Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalWashington Spirit CEO resigns amid reckoning in National Women's Soccer League
Steve Baldwin, the controlling owner and top executive of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, said Tuesday that he would step down from his position as CEO and managing partner following allegations of a toxic workplace at the team and abuse allegations against the team’s former coach.
Spirit players had written a letter to Baldwin, obtained by The Washington Post, asking that he “resign as CEO and Managing Partner.” Twenty-seven players signed the letter, which was given to Baldwin and the league’s leadership.
“We do not feel like we can recover from all that has been revealed in 2021,” the letter reads. "Under your leadership, the trust and the faith in the organization has broken.”
Baldwin said in a statement Tuesday that he had "listened — to team leadership and staff, investors, fans, and players — to concerns about the Spirit’s workplace culture and our prior coach’s conduct.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/05/steven-baldwin-washington-spirit-nwsl-resigns/
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The saga continues
Washington Spirit CEO resigns amid reckoning in National Women's Soccer League
Steve Baldwin, the controlling owner and top executive of the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, said Tuesday that he would step down from his position as CEO and managing partner following allegations of a toxic workplace at the team and abuse allegations against the team’s former coach.
Spirit players had written a letter to Baldwin, obtained by The Washington Post, asking that he “resign as CEO and Managing Partner.” Twenty-seven players signed the letter, which was given to Baldwin and the league’s leadership.
“We do not feel like we can recover from all that has been revealed in 2021,” the letter reads. "Under your leadership, the trust and the faith in the organization has broken.”
Baldwin said in a statement Tuesday that he had "listened — to team leadership and staff, investors, fans, and players — to concerns about the Spirit’s workplace culture and our prior coach’s conduct.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/10/05/steven-baldwin-washington-spirit-nwsl-resigns/
Opinion: Closing Rikers Island is a matter of life and death
Isaabdul Karim wasn’t sentenced to death. In fact, he was never sentenced at all. But after the father of two was accused of a non-violent parole violation and sent to Rikers Island, on Sept. 19 he became the 11th person this year to die in a New York city jail.
A wheelchair user with health complications, Karim was kept in an intake cell for 10 days without adequate access to food or medication. His lawyers asked for early release in a hearing cut short when Karim suffered an asthma attack; before Karim could return to court, he contracted covid-19 and died.
Karim is just one victim of Rikers’s horrific conditions. Nearly 6,000 people are detained there, most of whom await trial. Detainees have gone without food, water, toilets, showers, or access to lawyers and doctors. And chronic mismanagement — staff shifts are still organized on index cards — has left the prison unable to handle hundreds of employees calling out sick, even though the remaining officer-to-prisoner ratio is well above the national average.
It’s a civil rights emergency, of the kind endemic in U.S. jails and prisons. Millions of incarcerated people face conditions so violent they trigger PTSD, and so unhealthy that covid-19 has spread in jails and prisons at more than five times the rate it spread through the U.S. population. Increasingly common climate disasters such as Hurricane Ida force even more incarcerated people across the country into unsanitary, dangerous facilities.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/05/rikers-island-death-crisis/
This Man Lost 20% of His Brain Tissue. Missouri Still Wants to Execute Him.
As a result of having fetal alcohol syndrome and a brain tumor, Ernest Lee Johnson has an IQ around 69, according to various tests. But the state of Missouri plans to execute the intellectually disabled Black man Tuesday night anyway, a move that civil rights advocates have decried as a grave abuse of the law.
“Killing those who lack the intellectual ability to conform their behavior to the law is morally and legally unconscionable,” Missouri U.S. Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver wrote in a letter to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson last Friday. “The fact of the matter is that these death sentences are not about justice. They are about who has institutional power and who doesn’t. Like slavery and lynching did before it, the death penalty perpetuates cycles of trauma, violence, and state-sanctioned murder in Black and brown communities.”
Johnson was sentenced to death for the February 1994 murders of three convenience store workers: Mary Bratcher, 46, Fred Jones, 58, and Mable Scruggs, 57. Johnson beat, stabbed, and shot the three employees during a closing-time robbery and hid their bodies in a walk-in cooler.
