Police say they are currently investigating “multiple allegations of misconduct and abuse” at the Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the most prestigious private high schools in the country, where administrators last week divulged that a longtime teacher admitted to at least two cases of sexual misconduct.
In February, school principal Lisa MacFarlane sent out an email to alumni acknowledging “news reports” about students from other elite high schools coming forward with sex abuse allegations. In it, she urged Exeter alumni to come forward with any information of their own and touted the school’s internal policies for handling such claims.
As I begin my tenure at Exeter, I want to be sure to convey to you, as Principal Hassan did, how seriously we continue take any instances of abuse or harassment. Please know that our top priority at Phillips Exeter Academy is ensuring the physical and emotional safety and security of our students — past and present. We report criminal acts to the police; child abuse to child protective services; and we require employees to report suspected violations of our code of conduct immediately. If you have experienced or are aware of such violations, I urge you to notify Assistant Principal Ron Kim or Dean of Students Melissa Mischke so that we can initiate a thorough investigation immediately.
Last week the reason for that email became clear: The school has a sex abuse scandal of its own. In a joint email sent March 30, McFarlane and trustee president Eunice “Nicie” Johnson Panetta admitted a former teacher had confessed to sexual misconduct in two discrete cases.
“We want you to be aware of two cases of sexual misconduct involving students that took place in the 1970s and 1980s by former faculty member Rick Schubart. We learned of these in 2011 and 2015,” the email reads. “In both cases we immediately reported the allegations to the appropriate authorities and investigated those claims. In both cases Mr. Schubart admitted that sexual misconduct occurred.”
The school says it forced Schubart to retire and move off-campus after learning of the first allegation and “stripped of his emeritus status and permanently barred from campus and all Exeter events” after learning of the second.
The principal at the time, Tom Hassan, stepped down last year sometime after the 2015 allegation against Schubart was made. He apologized this week for not making the allegations public at the time, explaining in a statement that he had been “attempting to balance the privacy and wishes of the victim with the utmost need to ensure the safety of members of the community.”
“It’s clear in retrospect that we didn’t get that balance right,” he said.
Hassan’s wife, New Hampshire governor Maggie Hassan, is currently running for Senate, and she once counted Schubart as a donor and member of her 2012 steering committee. She told reporters her husband didn’t tell her what happened.
She told reporters that “I sensed something was wrong” when Schubart abruptly retired in 2011 and that “I didn’t have the kind of information that would have indicated that removal was appropriate and my husband was protecting the confidentiality of the victim.”
There’s likely to be more: According to the Boston Globe, police are currently investigating new allegations and confirmed that they “involve former faculty but not Schubart.”
Last night’s Daily Show was devoted to the anti-trans measures sweeping the nation in the name of “religious freedom” and in the form of “bathroom bills,” which hatefully and illogically require trans people to use public bathrooms whose labels match the gender on their birth certificates. One segment focused on trans panic featured Jessica Williams interviewing a variety of trans people about their experiences with transphobia, including Megan Taylor, who was arrested last year for being trans and held in jail for eight days because she wasn’t carrying a prescription for a drug in her hormone replacement therapy.
Williams also interviewed Colorado Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, whose anti-trans rhetoric goes something like, “They not only want to be confused about their own identity, but they want the rest of us to be confused with them. Now they want the government to join them in this pretense. They’re making us into liars.” Klingenschmitt believes that trans people are possessed by demons. He also believes that gay people and pedophiles are possessed by demons, but different demons. Thank god for small distinctions.
The entire trans-panic segment is great, but the highlight in my opinion is when Williams asks Klingenschmitt, a self-identified chaplain who makes a big show of protecting women and children from predatory trans people (and the men who aspire to be them) even though this is utter horseshit, “Is it fair to say that because you’re a priest that you’re a pedophile?”
“Well, of course not,” responds Klingenschmitt.
“Why, ‘Of course not’?” wonders Williams. “Why?”
“Because some people are criminals and some people are not criminals,” says Klingenschmitt.
“Could you take that logic and apply that to the transgender community?” asks Williams.
“They’re apples and oranges,” says Klingenschmitt, despite there being piles of recorded instances of sexual abuse at the hands of religious officials.
“By apples and oranges do you mean apples and apples?” asks Williams.
