrunkenNordmann

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
TheWildWestPyro from Seattle, WA Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
#237032: Mar 29th 2018 at 1:59:19 PM

[up]

Or in one case during high school, my teacher's strong dislike for Tony Blair. That was a funny moment.

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#237033: Mar 29th 2018 at 3:52:13 PM

I note for the record that the school says that the teacher was also speculating about the orientation and gay relationships of historical artists.

Not that I consider that a reason to suspend her either, because if she was talking about artists being in straight relationships nobody would have doubted for a second that that could be discussed in age-appropriate fashion.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#237034: Mar 29th 2018 at 4:05:56 PM

I have some doubts about discussing artists relationships in an age-appropriate way, but yes, that part has been repeatedly overlooked.

Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#237035: Mar 29th 2018 at 4:17:31 PM

I don't know exactly what happened, but I can totally imagine a situation where a kid asks if she's married, she says yes, I have a wife, and then she has to explain that same-sex relationships are perfectly normal, using historical figures as examples.

edited 29th Mar '18 4:18:26 PM by Clarste

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237036: Mar 29th 2018 at 4:22:29 PM

It has been confirmed that Mueller's team is going after Robert Gates for more than just getting at Manafort and his fraud charges. They are attempting to link Manafort to Russian intel.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/mueller-gates-russia-investigation-contacts/index.html

Considering how easy they went on Gates, he probably gave them something good.

edited 29th Mar '18 4:22:49 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#237037: Mar 29th 2018 at 5:28:30 PM

As a follow up to Laura Ingraham mocking David Hogg, advertisers are fleeing her show.

    Companies pull ads from Fox’s Ingraham after her jab at Parkland student 
A growing number of companies will heed calls from a survivor of the Florida high school shooting to drop their advertisements on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News program after the host mocked the student on Twitter.

At least six said they would cease buying ads on the show. Nutrish, celebrity cook Rachael Ray’s dog food company, announced on Thursday that it was “in the process of removing ads from Laura Ingraham’s program.” Trip Advisor, the American travel website, told POLITICO that it had “made a decision to stop advertising on that program.”

“We believe strongly in the values of our company, especially the one that says, ‘We are better together,’” a Trip Advisor spokesperson said in an email. “We also believe Americans can disagree while still being agreeable, and that the free exchange of ideas within a community, in a peaceful manner, is the cornerstone of our democracy.”

The spokesperson added: “We do not, however, condone the inappropriate comments made by this broadcaster. In our view, these statements focused on a high school student, cross the line of decency.”

Wayfair, the online home-goods store, said the Fox News host’s comments were “not consistent with our values” in announcing that it would also pull ads from the show. A spokesperson for Nestle confirmed in an email that the company had “no plans to buy ads on the show in the future,” and Expedia also said that it would follow suit in cutting promotional ties with the program.

Later on Thursday, the video-on-demand service Hulu tweeted that was no longer advertising on Ingraham’s show and was “monitoring all of our ad placements carefully.”

The decisions came in response to an online plea from David Hogg, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for the company to cease its promotions on the show.

Ingraham on Wednesday shared a report on Twitter that Hogg’s college application had been rejected by certain schools. “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it,” the Fox News host wrote.

Hogg responded by listing several of Ingraham’s top advertisers — Nutrish, Sleep Number, AT&T, Allstate, Esurance, Bayer Liberty Mutual, Arby’s, Trip Advisor, Nestle, Wayfair, Rocket Mortgage by Quickens Loans, and Hulu — and calling for a boycott of the program.

“I’m so sorry to everyone that @Ingraham Angle has ever tried to hurt we are here for you and we love you,” Hogg tweeted on Thursday.

Representatives for the other companies listed by Hogg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ingraham on Thursday issued an apology via Twitter for the remarks.

“Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA — including David Hogg,” she said. “On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland.”

Ingraham added that Hogg was “welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.”

Hogg and other Parkland students have faced backlash from conservative commentators, who have criticized their lobbying for gun control legislation in response to the deadly shooting last month in which 17 were killed and several others wounded.

