Next Up In The Sexual Assault Allegations List

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lizmonster

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Ah. A genuine news story about ethics in gaming journalism.

Are we hearing massive support for this move from all the boys and men who were so very very keen on ethics in gaming journalism a few years ago?

They've moved on to defending the Google Bro. (Yes, the exact same guys, and why the press keeps giving T*d B*ale the attention he craves is completely beyond me.)
 

ElaineA

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I thought this was going to be about Steve Wynn. God save us from the creepy predatory old white men! Apparently some 3 digit number of allegations, over decades, exist against the Vegas casinio mogul. (linking to Vox because WSJ, who broke the story, is usually behind a paywall) He has allegedly paid at least one settlement of $7.5 million.

One allegation is that he brought women to his office and pressured them to have sex in a small room, with his trained German Shepherds present. The dogs only respond to commands in German. But she should have said no, I guess. *bangs head against cinder block wall*

He denies it all, of course. Blames his ex for spreading lies for a new divorce settlement. (Not sure about the 150 people interviewed by the WSJ. Maybe Soros paid them?)

The abuse was apparently well-known among Wynn’s employees — to the point that some took steps to protect one another. The Journal reported: “Former employees said they sometimes entered fake appointments in the books to help other female workers get around a request for services in Mr. Wynn’s office or arranged for others to pose as assistants so they wouldn’t be alone with him. They told of female employees hiding in the bathroom or back rooms when they learned he was on the way to the salon.”

Oh, also, Wynn is the RNC Finance Chair, so...yeah.
 
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Tazlima

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One allegation is that he brought women to his office and pressured them to have sex in a small room with his trained German Shepherds present.

Don't get me wrong, the situation is still 100% effed up, but I must say I'm SO glad you had the word "present" on the end of that sentence, because upon first reading...
 

BenPanced

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Well, it's been a tough winter for Old Scout over in Lake Wobegon. That beloved curmudgeon of public radio fame was dropped by Minnesota Public Radio and its parent company American Public Media back in November for allegations of "inappropriate behavior" with somebody who worked with him. Even though he'd left the flagship A Prairie Home Companion, he was still hosting the daily The Writer's Almanac and The Best Of A Prairie Home Companion; all of that ceased with these allegations.

MPR brass remained pretty schtum on the whole thing for a while.

Some MPR reporters came forward with more detailed information. Seems it wasn't "just the once"; there have been allegations made by several people over the years, including a separate lawsuit alleging age and sex discrimination filed against Keillor.

(The reporters are operating under a strict separation of the news division from the rest of the MPR company.)

MPR CEO John McTaggart issued a statement on why dropping Keillor was one of the hardest decisions he's made but he stands by it, detailing the information behind the decision.

Keillor responded to McTaggart's statement.

One of the women accusing Keillor said she'd received a contract, a check, and a nondisclosure agreement after it came to light they'd been romantically involved. None of the other contract workers in his staff got the NDA, which she'd never signed. She also never signed the contract or cashed the check. Keillor's calling "foul" and McTaggart's still standing behind his story.

So that's it for this week in Lake Wobegone. Stay in touch, do..things, and keep reaching for them stars!
 

BenPanced

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I just thought MPR was taking a "no tolerance" stance and ejected him for the one incident that was reported in the first story. It seemed incredibly reactionary on their part and that they were hoping to avoid a long, protracted PR nightmare in wake of Weinstein, et. al. I never really gave it a second thought until I popped onto the news site a couple days ago and started finding more information.
 

ElaineA

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I just thought MPR was taking a "no tolerance" stance and ejected him for the one incident that was reported in the first story. It seemed incredibly reactionary on their part and that they were hoping to avoid a long, protracted PR nightmare in wake of Weinstein, et. al. I never really gave it a second thought until I popped onto the news site a couple days ago and started finding more information.

This is a really important observation. A LOT of people think many of these instances are reactionary, but chances are pretty good people in the sphere in which the harassers operate know a lot more than the public does. It was certainly the case with Lauer, Halperin, the Met conductor, and...I could go on all day with this list. TL;DR Where there's fire, there was probably smoke.
 

CWatts

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One allegation is that he brought women to his office and pressured them to have sex in a small room, with his trained German Shepherds present. The dogs only respond to commands in German. But she should have said no, I guess. *bangs head against cinder block wall*

Don't get me wrong, the situation is still 100% effed up, but I must say I'm SO glad you had the word "present" on the end of that sentence, because upon first reading...

NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!!!!!!

As depraved as these powerful men are, even my mind wasn't going there...yet. Though I do wonder about Rick "man on dog" Santorum. Maybe he's got a furry costume in that faaaaabulous closet?
https://youtu.be/o8SwDtk5t8U

So that's it for this week in Lake Wobegone. Stay in touch, do..things, and keep reaching for them stars!

Guy Noir found out what really happens when all the women are strong.
 

Roxxsmom

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I just thought MPR was taking a "no tolerance" stance and ejected him for the one incident that was reported in the first story. It seemed incredibly reactionary on their part and that they were hoping to avoid a long, protracted PR nightmare in wake of Weinstein, et. al. I never really gave it a second thought until I popped onto the news site a couple days ago and started finding more information.