Your next question might be: Mashable did hard news? Indeed. Among those forced to walk the plank were the site’s entire politics and global news teams as well as executive editor Jim Roberts, a longtime New York Times editor who worked at Reuters before migrating to Mashable in 2013. Replacing Roberts appears to be Greg Gittrich, who assumes the always dystopian title of Chief Content Officer. Gittirch was most recently at Vocativ, which is one of those new websites that seem to pop up out of nowhere.
Byers described the layoffs as abrupt, and they appear to have been executed hastily. On Twitter, now ex-Mashable senior producer Nadja Oertelt said she was laid off via a phone call while on a shoot and is now stranded in Ohio without access to her email:
Per Oertelt, some of those fired had accepted jobs with the company as recently as six months ago:
As our stories now live on multiple platforms, it’s doubly important that everything we create reflects that voice and ethos. That’s why we took the tough decision to move away from covering world news and politics as standalone channels. Instead, we will focus on telling these stories from a digital angle. We’ll spend more time focusing on our core coverage — technology, web culture, science, social media, entertainment, business and lifestyle, all told through the digital lens. We’ll also develop our real-time news coverage, keeping our audience up to date on breaking news and cultural trends being discussed on social networks.
The newest platforms in our lineup include over-the-top video networks and television. To realize the massive opportunity that these platforms represent and to keep our voice consistent across every platform, it’s clear that all our video producers should live on the same team. As part of Mashable Studios, our writers, animators and video producers will now have the opportunity to work on our most important video projects — from digital shows to television to branded series.
Cashmore also publicly released the memo on LinkedIn, which might at least be of some solace to those who were laid off. Nobody really wants to work for someone who uses LinkedIn that seriously.
Among the ethical and moral quandaries North Carolina waded into when Governor Pat McCrory signed the state’s noxious LGBT bill into law, there was a more pragmatic question: How the hell are police supposed to enforce the biological-sex bathroom provision? It sounds like the cops have no idea.
The new law overturns local ordinances banning LGBT discrimination and requires people in government buildings and schools to use the bathroom that corresponds with the sex on their birth certificate. It has been called “the worst anti-LGBT legislation in the nation.” To find out exactly how it will work, Mother Jones called up several North Carolina police departments and asked. A sample response:
“Our staff, particularly our attorney’s office, is trying to figure out what it all means,” says Damien Graham, another spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department. “We haven’t mobilized our police force in any kind of different way. We’re still digesting.”
Some clearer answers came from the Asheville Police Department, which stated “We’re not checking birth certificates,” and the Greensboro department, which said it would only respond if it receives a complaint from a fellow bathroom user. So it won’t be the police who are sleuthing out trans people, but the North Carolinians who care deeply about whether their restroom comminglers were born with a soft tingly part that pokes outward or a soft tingly part that goes inward. Good luck to them.
Also, the LGBT law is civil, not criminal, and it does not lay out a specific civil penalty for breaking it, as Mother Jones notes. That means that even if a department does come up with a firm policy for policing bathrooms for illegal genitals, it’s not clear what they’re supposed to do if and when they catch someone. If you’re going to enact a sweeping program of legalized bigotry in your state, at least figure out how you’re going to execute it before you sign.
Remember ChatRoulette? You’d log on, click through webcam feeds of obese men having sex with fruit, and walk away feeling like you’d finally made a human connection. Just take away the anonymity, the second camera, the sense of fate, and the fruit intercourse (for now) and you get Facebook Live’s new map—a digital panopticon fueled by our most banal impulses. Because once you peer into your first window, it’s nearly impossible to stop.
I spent nearly six hours yesterday poring over those tiny blue dots. Each one represents another person who has opened their virtual door to the world. Often it’s because they’re bored—be it at school, at work, at home, while they’re driving, anywhere really. One woman was livestreaming a minor medical procedure. There’s no reason to broadcast any of these things, really, other than the simple fact that the option exists. So why not?
And that’s what Facebook seems to be banking on. It wants live video to be huge. Live video is already a massive industry, of course—just not on Facebook. In fact, Zuck’s late to this party; sites like YouTube, Twitch, and Periscope are already leading the streaming pack. But nothing has the masses on lock like Facebook. This isn’t a streaming app for gamers or the particularly internet savvy; this is streaming video for the people.
And at least so far, that translates to a planet’s worth of live videos that consist almost entirely of garbage. Novel, voyeuristic, fascinating garbage, but garbage nonetheless. Like these drunk bros.
