via CHEER UP LUV
Month: April 2019
Racism accusations rock esports team Echo Fox
Former NBA star Rick Fox is leaving the esports team he owns, Echo Fox, after accusing a shareholder of an “abhorrent display of pure racism” and making threats to his family, according to an email obtained by Dexerto. Echo Fox has confirmed the incidents of racism, verifying the account in Fox’s email, and the authoritative body behind North American League of Legends esports is investigating the allegations.
Joe Biden on The View: I Don&’t Think I Treated Anita Hill Badly
If his Friday appearance on The View was any indication, Joe Biden is going to have a real hard time addressing his history with women when the issue inevitably comes up (and comes up and comes up) on the campaign trail. He was asked to talk about his treatment of Anita Hill and his tendency to invade women’s personal space and it was a mess.
After much prompting by the show’s co-hosts, Biden reluctantly apologized to the women who accused him of being overly touchy. “Here’s the deal, everybody has to be much more aware of the private space of men and women,” he said. “It’s not just women but it’s primarily women. I am much more cognizant of that.”
via Joe Biden on The View: I Don't Think I Treated Anita Hill Badly
Report: Rick Fox Leaving Esports Organization Because Of Racist Comments By Shareholder
Retired NBA star turned esports entrepreneur Rick Fox is preparing to cut ties with Echo Fox, the competitive gaming organization he helped found, after another shareholder allegedly used racial slurs during an email exchange, according to a report by Richard Lewis for Dexerto.
According to Lewis, the racist remarks came from an investor at Vision Venture Partners, the private equity firm that owns Echo Fox, and in which Rick Fox is a founding partner. The member allegedly used the n-word to refer to Jace Hall, former CEO of Echo Fox and current head of the esports website Twin Galaxies (which VVP also owns), in an email exchange related to an internal business dispute.
According to sources Lewis spoke with, the same Echo Fox shareholder had used racially abusive language in the past in relation to both Hall and Fox. Lewis did not provide the name of the investor in question.
via Report: Rick Fox Leaving Esports Organization Because Of Racist Comments By Shareholder
Ex-PayPal Employee Fights to Have Her Gender Discrimination Dispute Heard In Court
Theresa Pasinosky is seeking to have her complaint heard in a trial by jury, but according to a press release, PayPal may force her to settle her dispute by a third party behind closed doors due to an arbitration agreement she says the company had her sign. The case serves as yet another challenge to the practice of forced arbitration agreements, a common legal tool, historically used widely in the tech industry, to keep employees from sharing their horror stories of harassment and discrimination in public.
via Ex-PayPal Employee Fights to Have Her Gender Discrimination Dispute Heard In Court
Cyber-flashing: ‘I froze when penis picture dropped on to my phone’ – BBC News
Looking at my phone on the journey to work, a picture of a naked man pops up on the screen, and a heatwave of embarrassment warms my body, as if I were the one naked and exposed.
My iPhone was asking me whether to accept or decline a nude picture from a stranger via AirDrop. He had used a filter, sharpened his slim body, blurred the background and was posing in front of a mirror with an erect penis. That’s a lot of effort to put into a picture intended for a stranger.
My response was immediate: decline. But I couldn’t reject the insecurity and fear it left me with.
via Cyber-flashing: ‘I froze when penis picture dropped on to my phone’ – BBC News
How the New Supreme Court Discrimination Case Could Affect LGBTQ Workers
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to review discrimination cases of three LGBTQ employees in the workplace—a pivotal decision that could very well result in the changing of protections for LGBTQ workers across the country. What hangs in the balance? And when will a decision be made? Here’s what you need to know about how crucial the next year will become for the LGBTQ community.
via How the New Supreme Court Discrimination Case Could Affect LGBTQ Workers
Judge Michael McShane to Block Anti-Abortion Title X Gag Rule
Donald Trump’s mission to weaken the nation’s only federal family planning program has been temporarily thwarted: on Tuesday night, a federal judge said he plans to block the sweeping changes that would have barred providers from informing discussing abortion with patients, and would further enable the rise of anti-abortion Christian family planning centers.
Politico reports that Oregon’s U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane plans to grant a preliminary injunction against the so-called “gag rule” in response to a lawsuit brought by 21 state attorneys general (including Washington D.C.). The rule changes, scheduled to go into effect May 3, would have barred funding from family planning organizations that perform abortions, or even refer patients to abortion providers. They also would have required clinics that offer abortions to create separate physical barriers, including maintaining separate medical records and staff.
via Judge Michael McShane to Block Anti-Abortion Title X Gag Rule
Indiana Bans Most Common Second-Trimester Abortion Procedure
Indiana, the state that gifted America its current Mother Boy, now has two new anti-abortion laws on its books: Come July, the state will ban the very mundane and safe method of abortion that’s called dilation and evacuation, and will allow any nurses, pharmacist, or physician assistant to refuse to participate in offering abortion care.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed these anti-abortion bills—the House Enrolled Act 1211 and Senate Enrolled Act 201—into law on Wednesday, and both are set to take effect on July 1. The first bill prohibits dilation and evacuation abortion in all instances except when a “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”
According to the the Times of Northwest Indiana, “anti-abortion lawmakers claim the procedure is ‘barbaric’ because it requires a doctor to use forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments to remove a fetus from a woman’s uterus.” (What do these men think of vasectomies, I wonder?)
via Indiana Bans Most Common Second-Trimester Abortion Procedure
Sterling Jewelry Expose Alleges Sexual Harassment, Wage Discrimination
The New York Times Magazine has published a lengthy expose into the corporate culture of Sterling Jewelers Inc, a corporation which dominates the mall jewelry business with brands like Jared and Kay. It is not pretty.
The Washington Post initially broke the story of employees’ widespread harassment allegations back in 2017, and there is a large class-action lawsuit over the company’s pay practices currently winding its way through the courts. Now Taffy Brodesser-Akner has a new feature for the New York Times Magazine detailing the company’s apparently rotten culture over the decades, alleging gender discrimination in wages and sexual harassment and providing a thorough accounting of how a toxic workplace is created and maintained. She writes about the mountain of sworn statements collected for the lawsuit, which after years is still stalled in litigation:
via Sterling Jewelry Expose Alleges Sexual Harassment, Wage Discrimination