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Harvard hoisted by own petard as 'diversity' students protest decision to deny tenure to 'grievance studies' professor

Michael Rectenwald
RT
Sat, 04 Jan 2020 16:42 UTC
student protest at Harvard
© Getty Images / Boston Globe / Contributor
A pro-ethnic studies protest at Harvard last year.
The US university is learning the hard way that the more concessions are given, the more are demanded, as its own proudly-advertised 'affirmative action' students are now trying to dictate which professors it should employ.

Lorgia García Peña, currently an associate professor of Romance languages and literatures at Harvard and the supposed centerpiece of Harvard's fledging Ethnic Studies program, was denied tenure in late November 2019. Her popularity among Latinx and other minority students, who were baffled and shocked by the decision, has led to sit-ins and protests, and an open letter to university administrators demanding the reversal of the tenure denial, with similar faculties from around the country chiming in with their support.

The New York Times reports that student fans of professor Peña feel that Harvard exploits their ethnic identities to meet admissions 'diversity' numbers, while their identities are taken for granted and their needs as marginalized students go unmet once they are on campus. They argue that their pet professor provides the recognition of their "stories" and "elevates their voices" as students from marginalized backgrounds.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

#WWIII draft fears takes down Selective Service website

Ros Krasny
Bloomberg Quint
Sun, 05 Jan 2020 01:19 UTC
Uncle Sam + Iran
© Dreamstime

Concerns that Washington may revive the draft to fight a new war in the Middle East spiked after the U.S. killed a top Iranian military leader in a drone strike, taking down the Selective Service System website.

Hashtags such as #WWIII, #WorldWarThree and #WorldWarThreeDraft all trended on Twitter after the U.S. took out Iran's Qassem Soleimani and announced that it was sending about 2,800 additional troops to the region -- a sudden and dramatic increase in tensions.

The system website crashed because of "the spread of misinformation," the agency said Friday on Twitter. Pages were loading intermittently on Saturday. Google searches for "draft age" also jumped in the U.S. on Friday.

Comment: Sputnik adds:
As talk of World War III has been all over the internet in the past 24 hours in the aftermath of the US drone strike that killed top Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, Selective Service System, a US government agency which pre-registers young men for the military draft, saw its website crash.

SSS went on Twitter to clarify the situation:


​It added that it was "conducting business as usual" and emphasised that a return to the draft is not imminent:

"In the event that a national emergency necessitates a draft, Congress and the president would need to pass official legislation," The Guardian cited the agency as saying.

On Saturday, after the Twitter panic had subsided, the SSS website was up and running, if slowly.

[...]

If you are required to register and you don't, you will not be eligible for federal student aid, federal job training, or a federal job. You may be prosecuted and face a fine of up to $250,000 and/or jail time of up to five years.

While maintaining that a return to the draft is unlikely, the SSS says it is prepared to "rapidly provide personnel in a fair and equitable manner while managing an alternative service programme for conscientious objectors".


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Eye 2

Orwellian misuse of AI: #MeTooBots that scan your work emails for 'harassment' will lead to more lawsuits and discrimination

Dr Norman Lewis
RT
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 19:36 UTC
employee harassment, #MeTooBots

The only outcome one can safely bet upon is that things will be missed or, more predictably, will lead to over-sensitive interpretations and thus more lawsuits, discrimination and the harassment of employees by their employers.
The rise of so-called #MeTooBots, which can identify certain digital bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace, is a sinister threat to privacy and an attempt to harness science to further a political and cultural offensive.

In what must be one of the most sinister developments of the new decade, #MeTooBots, developed by Chicago-based AI firm NextLP, which monitor and flag communications between employees, have been adopted by more than 50 corporations around the world, including law firms in London.

Capitalising on the high-profile movement that arose after allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, #MeTooBots might make good opportunist business sense for an AI company. But this is not a development that should be welcomed or sanctioned by AI enthusiasts or society as a whole.

This is not a new and exciting scientific application of the capabilities of AI or algorithmic intelligence.

Instead, it is an attempt to harness science to support the Culture War, to transform it into an all-encompassing presence in constant need of monitoring and scrutiny. This doesn't just threaten privacy, but the legitimacy of AI.