But as heinous as his crimes are, Johnson’s mental disability should make his execution morally and constitutionally wrong, experts say. The now 61-year-old was born with fetal alcohol syndrome due to his mother’s battle with addiction, which impedes cognitive development in children. And in 2008, Johnson had surgery for a brain tumor that resulted in the removal of 20 percent of his brain tissue, which further impacted his mental capacity. Tests show that his IQ is well below 90, the average for most people, according to the Washington Post.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx5vpy/ernest-lee-johnson-execution-missouri
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Another in the long litany of reasons why I am against the death penalty. Lord have mercy.
Facebook Knew Its Algorithm Fed QAnon Content to Users Within a Week
Facebook knew its recommendation algorithm was a problem, so it set up a study to test out just how bad the problem was.
In the study, entitled “Carol’s Journey to QAnon—A Test User Study of Misinfo & Polarization Risks Encountered through Recommendation Systems,” Facebook set up some brand-new accounts.
Each of these accounts followed a small number of high-quality or verified conservative-interest pages, such as Fox News, former President Donald Trump, and former first lady Melania Trump. The study found that “within just one day, Page recommendations had already devolved toward polarizing content.”
Within two days, recommendations began to include conspiracy content. “It took less than 1 week to get a QAnon recommendation,” the report found.
The shocking revelations about how Facebook mishandled the rise of QAnon—as well as other militarized social movements—are revealed in one of eight whistleblower complaints filed by former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week and published by CBS on Monday evening.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx5v4y/facebooks-algorithm-spread-qanon-content-to-new-users
The ladies are suddenly more affectionate---connection?
I don't know whether there's a connection or not, but Saturday night as we rolled in from the gem show we were doing in Charlottesville, we got out of the car to a hellacious amount of screaming and shouting and carrying on from the house across the road. Now, I won't say this is ordinary behavior for a Saturday night, but neither is it unusual. The inhabitants thereof are a young couple (he inherited the property from his father, who built most of the houses on this stretch of road, including ours) who I would charitably describe as redneck. They are nice enough when not drinking but do have to be reminded to curb their dogs (pit bulls, who think they own the area) and are loud when alcohol is involved. And they own guns. Lots of them. Anyway, there was all this screaming and yelling and the dogs were carrying on. The cats came to the porch to greet us and acted not only hungry but clingy, as if genuinely scared. I went down and fed them immediately, as I always do when we come in and I haven't yet. The noise from across the road increased and at least one dog was actually screaming. I decided that if it didn't stop I was calling the law because it sounded like an animal was being tortured or was hurt and I wasn't putting up with that. Then I heard a car take off with a screech of tires and when I got upstairs it was eerily quiet. I listened for awhile and there was no more noise, no dogs or anything, and it was dark over there.
Since then, both cats have been much more affectionate. Where before neither one had allowed petting anywhere but their "feeding station", they now, even shy Vicky, allow me to pet them on the front porch and they are more clingy at the feeding station. Of course it's also getting close to their "gotcha day" which is next Tuesday---maybe they are expecting a cake and presents?
Clinton High School students stage walk-out; officer's confrontation with Black student was a breaki
A student led walk-out at Clinton High School happened today following a confrontation between a Black student and a deputy in Anderson Co. Sheriff's Office. Clinton students called what happened Friday a "breaking point."
"It was just the final nail in the block of wood that split it. We were tired of everything that was happening. But it does play a big part because it shows to a more of a public eye what goes on," said Cashus Arnes, a student at Clinton HS.
The details of exactly what took place Friday are unclear but video on social media shows a confrontation between an officer and a Black student. At one point, the video shows that student on the ground. The sheriff's office says they're investigating
"As a student body, we see that we have recognized that equality is the only thing that we will stand for. And today made us have a little bit of a breakthrough on to how to get towards walking to equality," Arnes says.
