Missing stair is a metaphor for a person within a social group who many people know is untrustworthy or otherwise has to be "managed", but who they work around by trying to quietly warn others rather than deal with openly. The reference is to a dangerous structural fault such as a missing stair in a home, which residents have become used to and accepting of, and which is not fixed or signposted, but which (most) newcomers are warned about.
Tag: sexual abuse
With Kevin Armstrong, Dan Wetzel, Patrick Haggan, Stephen Ziogas. What led to the murderous fall and shocking death of former NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez?
Episode 1: Aaron's arrest for the inexplicable murder of Odin Lloyd shocks the sports world, and his life and relationships before stardom are explored.
Episode 2: Red flags arise during the athlete's college days in Florida, but the NFL still comes calling. Aaron's relationship with a criminal comes into focus.
Episode 3: The spectacle of the first trial ends, and Aaron hires a celebrity lawyer for his second trial. Doctors study the impact of Aaron's concussions.
Watched all three episodes, albeit a bit passively while reading and doing other things. Certainly an interesting story. There’s a lot more subtlety than I’d seen or heard during the original episode(s).
👓 #MeToo law restricts use of nondisclosure agreements in sexual misconduct cases | LA Times
Among victims and advocates, an important step in dismantling the pervasive problem of harassment and the system that has kept it under wraps for so long is to void or curb the use of NDAs to settle sexual abuse cases.
The tough part is recreating a better system and predicting the potential future abuses that may continue in such a system. How do we enforce fairness fairly? What unintended consequences might there be?
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Letting Louis C.K. Back Onstage | New York Times
Nine months after admitting to sexual misconduct with multiple women, Louis C.K. dropped into a New York City comedy club unannounced and tried to make a comeback. And then he returned, again and again. We talk to the club owner who gave him that stage.
An interesting story that brings up an important philosophical question. It’s one thing for phenomenally rich people who could otherwise have retired and disappeared, but how this plays out will also inform how it will affect other lesser famous people going forward as well.
👓 Archbishop apologises over handling of abuse claims against Tolkien son | the Guardian
Church paid settlement to avoid disclosing knowledge of indecency in 1968, hearing told
🎧 The Daily: The War Inside the Catholic Church | New York Times
Vatican intrigues usually remain behind the walls. But a new accusation levied against Pope Francis has laid bare ideological rifts.
🎧 The Daily: A Culture of Secrecy That Perpetuated Abuse | New York Times
A sweeping report issued by a grand jury in Pennsylvania sheds new light on the systemic nature of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
👓 We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage | Buzz Feed News
Millions of American children were placed in orphanages. Some didn’t make it out alive.
Finally getting back to read the second half of this harrowing article. People can be horrid, but it really pains me that the Catholic Church could have been this violently horrible. This makes the Inquisition look like a field day.
🎧 The Daily: What the F.B.I. Found (and Didn’t Find) | New York Times
Republicans and Democrats clashed over the agency’s report on Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, mirroring a nation as divided as ever over the Supreme Court nominee.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Kavanaugh’s Classmates Speak Out | New York Times
Former acquaintances of the Supreme Court nominee say that the image he’s been presenting doesn’t quite match the Brett Kavanaugh they knew in school.
It would certainly seem that Kavanaugh has deliberately lied and misled the Senate on his background and drinking. As a job interview he has failed spectacularly and can’t possibly be the best person for this job regardless of his other qualifications.
👓 We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage | Buzz Feed
Millions of American children were placed in orphanages. Some didn’t make it out alive.
Literally Holy Shit!
👓 Why is Max Nikias still hanging around? USC needs to move faster to find new leadership | LA Times
USC needs to be moving full steam ahead on new leadership capable of governing the university with accountability, transparency and ethics.
👓 MSU spent $500K in January to monitor social media accounts of Nassar victims, others | Lansing State Journal
I can’t imagine that they even came close to getting $500K worth of value out of whatever this company produced for them.
👓 Another USC medical school dean resigns | Washington Post
The University of Southern California announced Thursday that Rohit Varma has resigned as dean of the Keck School of Medicine. He had replaced a dean who was banned from campus after allegations of drug use and partying.
I’ve been so busy in the last month, I had to do a double-take at the word ANOTHER!
The statement USC released seems highly disingenuous and inconsistent to me.
“As you may have heard, today Dr. Rohit Varma resigned as dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC,” the school’s provost, Michael Quick, wrote in a message to the community.
“I understand how upsetting this situation is to all of us, but we felt it was in the best interest of the faculty, staff, and students for all of us to move in this direction. Today we learned previously undisclosed information that caused us to lose confidence in Dr. Varma’s ability to lead the school. Our leaders must be held to the highest standards. Dr. Varma understands this, and chose to step down.”
First they say Varma resigned as dean which makes it seem as if he’s stepping aside of his own accord when the next paragraph indicates that the University leadership has lost confidence in him and forced him out. So which is it? He resigned or was fired?
Secondly they mentioned “undisclosed information”. This is painful because the so-called undisclosed information was something that USC was not only aware of, but actually paid off a person involved to the tune of more than $100,000!
USC paid her more than $100,000 and temporarily blocked Varma from becoming a full member of the faculty, according to the records and interviews.
“The behavior you exhibited is inappropriate and unacceptable in the workplace, reflects poor judgment, is contrary to the University’s standards of conduct, and will not be tolerated at the University of Southern California,” a USC official wrote in a 2003 letter of reprimand.”
Even the LA Times reports: “The sexual harassment allegation is well known in the upper echelons of the university, but not among many of the students and staff.” How exactly was this “undisclosed?!”
So, somehow, a person who was formally reprimanded years ago (and whose reprimands were later greatly lessened by the way) was somehow accidentally promoted to dean of an already embattled division of the university?? I’m not really sure how he even maintained his position after the original incident much less subsequently promoted and allowed to continue on to eventually be appointed dean years later. Most shocking, there was no mention of his other positions at USC. I take this to mean that he’s still on the faculty, he’s still on staff at the hospital, and he’s still got all the rights and benefits of his previous positions at the University? I sincerely hope that he learned his lesson in 2003, but suspect that he didn’t, and if this is the case and others come forward, he will be summarily dispatched. For the University’s sake, I further hope they’re looking into it internally with a fine-toothed comb before they’re outed again by the Los Angeles Times reporting staff who seem to have a far higher level of morality than the USC leadership over the past several years.
During a month which has seen an inordinate amount of sexual harassment backlash, I’m shocked that USC has done so very little and has only acted (far too long after-the-fact) to sweep this all under the rug.