Comment: The #MeToo movement is already having unintended consequences in the workplace as men say they are now uncomfortable participating in regular work activities with women, including mentoring, working one-on-one or socializing. Will they now be less inclined to communicate as well? This does not bode well for the ability of female employees to 'stay in the loop' and many may find themselves marginalized at work.

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Cloud Lightning

Economists fear climate change could trigger financial meltdown

Nick Cunningham
Oil Price
Fri, 10 Jan 2020 18:00 UTC
stocks down
Trillions of dollars of market value could go up in smoke due to climate change.

The damage hits the global economy in multiple ways. The first is the most obvious. Physical damage from more powerful natural disasters is on the rise. 2017 and 2018 were the costliest back-to-back years for economic losses related to natural disasters, according to risk and reinsurance firm Aon.

But the danger grows worse when the physical damage starts to reprice portions of entire asset classes. One glaring example is the real estate market along coastlines, which will see both physical damage and a dramatic repricing as the threat becomes increasingly clear. That happens through a variety of mechanisms - people move away, zoning ordinances restrict building, insurance companies withdraw support, investors withdraw capital, etc.

Comment: Earth Changes certainly do pose a threat to an unprepared humanity but it seems not in the way the economists are forecasting, which is unsurprising because the mainstream is working with erroneous models that leave out the most significant drivers of climate on our planet. That said, institutions like insurance companies can provide insight into the very real damage being incurred by the current disasters plaguing our planet.

See also: And check out SOTT radio's: As well as SOTTs monthly report documenting the shift occurring on our planet:



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Cult

Pathetic virtue-signalling: A provincial English tribunal has declared 'ethical veganism' a 'protected characteristic'

Damian Wilson
RT
Sat, 04 Jan 2020 20:54 UTC
vegetarian vegan
© Eric McGregor
'Veggie Pride Parade' in New York City
The case of the vegan who sued the animal cruelty charity sounds like a joke set-up, but a low-level court's decision to grant the lifestyle the same protections as established religions makes a mockery of employment law.

For a landmark decision that could have decades-long ramifications, the whole affair has reeked of a low-budget farce.

We have a titan of the justice system, Judge Robert Postle, who sits on an employment tribunal in Norwich (Norwich!) deciding that, yes, "ethical veganism" is a philosophical belief and therefore protected by law as a "religion or belief" under the Equality Act 2010.

God help us and protect us from employment tribunal judges. What is it with these guys?

Comment:

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Fire

Aussie police say arsonists & lightning real cause of bushfires, NOT climate change

Paul Joseph Watson
Summit News
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 20:23 UTC
firenado australia 2020
© YouTube/3W-News
Authorities in Australia are working on the premise that arsonists and lightning strikes are to blame for bushfires that have devastated numerous areas of the country, not "climate change" as many global warming alarmists have claimed.

Since November, the fires have struck various regions of the state of New South Wales, destroying thousands of buildings and killing at least 22 people.

Despite the fact that bushfires are not uncommon in Australia, the severity of the damage led numerous climate change alarmists to blame the disaster on man-made global warming.

Comment: Common sense. The Aborigine populations knew this, and conducted yearly rotating burns of their hunting grounds to keep fuel from accumulating and to attract game to the new vegetation.

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Yellow Vest

Yellow Vests & pension reform protesters are far from giving up: Tear gas and flares on Paris streets AGAIN


RT
Sat, 04 Jan 2020 19:54 UTC
pension refom yellow vest protests france
© AFP / Francois Guillot
France's capital is heading for a new chaotic weekend, as anti-government Yellow Vests and protesters defying the upcoming pension reform have descended simultaneously upon its streets.

France has endured a full month of protests against the controversial reform - on Saturday, the general strike reached its 31st consecutive day. Moreover, Saturday's action coincided with Act 60 of the anti-government Yellow Vests protests that have been plaguing France for over a year now.

Comment: Even France's artists are involved.They speak for all the professions that take a toll on the body such as firefighters, construction and maintenance workers, manufacturing laborers, and others.
The dancers, on strike alongside public sector workers, oppose the government's plan to do away with more than 40 separate pension schemes and replace them with a single points-based system.