The attack has sparked a wave of protests. Over the weekend, Hogg and other students helped organize the March for Our Lives in protest of gun violence.

edited 29th Mar '18 5:28:41 PM by TheRoguePenguin

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237038: Mar 29th 2018 at 5:29:16 PM

It's nice to see terrible people face the proper social consequences.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237039: Mar 29th 2018 at 5:56:23 PM

Mueller probing Russia contacts at Republican convention

(Reuters) - Investigators probing whether Donald Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia have been questioning witnesses about events at the 2016 Republican National Convention, according to two sources familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiries.

Mueller's team has been asking about a convention-related event attended by both Russia's U.S. ambassador and Jeff Sessions, the first U.S. senator to support Trump and now his attorney general, said one source, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

Another issue Mueller's team has been asking about is how and why Republican Party platform language hostile to Russia was deleted from a section of the document related to Ukraine, said another source who also requested anonymity.

Mueller's interest in what happened at the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2016, is an indication that Trump campaign contacts and actions related to Russia remain central to the special counsel's investigation.

Trump, who was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for the November 2016 election during the convention, has denied any collusion with Russia during the campaign. Moscow has denied U.S. intelligence agencies' findings that it interfered in the campaign to try to tilt the election in Trump's favor.

Investigators have asked detailed questions about conversations that Sessions, then a Trump campaign adviser, had at a convention event attended by then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, said the first source, who was questioned by Mueller about the event.

The same source said Mueller's team also has been asking whether Sessions had private discussions with Kislyak on the sidelines of a campaign speech Trump gave at Washington's Mayflower Hotel in April 2016.

Sessions' spokespersons have denied repeatedly that he had any private discussions with Kislyak at the Mayflower. Sessions told lawmakers last year he could not recall any conversations with Russian officials at the hotel but could not rule out that a "brief interaction" with Kislyak may have occurred there.

Spokespersons for Mueller and Sessions declined to comment on Mueller's interest in Sessions' activities at the convention and other convention-related events.

UKRAINE LANGUAGE

The special counsel's investigators have also interviewed attendees of the committee meetings that drafted the Republican Party platform in Cleveland.

At one committee meeting, according to people in attendance, Diana Denman, a member of the platform committee's national security subcommittee, proposed language calling for the United States to supply "lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine's armed forces and greater coordination with NATO on defense planning."

But the final platform language deleted the reference to "lethal defensive weapons," a change that made the platform less hostile to Russia, whose troops had invaded the Crimean peninsula and eastern Ukraine.

After the convention, Denman told Reuters in 2016, J.D. Gordon, a Trump foreign policy adviser, told her he was going to speak to Trump about the language on Ukraine, and that Trump's campaign team played a direct role in softening the platform language.

The Trump campaign has denied playing any role in the weakening of the party's position regarding Ukraine. Gordon has called Denman's version of events "inaccurate."

Stephen Yates, co-chair of the platform committee's national security subcommittee, said he has "heard nothing about other members of the subcommittee being called in for questioning, and I have had no interaction with anyone working on the investigation."

Sessions recused himself last year from the federal probe into Russian election meddling after it emerged that he had failed to say during his Senate confirmation hearing to be attorney general that he had met with Russia's ambassador in 2016. [1]

Donald Trump is finally putting "Russia First", isn't he?

edited 29th Mar '18 6:01:36 PM by megaeliz

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237041: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:25:56 PM

Probably, still all the same I couldn't agree more.

edited 29th Mar '18 6:26:10 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#237042: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:29:38 PM

Hell, we practically revere them. Both Mitt Romney and John Mc Cain hold a ton of esteem in the public.

So does Bernie Sanders, for that matter; the inevitable respect for the Presidential runner-up jumped the track, flew over Hillary's head, and landed on her most prominent primary adversary.

edited 29th Mar '18 6:30:40 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#237043: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:30:08 PM

People hate her for breathing. I also agree with her point. That's institutionalized generational sexism for ya, I guess. I imagine something similar would have happened if Obama had lost an election.

edited 29th Mar '18 6:32:19 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#237044: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:41:43 PM

Both Mitt Romney and John Mc Cain hold a ton of esteem in the public.
And Romney really, really shouldn't.