Or this man getting a haircut.
That doesn’t make it any less appealing from a viewer’s perspective, though. After all, it’s free, unfettered access to someone else’s window—and they’ve already been kind enough to pull up the blinds. There’s no fear of being caught. No need to stifle any impulses to gasp or laugh. Instead, I was free to stare candidly, directly into the life of another person.
Does it all still start to feel a bit creepy after the third or fourth video? Sure, but not enough to stop me from clicking onto the next dot. This look into another person’s (often mundane) existence is exactly what makes Facebook Live so interesting. These people may be putting on a show for the camera to the best of their abilities, but watching them feels almost too intimate. After all, most of them are just normal people who want to feel like they matter. And even if the viewer count on the video stays solidly at one, it still means that someone out there cares.
One of the streamers explained the appeal to me as “just the whole idea of broadcasting. I actually love it because I can talk about anything from gaming to religion with my friends and anyone who’s interested in the topics.” Another told me, “I pastor a church and I use fb videos and now video live to connect with people and encourage them.”
In most cases, it’s hard to tell exactly who the intended audience is supposed to be, though it seems to be more about the person broadcasting than anything else. These two nice gentlemen from Romania told me they like Facebook Live for the fact that they can “show” and not “tell.”
Judging from their page, most of what they have to show involves dance in some capacity.
And they really, really love to show it. Yesterday alone they posted about 10 separate livestreams. Each one consisted of them dancing. And each one was just as hard to turn away from as the last.
As far as I can tell, none of this is quite what Facebook intended. As a spokesperson from Facebook explained to me over email, “We believe the vast majority of people are using Facebook Live to come together and share experiences in the moment with their friends and family.” Not a single friend or family member of mine, save for one, has ever used Facebook Live as far as I know. And while that may be Facebook’s intent, offering this map to the public changes that stated premise in a significant way.
There’s also the issue of whether or not these people realize that what they’re sending into the world is so widely accessible. Everyone I spoke to knew they’d made their videos public, but they’d never seen the map itself before. And it’s that map that opens up other people’s worlds so readily, whether they’re aware of it or not.
Still, I see my friends and family on a regular basis. No offense to my friends and family, but I don’t care what you’re doing. I am much more interested in what this DJ in Greece is doing. Or what this arguably-unbalanced psychic in Scotland is preaching. This map is my window into corners of the world I might never have seen otherwise.
All of which is to say, it’s only a matter of time before the vast majority of Facebook Live consists of men fucking fruit.
Bill Clinton was supposed to be stumping for Hillary Clinton in Philly today. Instead, he spent a considerable amount of time explaining to Black Lives Matter protestors why they need to stop being so loud.
The clip above was perhaps the most egregious of Clinton’s condescending, tone deaf remarks, as he clashed with protestors in an attempt to defend his 1994 crime bill that raised the nation’s prison population by over a million. The entire exchange, as you can see below, is deeply uncomfortable and often infuriating.
In just six minutes, Clinton manages to say all of the following:
“Here’s the thing. I like protestors, but the ones that won’t let you answer are afraid of the truth.”
“Hillary spent her time trying to get healthcare for poor kids—and who were they? Their lives matter.”
“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out into the street to murder other African American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens—she didn’t.”
“You are defending the people who killed the lives you say matter. Tell the truth.”
“The reason they know it’s true is [the protestors] won’t hush. When somebody won’t hush and listen to you, that ain’t democracy. They’re afraid of the truth. Don’t you be afraid of the truth.”
“I’ll tell you another story about a place where black lives matter: Africa.”
No doubt that’ll be all from Bill Clinton for a while.
Donald Trump’s bold and short-lived pronouncement that women who get abortions should be punished failed to translate for a coalition of anti-abortion groups that, looking to him as a sort of father figure, faced the harsh realization that he had no interest in raising them.
The organizers of the 114 Forum anti-abortion conference apparently led attendees to believe Trump would be calling in to the event, an event which Trump’s spokesperson, Hope Hicks, says Trump never had any intention of attending or addressing.
Trump, who said women receiving abortions should be punished before taking it back, is understandably avoiding the issue now. But the people who support it say don’t care because at least he said what they were thinking:
“As for Donald Trump, I far prefer the kind of mistake he made recently, and then corrected, regarding who should be punished, than the ongoing deliberate mistake of Clinton and Sanders who cannot seem to find an abortion they don’t like,” Pavone said.