The special retirement plan for the Paris Opera, which allows dancers to bow out at age 42, was introduced in 1698 by king Louis XIV -- making it among the oldest in France.

"Even though we are on strike, we wanted to offer on December 24 a moment of grace," said Alexandre Carniato, a dancer and spokesman for the strikers.

"Despite the cold weather, the girls wanted to rise to the challenge and the musicians to accompany them."

The nearly three-week-old strike has paralysed public transport in France and forced the Paris Opera to cancel many performances, including Tuesday's programme.

"Everyone at the Opera is affected," dancer Eloise Jocqueviel, 23, told AFP. "It's our art which has been put in danger."

The performance of Swan Lake outside Palais Garnier demonstrated "15 years of sacrifice and daily work", said Carniato, 41, who started at the age of eight, practising five hours a day.

"If you want to continue to see beautiful dancers on stage, we can't continue to age 64, it's not possible," he said, referring to the proposed new age for a full pension.

"By 17-18 years old many of us have chronic injuries, tendinitis, fractures, knee problems," added Jocqueviel.



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Attention

Paris: Police kill knife attacker after park stabbing spree, French anti-terror prosecutor to investigate


DW
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 19:19 UTC
Police in a Paris suburb shot a man dead after he went on a rampage with a knife, killing one person and injuring two others. French officials gave no motive for his attack but believe he would have claimed more lives.
Paris police
A man stabbed and killed one person and injured two others in a knife attack on the outskirts of Paris on Friday before being shot dead by police.

The incident took place at around midday in a park in the town of Villejuif, about eight km (5 miles) south of central Paris, prosecutors said.

Franck Le Bohellec, the commune's mayor, identified the person who died as a 56-year-old local who was walking in the park with his wife at the time of the incident.

The two injured victims were being treated at a local hospital, said Laure Beccuau, the prosecutor whose office is examining the incident.

"The suspect tried to attack other victims during his murderous spree, who were able to escape," Beccuau told reporters.

Comment: France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has taken over the investigation into Friday's fatal knife attack near Paris.

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Snowflake

5 more 'problematic' behaviors for the woke squad's 'to ban next' list

Graham Dockery
RT
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 18:55 UTC
liberal snowflake protester screaming trump Inauguration
© YouTube / On Demand News
A woman screams at the heavens during the inauguration of President Donald Trump, 2017
The forces of social justice have been tireless in banning anything offensive, hurtful or 'problematic.' But why stop now? There's danger everywhere, and only the censor's stamp can save us.

Now that scantily-clad women are banned from sporting events, Santa has turned into Sustainability Pirate and 'Baby It's Cold Outside' has gotten a chastity-belted 2019 rework, the job is far from done - it's going to be a busy 2020 for the woke squad banning the next batch of problematic things. Like these.
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Camcorder

Women file lawsuit against 'modeling agency' for tricking them into making porn videos


RT
Sat, 04 Jan 2020 19:07 UTC
photo shoot
© Reuters / Edgard Garrido
The owners and operators of GirlsDoPorn are on the hook for $12.8 million in damages and face sex trafficking charges after a California court ruled they conned 22 women into appearing in porn videos posted online.

The women sued GirlsDoPorn for fraud, saying they were lured in with lucrative modeling gigs, then told they would be shooting porn, but only for foreign collectors and certainly not for the internet. The dishonest tactics "caused the videos to become common knowledge in plaintiffs' communities and among their relations and peers - the very thing that plaintiffs feared and that defendants expressly assured them would not happen," San Diego Superior Court Judge Enright wrote in his ruling on Thursday.

Enright found that the GirlsDoPorn CEO Michael Pratt, videographers Matthew Wolfe and Teddy Gyi, and a handful of other conspirators had engaged in "malice, oppression or fraud," and imposed a fine of $9.475 million in compensatory damages and $3.3 million in punitive damages. The deception, he said, occurred over the course of several years and caused severe harm to the victims.

"Collectively, they have experienced severe harassment, emotional and psychological trauma, and reputational harm; lost jobs, academic and professional opportunities, and family and personal relationships; and had their lives derailed and uprooted," the judge said.
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