Thoughts on the political campaigns (major party edition)

In the past, the blog has covered national politics more often than I usually do now!

Well, today, I'm back at it!

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 Republicans

At this point, it will be Donald Trump that will be the Republican nominee for President.

AS mentioned in the earlier blog post, Donald Trump has proven that many of the so-called "conservatives" don't really care much about the so-called "conservative" ideology when it comes to abortion, pornography, free-market economics, foreign policy or even respecting the veterans. Their main priority is going around saying "hey, look at me everyone, I'm being politically incorrect by hating on Mexicans  & Muslims"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/01/trump-and-real-conservatism.html


All the effort by the Bushes to encourage the Republicans to do outreach with Latinos and other minorities has gone down the drain!


Part of it is due to the reluctance of pro-immigration Republicans like Jeb Bush to aggressively fight back against Donald Trump's rhetoric.

Another is that there were 17 candidates competing for attention, whereas Hillary Clinton mostly just had to deal with Bernie Sanders on the Democrat side.

The 17 candidates included governors (ie Bobby Jindal, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich) and senators (Mark Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul), all of whom with great political experience that might've let them shine if there wasn't so much competition for the limelight!

There was also entrepreneur Carly Fiorina and award-winning doctor Ben Carson in the mix!


 But Donald Trump came in doing what he knew best -- getting attention by being his usual abrasive self! 

He didn't apologize for anything and didnt back down when proven wrong!


This scared the other candidates who were only prepared to campaign against the usual boring politicians!

Ted Cruz was the best prepared of Trump's opponents!   Though he isn't the most lovable candidate, he wasn't as abrasive as Trump, but he wasn't a wussy pushover like Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, etc.

Chris Christie might've shined if Donald Trump wasn't around! Christie is like the classroom bully who realizes the new bully is now in the room!  It was even more pathetic when Christie dropped out of the race and was so submissive to Trump afterwards!

Ben Carson might've been the inspirational story of an inner-city Detroit kid who became a top-rated neurosurgeon who also made speeches, but was unprepared for the national ridicule of his controversial statements.

Marco Rubio had potential as the young guy in tune with modern pop culture, the Pitbull (as in Mr Worldwide) of politics, but he said too many cliches, and he only made humorous comments against Donald Trump when it was too little too late!


Donald Trump didn't even win the majority of the voters in the early primaries/caucuses, nobody did! But with so much competition early on, getting about 35% of the vote was enough to give Trump victory  (and in some cases, all the delegates).

Just imagine if it was only Donald Trump vs Ted Cruz in the early primaries/caucuses
Just imagine if there was no Jeb, no Marco, no Jindal, no Carson, no Fiorina, no Christie, no Kasich
Just imagine if it was just Trump vs Cruz, just like it was just Clinton vs Sanders on the Democrat side


That might've meant Ted Cruz would've won more of the early voting states, and  Donald Trump might've been in the same position that Bernie Sanders is now:  lots of crowds, lots of noise, but also 2nd place!


I think the same might've been the case if it was just John Kasich vs Donald Trump, or if it was just (fill in blank) vs Donald Trump!



---------------------

The political trends showed that Trump dominated the South and the Northeast, whereas Cruz dominated the Great Plains  and Rocky Mountains.   Or if you go by stereotypes, Trump won the states with a "rowdy" reputation, and Cruz won the states with a more "quiet" reputation.


Micheal Barone (one of the premier experts on political voting patterns) mentioned about how social connectedness affected which states were won by Trump or Cruz
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/2016/03/29/does-social-connectedness-explain-trumps-appeal-n2139922

Looking over the election returns, I sense that Trump's support comes disproportionately from those with low social connectedness. My first clues came from the Dutch. Heavily Dutch-American counties in northwest and central Iowa and western Michigan, around Grand Rapids, were Huckabee and Santorum territory in past years.

This year, unlike surrounding territory, they voted for Ted Cruz, with Trump a poor third. Dutch-Americans have dense networks of churches and civic groups -- unusually high social connectedness.

I saw something similar in strong Huckabee/Santorum southern Missouri. Southeast Missouri voted heavily for Trump, but southwest Missouri for Cruz. Southeast Missouri has high rates of disability insurance, an indicator of low workforce participation and low social connectedness. Southwest Missouri, headquarters of the Assemblies of God, has dense networks of civically active churches.

Similarly, exit polls show Trump doing worse with evangelicals who attend church weekly than with those who don't. This helps explain why Trump carried South Carolina and lost Oklahoma, where church attendance is higher.

Then there is majority-Mormon Utah, whose Mormon majority has higher social connectedness than any other American group. Only 14 percent of Utah Republicans voted for Trump.

Putnam reports that social connectedness is highest in states with large Scandinavian- and German-American populations and in Utah. It's lowest in -- no surprise -- Nevada, one of Trump's best states.