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Today only, Amazon’s offering big savings on a handful of well-reviewed Reebok cross-trainer shoes, starting at just $32. There are a few options to choose from for men and women, and all of the shoes have alternate color schemes available if you click through to the product page.
Just note that this is a Gold Box deal, meaning these prices are only available today.
Included in the Gold Box deal are the latest versions of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home and Premium for Windows, as well as Dragon Dictate for Mac, all marked down to the lowest prices Amazon has ever offered. I won’t get into the nitty gritty details here, but each product page has a comprehensive overview of what the software can and can’t do, so head over to Amazon to see if this deal is right for you.
Have you used any of Nuance’s software yourself? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.
The $5 coupon is valid on ten different Vega items, and will stack with any existing discounts you see on the product pages. Just add your selections to your cart, and you’ll see the final price at checkout.
Vega has a great calorie-to-protein ratio, but the best thing about their shakes is that they aren’t just about protein. Vega’s shakes typically contain six grams of fiber, 3 servings of vegetables, and good amounts of Omega-3, probiotics, vitamins, and illusive potassium. It’s like a protein shake, a multivitamin, and a bunch of bonuses all in one convenient package.
Unfortunately, Uniqlo isn’t running a free shipping promotion at the moment, so you’ll need to buy $100 in merchandise to qualify for free shipping. Otherwise, it’s reasonably priced, or you can pick it up at your local store for free.
In addition to six different cleaning modes (including one for your tongue), a travel kit, a pressure sensor, and a timer, the Pro 7000 also syncs to an iOS or Android app that tracks your brushing habits and offers personalized feedback.
I know a lot of people are reflexively against the Bluetoothification of everyday household items, and that’s fine. What I’m saying is that even if you never download that app, this is still a fantastic toothbrush at $100. Just be sure to clip the $20 coupon on the page to get the full discount.
I’ve never played Fluxx, but holy crap, the Firefly version has an “I’ll be in my bunk” card that forces you to leave the room for several minutes. Sold.
If you’re worried that you won’t get a ton of use out of this thing, note that in addition to standard pressure cooking, you can also use the Instant Pot as a slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, and more.
With the obvious caveat that it isn’t a 4K set, this 49" LG TV has great reviews, smart apps powered by WebOS 2.0, and an all-time low price tag, today only.
You know those warm, dim, Edison-style bulbs you see in fancy restaurants and bars staffed by men with mustaches? Well, it turns out that they make LED version of those, and you can own four of them for $24. Just note that these are candelabra-style (E12) bulbs, so they’re designed to fit in small light sockets, not standard lamps.
If you’ve ever wanted to own a kegerator, today’s the day to make your dreams come true. $310 gets you a standard Insignia model, and $400 adds a second tap handle. The best part: When you take out the kegs, it also ships with a pair of wire shelves to convert it into a standard beverage cooler for your garage.
Summer’s just around the corner, and you can protect your smartphone at the beach, in the pool, or on your river rafting trip with this $8 waterproof case. The bag features transparent windows on both sides, meaning you can still operate the touchscreen, and even use the phone as an underwater camera.
Cordless hand vacs are handy for cleaning the nooks and crannies of your house, but they’re especially great for vacuuming out your car. This 16 volt model from Black & Decker is just $41 today on Amazon, within a couple bucks of an all-time low. Note: The price on the product page shows $51, but you should see an automatic $10 discount at checkout.
To put it simply, Apple Watch strap pricing is the most egregious example of the “Apple Tax” I’ve ever seen. Case in point, these knock-off Milanese loop straps will only cost you $16, compared to $150-$200 for Apple’s versions. They’re not a perfect replica, but judging by the review average, they’re damn close.
Note: $16 price is only available on the black and silver models, in both 42 and 38mm sizes.
We’ve seen a lot of deals on motion sensing night lights, but this model from Etekcity is unique in that it can automatically turn on when it detects a power outage, and will even work as a flashlight or portable lantern while untethered from the wall, thanks to its built-in battery backup. Amazon has it listed today for $17, but promo code DJJEFES6 will save you an extra $3.
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On Thursday afternoon, President Barack Obama visited the University of Chicago Law School to continue to exhort congressional Republicans to reconsider their Supreme Court obstructionism.
While there, a law student asked what diverse characteristics nominee Merrick Garland had to offer the court.