It seems like there are usually other things hiding in the woodwork when these decisions are made. Which should bring some reassurance to all those guys who are insisting that all it takes is one stray allegation without any evidence and they're sunk. I suspect it won't, though.
 

frimble3

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Lots of women (10 that have come forward), lots of allegations over a long period of time.
These are complaints that have resurfaced.
This is what there wasn't when that Neil deGrasse Tyson allegation appeared.
And, this is telling:"According to the Chronicle, other women who were harassed by Domínguez in later years did not report him because they feared Harvard would respond in a similarly anemic way".
Harvard had been told of his behavior in the early '80's, where he was warned and removed 'from administrative responsibilities' for three years. I don't know if this means his victims saw him strutting around campus or not.
But, he's tenured and hard to get rid of, so probably easier to wait for his victims to graduate and move on.:rant:
 
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Roxxsmom

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Lots of women (10 that have come forward), lots of allegations over a long period of time.
These are complaints that have resurfaced.
This is what there wasn't when that Neil deGrasse Tyson allegation appeared.
And, this is telling:"According to the Chronicle, other women who were harassed by Domínguez in later years did not report him because they feared Harvard would respond in a similarly anemic way".
Harvard had been told of his behavior in the early '80's, where he was warned and removed 'from administrative responsibilities' for three years. I don't know if this means his victims saw him strutting around campus or not.
But, he's tenured and hard to get rid of, so probably easier to wait for his victims to graduate and move on.:rant:

Never considering that there will simply be a new crop of victims. Though he serially harassed a fellow professor for years too.

Unsurprising that the institution would protect him, though. It is hard to get rid of tenured professors, and for good reason. Academic freedom is a concept that rarely comes up anymore, but without tenure protections, colleges and universities would have a lot more control over what their faculty teach and and research (and they would be free to treat the whole thing like a business). And academia would be far less appealing as a career, given the need for specialization and the difficulty of even finding positions that need one's specific skills, and given the relatively low pay compared to other professions that require years of postgraduate training.

However, it is always possible to fire tenured faculty who violate their contracts or engage in illegal or damaging behavior on the institution's dime, so to speak. The reason they don't pursue these cases as often as they should is because 1. They are afraid of the bad publicity, 2. Some faculty bring a lot of money and prestige to schools with their grants and publications, and 3. The process of collecting evidence and holding hearings needed to fire someone is long and drawn out, and of course harassment cases often come down to two people with different versions of events 4. They fear lawsuits if they do fire the faculty in question. 5. Often these faculty are also very popular, at least in some quarters, so dismissal will always be controversial and lead to internal issues with factions forming and lines being drawn.

From my own experience, schools are terrified of lawsuits these days, both because of the cost and because of the bad PR.

Easier to chug along, pretending ignorance or pretending that the matter was handled "internally" to everyone's satisfaction.
 

ElaineA

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From my own experience, schools are terrified of lawsuits these days, both because of the cost and because of the bad PR.

Easier to chug along, pretending ignorance or pretending that the matter was handled "internally" to everyone's satisfaction.

Harvard's sitting on some kind of Billion dollar endowment and a reputation that would survive stepping out and risking a lawsuit to protect its students and faculty from a serial harasser. Not saying you're wrong at all Roxxsmom. Rather, that in this particular case it's an egregious wrong made even more egregious by the sort of weighing and measuring you detail. Bleh.
 

Roxxsmom

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Harvard's sitting on some kind of Billion dollar endowment and a reputation that would survive stepping out and risking a lawsuit to protect its students and faculty from a serial harasser. Not saying you're wrong at all Roxxsmom. Rather, that in this particular case it's an egregious wrong made even more egregious by the sort of weighing and measuring you detail. Bleh.

Yeah, Harvard is something of a special case, because of its prestige and because of the huge amount of money it gets from non-government sources. This makes its circling the wagons to protect harassers even more disgusting, imo.

Not that I'm excusing state schools and less celebrated colleges when they do it either. It's an institutional issue that needs to be addressed. At the community college where I teach, they're big on the sexual harassment prevention training videos now, but I can't get past the feeling that this is partially so the administration can wash heir hands and say, "Hey, we complied with the requirement for training," if there ever is a case that results in a lawsuit. Not because they're horrible people, but because everything seems to be driven by that fear of being sued these days, so much so that they lose track of the actual reason something is harmful to the school and its personnel, lawsuit or no lawsuit.
 
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nighttimer

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Sexual harassment is one thing. Sexual assault another.

Assault and Battery is quite another. Video has emerged of former Houston Astros prospect, Danry Vasquez beating his girlfriend following a 2016 practice.

Warning: If you were upset by the footage of Ray Rice beating his girlfriend this is just as bad.


Former Houston Astros prospect Danry Vasquez has been released by his current Atlantic League club after video of a domestic violence incident became public this week. The video shows the player hitting his girlfriend multiple times after a practice with the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Astros’ Double-A affiliate, in August 2016. Vasquez was arrested on domestic violence charges at the time and released by the Astros, but the video of the beating was unseen by the public until this week.

Here is the graphic, violent video, obtained via an open records request by KRIS in Corpus Christi:

Vasquez and his girlfriend initially enter the stairwell at the Hooks’ ballpark with no indication that anything is wrong, but suddenly, Vasquez winds up and hits her twice, and she slides down the stairs. Vasquez then grabs her by the hair, stands her up, and hits her again. As she moves towards the next flight of stairs, Vasquez says something to her and leaves.

The video then cuts ahead, with Vasquez returned. He and his girlfriend walk down the next flight of stairs as Vasquez continues talking to her, and as they reach the bottom, he hits her in the back of the head, as she stumbles to the ground.

You know what I'm wondering? The same thing I always wonder when a video comes out of a sadistic brute beating the hell out of a helpless, terrified woman.

Who is this woman and where is she now?
 

regdog

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49ers Reuben Foster who is accused of violent assaulting his girlfriend.

According to the DA’s office, on Feb. 11th the victim flagged down a stranger’s car driving on Shannon Road in Los Gatos and asked for help. When officers arrived, the girlfriend told them that Foster had dragged by her hair, physically threw her out of the house and punched her 8-10 times in the head.


Link
 
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