Democrats

On the Democrat side, there was Hillary Clinton vs Bernie Sanders.


Yeah, there was Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee at the start, but they gain no traction. Jim Webb was too conservative for most Democrats, Martin O'Malley's reputation was ruined with the Baltimore riots last year, and Lincoln Chafee just doesn't excite crowds.

But Bernie Sanders excite crowds.

Whereas many assumed Hillary Clinton will just skate through the primaries just on name recognition alone, Bernie Sanders gained momentum by appealing to angry young liberals who feel that Hillary Clinton was just "business as usual".

Many young millennials are angry that they are (or will be) saddled with huge education debts and wonder "why can't we be more like Germany, which offers free college education for all?" They also wondered "why can't we have more government-subsidized health care?" and "why can't we have a higher minimum wage?"

Many of those millennials grew up in a time affected by the 2008 recession in which many of their parents were either laid off, had hours reduced or were just affected by rising costs. The 2008 recession made many millennials suspicious of the benefits of capitalism and wanted an economic system more like the Scandinavian countries.

While many Scandinavian countries had the reputations of being "socialists", their economies are mostly capitalists, with more government benefits added to the mix.

Also, in this day & age, many people chose to identify themselves with the slurs once used against them.  It's like "you conservatives call me socialist? Oh yeah, I'm socialist then!" Sort of like NWA calling themselves...................NWA, or female rappers calling themselves the "baddest b----"


Bernie Sanders was more lenient on gun control, mostly due to Vermont being a rural state without much violence. But even then, he supported background checks. But he didn't agree with suing gun-makers for what people do with them. Being that most of his campaign was done before the Orlando shootings, his leniency on gun issues wasn't yet the "instant ewww" that could drive progressives away.

However, Bernie Sanders couldn't overcome the financial advantages and political connections that Hillary Clinton.

For one thing, Hillary Clinton had strong connections throughout the North and the South!  Bernie Sanders only had experience in the Northeast (being that he was born in New York and spent his adult years in Vermont).

Bernie Sanders did protest for civil rights in the 1960's, but spent most of his political career in Vermont, which is overwhelmingly European-American.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton (while born in Illinois, and went to college in the Northeast) married Bill Clinton of Arkansas, and therefore gained major political connections throughout the South. She then moved to New York after her husband's presidency.

Therefore, Hillary Clinton already had a strong network of African-American politicians and ministers to help her while campaigning in the South, as well as in the Northeast.  She also had strong Puerto Rican connections in New York. Add to that, Bernie Sanders not taking Fidel Castro's human rights violations seriously hurt him big time in Florida, which has a Cuban-American population traumatized by Fidel Castro!

With Hillary's support among older African-American & Latino voters gave the image that Bernie Sanders only getting "white voters", while ignoring that younger African-American & Latinos more likely to support Bernie Sanders than their older counterparts.

That plus Sanders getting victories in mostly "white" states in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains.

However, in late March, when Sanders won Hawaii (mostly Asians & Pacific Islanders), Washington State (lots of Asians in Seattle) and Alaska (lots of Asians and Inuits),  CNN still insisted on emphasizing that Bernie Sanders winning "white states". Hawaii a white state?  Are you kidding me?

That led to the hashtag #BernieMadeMeWhite  by many non-white Sanders supporters.

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/why-berniemademewhite-was-trending-after-sanders-160148852.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/berniemademewhite-meet-the-black-writer-who-called-out-the-media-for-erasing-people-of-color/ 


But by the time the campaign moved to California, Hillary Clinton pretty much got all the pledged delegates she needed!  Had California voted in April (few weeks after Hawaii, Washington, Alaska), Sanders might've had a better chance!


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Another thing, Hillary Clinton was seen as the more "centrist" candidate but yet getting more African-American support. This disproves the stereotype promoted by many BLM activists that African-Americans are super-left-wing.  They're not!   Yes, they want more government funding of community programs and definitely want a less oppressive law enforcement system. But the older ones who are more likely to vote aren't going to agree with BLM protests that alienated potential allies (ie blocking traffic, making loud chants at university libraries). 

Also, despite the protest at a South Carolina fundraiser, most African-Americans in South Carolina understood  when Hillary Clinton was referring to young gang-members as "super-predators", that she was NOT referring to young African-Americans (or other non-white minorites)  in general, but was referring specifically to youth gang members!



Also, while many African-American and Latinos want more funding of community programs and less oppressive law enforcement (both things making them more likely to side with liberals), many of them are also socially conservative and want incremental change promised by Hillary Clinton rather than radical change promised by Bernie Sanders.

