Sunday morning ponderings
I had been under the impression I would not be going back to work until after the July 4th holiday but turns out I will return to the office next Wednesday. Partly by choice and partly due to necessity. The company requires those of us considered to be "seasonal employees" to take a break from employment for eight consecutive weeks each year. It is nice to get rest and I needed it after the most challenging tax season ever. The good news is that until classes begin again in August, I'm only going to have to work two (maybe three on occasion) days per week.
* * *
Look at these two different shoes. One is produced by the Ivanka Trump brand and the other by Aquazarra Italia.
Ivanka Trump's company is being sued by Aquazarra Italia, who is claiming that Ivanka's company has copied their designs.
It isn't the lawsuit itself that is newsworthy, but the tactic her attorneys tried to get her out of having to testify at a deposition in the matter is. Actually there were two specious claims made by her lawyers.
One was that she "...does not possess any unique information" relating to the design process of the shoes in question (there are other examples in the lawsuit). I'd wager money that until she stepped down from her post in her firm in order to work for the Liar-in-Chief that no design did not cross her desk for final approval.
The second reason her lawyers cited for their request to avoid letting her be deposed is that it would be too much of a distraction from her duties at the White House. That's just ridiculous.
In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v Jones that President Clinton would not be excused from the Paula Jones lawsuit against him. Now if Presidents aren't able to cite their duties to avoid civil litigation that predates their inauguration, a "Special Assistant" to the president shouldn't even waste a court's time asking to be excused from a deposition.
* * *
An adjunct professor at the University of Delaware has put her foot in her mouth (don't know if she was wearing a pair of Ivanka's shoes) and apparently been fired; because of a statement she made about the tragic death of Otto Warmbier.
Kathy Dettwyler is a professor of Anthropology and she wrote the following in a Facebook post:
Sorry Ms Dettwyler but you don't know a damn thing about what Mr. Warmbier did or did not do in North Korea. I think he was very foolish to travel there but there was no conclusive evidence that he did anything untoward. The video of his alleged attempt to steal a propaganda sign was not convincing to anyone outside the DPRK.
Worse yet, she posted this on the day that Otto Warmbier died.
* * *
From the "Its Not a Muslim Ban" file, the Cheeto-in-Chief broke with a tradition dating back to the Clinton Administration and did not hold a dinner to celebrate the end of the Muslim holiday Ramadan.
Was anyone surprised?
* * *
In Chicago's Dyke March this past Saturday, apparently it was not okay to carry this flag.
Why? Because apparently the Star of David in and of itself is an expression of Zionism. Because according to Ilianna Figueroa, a member of the Dyke March Collective:
"Yesterday during the rally we saw three individuals carrying Israeli flags super imposed on rainbow flags. Some folks say they are Jewish Pride flags. But as a Collective we are very much pro-Palestine, and when we see these flags we know a lot of folks who are under attack by Israel see the visuals of the flag as a threat, so we don't want anything in the [Dyke March] space that can inadvertently or advertently express Zionism."
You can read statements from both the Dyke March Collective and from A Wider Bridge (which describes itself as "the North American LGBTQ organization building support for Israel and its LGBTQ community" here.
What I don't get is that my perception of the LGBTQ movement is that it has been about inclusion, not exclusion. What's next, the exclusion of Log Cabin Republicans because of their political views?
* * *
The L.A. Times has an occasional feature, L.A. Affairs. This week's edition is one of the best written I've read yet.
* * *
Look at these two different shoes. One is produced by the Ivanka Trump brand and the other by Aquazarra Italia.
Ivanka Trump's company is being sued by Aquazarra Italia, who is claiming that Ivanka's company has copied their designs.
It isn't the lawsuit itself that is newsworthy, but the tactic her attorneys tried to get her out of having to testify at a deposition in the matter is. Actually there were two specious claims made by her lawyers.
One was that she "...does not possess any unique information" relating to the design process of the shoes in question (there are other examples in the lawsuit). I'd wager money that until she stepped down from her post in her firm in order to work for the Liar-in-Chief that no design did not cross her desk for final approval.
The second reason her lawyers cited for their request to avoid letting her be deposed is that it would be too much of a distraction from her duties at the White House. That's just ridiculous.
In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v Jones that President Clinton would not be excused from the Paula Jones lawsuit against him. Now if Presidents aren't able to cite their duties to avoid civil litigation that predates their inauguration, a "Special Assistant" to the president shouldn't even waste a court's time asking to be excused from a deposition.
* * *
An adjunct professor at the University of Delaware has put her foot in her mouth (don't know if she was wearing a pair of Ivanka's shoes) and apparently been fired; because of a statement she made about the tragic death of Otto Warmbier.
Kathy Dettwyler is a professor of Anthropology and she wrote the following in a Facebook post:
Sorry Ms Dettwyler but you don't know a damn thing about what Mr. Warmbier did or did not do in North Korea. I think he was very foolish to travel there but there was no conclusive evidence that he did anything untoward. The video of his alleged attempt to steal a propaganda sign was not convincing to anyone outside the DPRK.
Worse yet, she posted this on the day that Otto Warmbier died.
* * *
From the "Its Not a Muslim Ban" file, the Cheeto-in-Chief broke with a tradition dating back to the Clinton Administration and did not hold a dinner to celebrate the end of the Muslim holiday Ramadan.
Was anyone surprised?
* * *
In Chicago's Dyke March this past Saturday, apparently it was not okay to carry this flag.
Why? Because apparently the Star of David in and of itself is an expression of Zionism. Because according to Ilianna Figueroa, a member of the Dyke March Collective:
"Yesterday during the rally we saw three individuals carrying Israeli flags super imposed on rainbow flags. Some folks say they are Jewish Pride flags. But as a Collective we are very much pro-Palestine, and when we see these flags we know a lot of folks who are under attack by Israel see the visuals of the flag as a threat, so we don't want anything in the [Dyke March] space that can inadvertently or advertently express Zionism."
You can read statements from both the Dyke March Collective and from A Wider Bridge (which describes itself as "the North American LGBTQ organization building support for Israel and its LGBTQ community" here.
What I don't get is that my perception of the LGBTQ movement is that it has been about inclusion, not exclusion. What's next, the exclusion of Log Cabin Republicans because of their political views?
* * *
The L.A. Times has an occasional feature, L.A. Affairs. This week's edition is one of the best written I've read yet.
posted by me at 5:46 AM
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