“Well, he’s from Skokie,” Obama responded in jest.
“The way I’ve thought about diversity is not to think about any single seat as, ‘I’ve got to fill this slot with this demographic,’” he continued. “But rather, if I’ve got a broad set of nominees to make, and this is true across the board, how do I make sure that I’m intentional throughout that process so that the talent of every American, and every potential candidate, gets a fair look.”
He noted that he had appointed more diverse judges to federal courts than any president before him. “But at no point did I say, ‘Oh, you know what, I need a black lesbian... from Skokie in that slot. Can you find me one?’”
“Yes, he’s a white guy, but he’s a really outstanding jurist,” he concluded. “Sorry, I think that’s important.”
The fact-checkers over at Politifact work tirelessly to keep America’s political reporting, sacred as it is, free from misinformation. Now, they’re taking on perhaps the biggest threat to our—totally not compromised—political news cycle: Bloggers.
The site recently added a section dedicated to fact-checking random bloggers hell bent on corrupting our mediasphere with falsehoods. This will probably prove exhausting as bloggers can basically say whatever the hell they want, and can do so at an alarmingly fast rate. In any case, we Americans should consider ourselves lucky that we have such benevolent, watchful eyes protecting our news.
We all know that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a hard man to please. The guy has even denounced Beyoncé.
Today Giuliani passively expressed his displeasure for the field of Republican presidential candidates by announcing he’s voting for Trump, but not formally endorsing him. At least we know he likes voting.
In an interview with the New York Times on Thursday Giuliani said of Trump, “He’s my friend, and I think of the candidates, of the choices that I have, he’s the best choice for president. He’s a better choice than Cruz and a more realistic choice than Kasich.”
In a statement made on Thursday, Trump called Giuliani’s vote, “a great honor.”
Giuliani has previously referred to Trump as a “close personal friend.” And Giuliani told the Washington Post in February that he had been casually counseling Trump for about a month:
“We’ve been talking. Donald and me, Donald and a few other friends who know politics. He calls to check things out or I’ll call him to say, ‘Donald, you’re going too far’ or ‘What you said was great’ or maybe ‘Change it a bit.’ It’s nothing formal. It’s kind of a running conversation.”
Giuliani was critical of Trump in his interview with the Times on Thursday. He did not appreciate it, for instance, when Trump posted an unflattering picture of Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi, on social media to score points with raging misogynist.
But Giuliani’s primary (and counterintuitive) reason for not endorsing Trump is that this will allow him to have more influence at the Republican National Convention, where he will be a delegate.
Navigating that thin line between Trump apologist and decent human being, Giuliani added that, “He’s a first-time candidate—you’re going to have some of these mistakes. The man I know is not the man you see on television. He’s a gentleman, he’s a good father.”
Giuliani also said that Trump is like Ronald Reagan, because, though he has agreed with them the majority of the time in the past, both have disappointed him.
Earlier today police in San Fransisco shot and killed a homeless Latino man who they say was charging at them with a knife. Two eyewitnesses who say they were within 10 feet of the shooting immediately came forward with a different version of events.
The Guardian reports that according to the two witnesses, 33-year-old John Visor, and 31-year-old Stephanie Grant, the man’s knife was on his hip and only fell out when he hit the ground. The two also said the man wasn’t charging at the officers but appeared unable to understand their instructions, which presumably were in English.
“They need to realize that some people don’t speak English,” Grant said. “They didn’t wait for anything. It all happened so fast.”
The shooting comes at a time of hypergentrification in San Fransisco and increased tensions between whites and Latinos. In March, The Guardian reported on the case of Alejandro Nieto, who was killed by police in his own neighborhood after they arrived in response to a white neighbor’s report of seeing a man with a gun. Nieto had a taser attached to his hip for his job as a bouncer at a nightclub.
The SFPD maintain that the man was indeed charging at police officers. He remains unidentified.
In the new issue of Cosmopolitan, cover star Scarlett Johannson broaches the increasingly trendy (in a GOOD way) topic of wage disparity. Though the actress supports the fight for equal pay, she herself does not like talking about it.
“I am very fortunate,” she tells Cosmo. “I make a really good living, and I’m proud to be an actress who’s making as much as many of my male peers at this stage.”