Case in point: Romney would deport Dreamers.

Romney went so far as to say he’s more conservative on certain issues than President Trump.

“For instance, I’m a deficit hawk,” Romney said. “That makes me more conservative than a lot of Republicans and a lot of Democrats. I’m also more of a hawk on immigration than even the president. My view was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally.”

"Mainstream conservatism" is full of garbage, and "Never Trumpers" in particular are full of shit, proudly promoting the policies and attitudes that led to the current state of the Republican party.

Another case in point: The Atlantic's recent right-wing hire.

A longtime correspondent for the National Review, Kevin Williamson is, at his best, a right-wing provocateur who writes enjoyable, if slightly retro, prose. At his worst, he’s a verbose and hateful troll.

Describing a 2014 visit to the impoverished city of East St. Louis, Illinois, Williamson compared a black child to a “primate” and a “three-fifths-scale Snoop Dogg” before likening his own trip through Illinois to Marlow’s journey up the Congo River in Heart of Darkness, all within the space of a single paragraph. (He later denied, unconvincingly, that the three-fifths reference was a slavery joke.) In a column that same year about Orange Is the New Black actress Laverne Cox, Williamson compared trans people to voodoo doll worshippers. “Regardless of the question of whether he has had his genitals amputated, Cox is not a woman, but an effigy of a woman,” he wrote. He accused Bernie Sanders, a secular Jew, of leading a “nationalist-socialist movement” in a too-cute-by-half bid for rage clicks. And perhaps most notoriously, he once opined on Twitter that women who had abortions should be hanged. “I believe abortion should be treated like any other premeditated homicide,” he later clarified, in case anybody doubted his sincerity. “I’m torn on capital punishment generally; but treating abortion as homicide means what it means.”

[...] All of this makes Williamson, with his frequent sneer, dearth of empathy, and dicey treatment of race, a bit of a weird fit for the publication. He reacted to Black Lives Matter with an O’Reilly-esque rant about “race-hustling professionals” and black-on-black crime that I have a hard time picturing sharing space with a TNC essay.

So why did the Atlantic hire him? Goldberg and Ideas editor Yoni Appelbaum did not respond to my request for an interview, but it appears Williamson despises Donald Trump, and Never Trump conservatives have a lot of cachet these days among left-leaning media outlets that want to show a commitment to publishing a range of views.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#237045: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:45:49 PM

[up] Yeah, when I heard that from Romney, I lost any respect (and hope) I had in him. Should've known that him running as a Republican and him kowtowing to Trump were definitive bad signs. Of course, he's still going to win that Senate Seat in Utah...

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#237046: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:46:25 PM

Never Trumpers embody Never My Fault. They're in complete and utter denial about how the GOP getting into bed with the USA's reactionaries — the racists, the homophobes, the Religious Right, the xenophobes (and of course there's plenty of overlap) — for decades culminated in President Trump.

edited 29th Mar '18 6:47:05 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237047: Mar 29th 2018 at 6:49:10 PM

We need to stop believing that the majority of Republicans are decent people who happen to disagree with us. Through belief or obedience, they are mostly toxic reactionaries.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#237048: Mar 29th 2018 at 7:08:57 PM

[up]I don't know if I'd go that far, but for awhile now I have been confused on what a "moderate" Republican even is. The term has never seemed to have much meaning.

edited 29th Mar '18 7:09:16 PM by LSBK

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237049: Mar 29th 2018 at 7:10:20 PM

A moderate Republican is just an unconvinced Democrat or disaffected Independent, at least at the national level. The GOP has more or less gone nuts.

edited 29th Mar '18 7:11:00 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#237050: Mar 29th 2018 at 7:13:54 PM

[up] It's been sliding down for decades. Nixon, Goldwater, Reagan, W. Bush, and now Trump.

edited 29th Mar '18 7:14:26 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised

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