The district says they support and are proud of their students, saying this is what education is about.
https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/clinton-high-school-students-stage-walk-out-officers-confrontation-with-black-student-was-a-breaking-point/51-554bba24-14d1-419a-95b9-565f386efe21
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When I contrast this with Clinton 1970, just before I moved to TN. 
These People Are Lining Up for 10 Hours to Get Their Country Out of the 'Dark Ages'
It was still dark when Maui Mauricio, a video producer in Manila, Philippines, arrived at the driveway of a mall where the government was registering voters for next year’s elections. He made sure to be there by 4 a.m. because when he came at 7 a.m. the previous day, the line was already so long that he didn’t make the cut.
“I’ve always been an intrinsically politically neutral guy, but the past few years have changed that,” Mauricio, who at 38 was registering to vote for the first time, told VICE World News. “Who are we kidding? Our society is pretty fucked.”
It’s the final month of voter registration for the May 2022 polls, and it’s shaping up to be an exciting contest, with the likes of boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and former matinee idol Francisco Moreno running for president.
At least 63 million Filipinos have registered to vote so far, and even more are turning up in droves at sign-up centers in malls and public halls amid the country’s worst wave of COVID-19 infections yet. Despite the risks posed by the pandemic, the lines and wait times are longer than previous years, according to a poll watchdog.
The sign-up rate, currently at 85 percent of eligible voters, has exceeded those from previous polls. Observers have attributed the enthusiasm to frustration with the government’s handling of the pandemic as well as to the appeal of celebrity candidates.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7e933/philippines-elections-duterte-voter-registration
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Important because A: The Philippines are our allies and strategically important, and B: I read that Philippine T***p-clone Duterte is "retiring from politics"
NWSL shows how to deliver actual accountability
First, The Athletic reported on Thursday about allegations of sexual coercion and misconduct by North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley.
By Thursday afternoon, Riley was fired by the NWSL team.
Friday, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association announced that its members had asked and been granted their request that the league postpone this weekend’s games, “to give players space to process this pain,” not just of the abuse perpetrated by Riley, but systemically.
“This was not an easy decision, as there is nothing we love more than playing for our fans,” the players said in a statement. “Suiting up for game day under the lights in front of wildly supportive fans is what brings us joy. We refuse to let that joy be taken from us. We also recognize, however, that mental health struggles are real. We know that many of our fans made travel plans, scheduled the night off, or juggled family commitments to attend our games and that this decision impacts you, too. We hope that fans will understand and support us through this time. This is far from over for any of us.
“As players, we hope that those who read this statement will hear that it is ok to not be ok. It is ok to take space to process, to feel, and to take care of yourself. In fact, it’s more than ok. It’s a priority.”
And then, Friday night, NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird was out.
https://deadspin.com/nwsl-shows-how-to-deliver-actual-accountability-1847787508
NWSL shows how to deliver actual accountability
First, The Athletic reported on Thursday about allegations of sexual coercion and misconduct by North Carolina Courage head coach Paul Riley.
By Thursday afternoon, Riley was fired by the NWSL team.
Friday, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association announced that its members had asked and been granted their request that the league postpone this weekend’s games, “to give players space to process this pain,” not just of the abuse perpetrated by Riley, but systemically.
“This was not an easy decision, as there is nothing we love more than playing for our fans,” the players said in a statement. “Suiting up for game day under the lights in front of wildly supportive fans is what brings us joy. We refuse to let that joy be taken from us. We also recognize, however, that mental health struggles are real. We know that many of our fans made travel plans, scheduled the night off, or juggled family commitments to attend our games and that this decision impacts you, too. We hope that fans will understand and support us through this time. This is far from over for any of us.
“As players, we hope that those who read this statement will hear that it is ok to not be ok. It is ok to take space to process, to feel, and to take care of yourself. In fact, it’s more than ok. It’s a priority.”
And then, Friday night, NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird was out.
https://deadspin.com/nwsl-shows-how-to-deliver-actual-accountability-1847787508
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