She adds:
“I think every woman has [been underpaid], but unless I’m addressing it as a larger problem, for me to talk about my own personal experience with it feels a little obnoxious. It’s part of a larger conversation about feminism in general.”
I respect your take, ScarJo.
Johansson also talked about Planned Parenthood...
“There are countries at war, there’s terrorism, global warming, and we’re like, ‘We should definitely cut the budget for Planned Parenthood. Let’s take away the availability of women’s health initiatives!’… It’s nuts. We’re talking about preventing cervical and breast cancers. Growing up, I used [PP’s] services. All my girlfriends did—not just for birth control but for Pap smears and breast exams. You read about the rise of back-alley abortions, women having to mutilate themselves and teenagers having to seek help in unsafe conditions, and for what?! We’re moving backward when we’re supposed to be moving forward.”
...and discussed a vampiric relationship with an ex, which—unfortunately—is less literal than I’d like it to be.
Typically, Elmos don’t come to Times Square to make friends. They do it to make money. A bill passed by the New York City counsel on Thursday could hurt Times Square performers’ chances of doing either. That includes some 300 topless women, the ticket vendors, and the costumed characters.
The bill will significantly restrict the areas in and around Times Square where performers can conduct their business. The bill was proposed in the midst of scattered allegations that performers had harassed tourists and locals, and, in a few instances, acted violently. Mayor Bill de Blasio has expressed support for the bill in the past, but has not yet said whether he will sign it into law. The new rule, if passed, will be implemented this summer.
The Department of Transportation presented plans detailing restrictions to the Times Square plazas at a hearing last Wednesday. Under this blueprint, performers would be restricted to eight “activity zones.”
Several performers who work in Time Square said at the hearing that the new law will hamper their ability to do business and violates their First Amendment rights.
Captain Robert O’Hare, an NYPD commanding officer said at the hearing that sixteen performers have been arrested so far this year for, “aggressive solicitation, forcible touching, assaults and grand larcenies.” The NYPD arrested fifteen performers the previous year.
In October the NYPD doubled the number of police officers patrolling Times Square to more than 100. The new officers were deployed to address “quality-of-life” issues after the city government flipped out over the presence of topless women in Times Square.
A local business association called the Times Square Alliance were involved in drafting the new piece of legislation. The president of the association, Tim Tompkins, said at the hearing last Wednesday, “Times Square is the image maker and the economic driver of New York City, and there are billions and billions of negative impressions because lots of people are having negative experiences.”
Keep in mind he’s talking about a bunch of cartoon characters, beloved by children and those who are children at heart.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, seen above guffawing at a rendering of himself as a prison inmate, is slowly becoming his party’s last hope. The New York Times reported on a recent fundraiser for the Cruz camp held at the Knickerbocker Club, one of the New York’s most elite establishments.
Donors weren’t necessarily enthused to be throwing their hard earned wealth at a presidential candidate who openly despises New York values, and is scientifically proven to be hard to look at. But, as many of the attendees interviewed said: Anyone is better than Donald Trump, a reality television star whose candidacy has the entire party on the brink of collapse.
Cruz’ fellow politicians have had to get comfortable with endorsing him in recent weeks. In March, Senator Lindsey Graham tepidlyendorsed Cruz saying, “He’s the best alternative to Donald Trump.”
Still, Ted Cruz is an almost universally reviled man and donors are aware, especially New York donors, who really aren’t happy with that “New York values” comment. When pressed on, it Cruz told the group, “I didn’t mean to attack people in New York, I love New York.”
Donors from Cruz’ home state of Texas, his biggest donor base thus far, have their reservations, too.
Asked what was the biggest worry of prospective supporters, Doug Deason, a major Cruz donor in Dallas, did not hesitate.
“I think his personality, mostly.”
Deason qualified his quote by saying Cruz is a likable guy when you get to know him. Great campaign slogan.
Cal Bears assistant basketball coach Yan Hufnagel was fired from his post last month after a university investigation found that he had sexually harassed a reporter. The investigation report indicates that he tried to leverage her reliance on him as a source into a sexual relationship, and the claimant alleged that he fed her bad information after refusing his advances. She subsequently lost her job.
After he was fired, Hufnagel publicly denied any wrongdoing, and even after the report was published (which features many damning messages from him), he moved forward with an appeal. Hufnagel turned hundreds more text messages to school investigators and his lawyer told the San Francisco Chronicle, “The university has wronged an innocent person, and it must correct its error.”
That’s a pretty strong statement, not the kind of thing you’d expect from someone ready to fold. According to a report this morning from the Chronicle, Hufnagel has abruptly dropped his appeal. This is a strange turn, given that he hired a crisis management expert and made veiled threats of pursuing “other options.” From the report:
“The toxic environment at UC Berkeley has made it impossible for Mr. Hufnagel to rejoin the basketball team he loves, even if he is vindicated in full, as the facts would show,” Hufnagel’s lawyer, Mary McNamara, said. “He needs to look out for the student-athletes he coached, as well as his own future. Earlier this morning and after much consideration, he decided it was time to move on.”
Hufnagel’s incentive to fight the allegations is obvious. He’s 33, and while he’s a respected recruiter, this is quite the stain on his resume. If he wants to get another job in college basketball it’s in his interest to come out of this as cleanly as possible.
Meanwhile, Cal is still looking into how much head coach Cuonzo Martin did or didn’t know about the allegations, and the Chronicle reports that that should wrap up “soon.” Cal has already lost one recruit since Hufnagel was fired, and it’s unclear whether Martin will even return at all, no matter how the investigation shakes out.
Ridesharing app Uber settled a civil lawsuit with the district attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco over claims that the company overstated the rigor of its background checks. As part of the settlement the company, which is valued at over $64 billion, will pay up to $25 million to the respective cities.
The claim was that Uber misled customers about its pre-screening process for drivers, suggesting that they were “industry-leading” and “the gold standard” despite the fact that last year, the New York Times reported that district attorneys in both Los Angeles and San Fransisco found that background checks used by Uber missed the criminal records of 25 of its drivers.
Uber’s settlement comes as the company continues to wage battles with municipalities around the U.S. over background checks. In Austin, the company fought a long battle over proposed fingerprint registrations for drivers. A 2014 New York Times article found that Uber and its competitor Lyft lobbied against fingerprint-based background checks in courthouses across the country.
Meanwhile, incidents involving Uber drivers have continued to occur this year. In February, Jason Brian Dalton, a 45-year-old Uber driver who claimed the app “literally took over his mind and body,” murdered six people during a shooting spree in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
District attorney of San Francisco George Gascón said in a statement,“the result we achieved today goes well beyond its impact on Uber, It sends a clear message to all businesses, and to start-ups in particular, that in the quest to quickly obtain market share, laws designed to protect consumers cannot be ignored.”
Ted Cruz arrived at a matzoh bakery in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon where he was met with cheers of “Jews for Cruz.” There he rolled out some unleavened bread dough with kids from the Hasidic Jewish community and, as if that weren’t enough, joined in a rendition of the Passover song “Dayenu.”
Ted Cruz was offered a “matzo-making hat,” which he declined. This is the second silly hat Cruz has refused to wear this week. Cruz did, however, wear a yarmulke (pictured above), a much more subtle head topping.
What’s at stake here are 95 New York delegates, 81 of which are awarded based on results from congressional districts. A few of these have significant numbers of Orthodox Jews.
I know what you’re thinking: How is a Southern Baptist evangelical Christian going to appeal to a bunch of Brooklyn Orthodox Jews? But how does Ted Cruz appeal to anyone. And anyway, there’s some political overlap between the two groups, as Katie Glueck notes in her piece for Politico:
“Orthodox Jews tend to be more conservative than their predominantly liberal, more secular co-religionists, and are more likely to appreciate Cruz’s conservative message on social issues and, in particular, on religious freedom.
There’s also common ground on national security, particularly when it comes to Israel. Cruz first came onto the Orthodox radar in a significant way in 2014, when attendees at a Middle Eastern Christian conference, at which he was speaking, began to boo Israel. “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you,” he said, remarks that went viral in the Orthodox world.”
Most Orthodox Jews in New York are registered Democrats, according to community leaders. But Cruz needs all the help he can get in New York, where polls put him in third place with only 17 percent of the Republican vote. The senator recently received blowback from New Yorkers after calling Trump out on account of his “New York values.”
It’s unclear whether Cruz’s bid for the Brooklyn Republican Orthodox Jewish vote will help him make up any ground. After Cruz’s visit to the bakery, the youth program director Leah Winner was asked if the presidential hopeful appeared familiar with Jewish traditions.
“Somewhat,” Winner replied. “I’m not going to lie. Somewhat.”