Also, as voting trends showed in Hawaii, Alaska and Washington State,   the Asians & Pacific Islanders were more likely to support Bernie Sanders than African-Americans or Latinos.   Those difference might disappoint those who want more unity among so-called "people of color" but different cultural groups are appealed to different ways.

Though in a more positive note, Bernie Sanders proved that a Jewish person can gain the vote of many Arab-American voters, as was shown by results in Michigan and Illinois where many Arab-Americans have settled.


-----------------------




Bernie Sanders does have a loud voice and didn't back down from defending his ideas.

but even with that, I thought he should've been more agressive against Hillary Clinton's weaknesses


Last year, in a debate, he said he was sick of hearing about Hillary Clinton's email controversy!

Bad move! He could've easily use the email controversy as a way to show Hillary Clinton couldn't be trusted!


Also,  he could've took advantage of the sexual abuse allegations against Bill Clinton against Hillary Clinton!

You see this ad by Donald Trump targeting Bill Clinton's sexual abuse allegations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyI2okq4h1U


People might view that ad as being hypocritical for Donald Trump to make................but................ that ad would've worked better if Bernie Sanders made it because Sanders doesn't have the bully reputation that Trump has!


Also, that type of ad would've been an effective counter-punch against Radical Feminists who tired to shame millennial women who refused to vote Hillary Clinton!

Librarians who hate evolution theories

So much drama with the LIS Program, and that only now I got around to this

I already had 3 post on Professional Victim Professor: part 1 ,  part 2,  part 3

another about Database Man:
another about Intellectual Freedom Frauds


--------------------------

Here's another group of folks to be exposed to the light


Here's an excerpt from an earlier blog post about my experience in LIS 682: Books & Media for Young Adults


http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/08/uhm-summer-session-2015.html

Sometimes, things did get contentious, when one student talk about media & body image issues. I told the class I think that body image issue has more to do with evolution than the media, and that student wouldn't even let me finish. She ranted about "cultural constructs" and whole bunch of nonsense I refuted at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/08/this-stuff-happens-everywhere-not-just.html

The strange thing is this type of disruptive nonsense NEVER happened to me when I was majoring in sociology during my undergraduate years! And sociology as you know is a topic with tons of controversial topics. 

That student did apologize, but then I had to have meeting with the professor and the LIS Chair (who I don't even trust, due to how he handled my internship issue at HSL) because I was "yelling". One, that "yelling" is NOTHING how loud I can really yell. Two, I only raised my voice because that other student kept interrupting me!  Yeah, I know that me raising my voice isn't good practice for being a librarian dealing with crazy patrons.  But still....................

Well, the professor in this case was Jan Kamiya!  The student who interrupted me was Keala Richard!


 Here's some memes about how Jan Kamiya TOLERATED Keala's angry interruptions but DIDNT TOLERATE me standing up for myself!

 

The next meme just might destroy Jan Kamiya's career, but .... it's so true


As I was explaining how it was Nature, not Nurture (or "Social Construct") that affects what attracts the opposite gender, I drew bodies on the board.


Remember, this was a class at a university, not an elementary school! 

This was a class of adults (graduate students to be exact) with NOBODY under the age of 21! 

If I could do a presentation about Playboy magazine during my undergraduate years at the same university,  then why is it a scandal to draw pictures of bodies to a group of graduate students? 


It gets crazier? Jan Kamiya objected to those drawings of bodies, yet TWICE (in 2014 & 2015) showed the same video clip of Stephen Colbert interviewing author Maurice Sendak, in which they made nasty jokes about sexual body parts!

Yes, that did happened and I WILL TESTIFY UNDER OATH  if this comes to court!

I got evidence since I fill out a daily log writing down the events o of the day! 


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as we discussed the issue with the department chair, Jan Kamiya taunted me by saying "look, you're shaking"


Oh yeah, Jan, I'm shaking?

look at this!

http://thethingswesay.com/

You telling me "you're shaking" is an act of lowlife scum!




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Keala Richard is one of those people who matches the worst stereotypes of Radical Feminists and Social Justice Activists when it comes to dealing with disagreements!

All I said was that the types of men & women rated highly attractive is due to biological factors!

Keala started screaming that this is all a Western, imperialistic social construct........blah, blah, blah, nevermind that most of the non-white world has been independent of European imperialists FOR DECADES ALREADY!  Before either me or Keala were even born!

But Keala Richard is so traumatized by being the only Hawaiian girl in her class growing up in Wisconsin (yes, Wisconsin) that she doesn't understand that most of the world outside the 49 states could care less about trying to be white!  I mean, sheesh, I'm in Hawaii and nearly everyone who is part-white, part-nonwhite emphasize the nonwhite part of themselves!  But because Keala Richard spent most of her young life outside of Hawaii, she can't relate to that!  She even said it herself that her younger brother (who spent most of his younger life in Hawaii, and went to a mostly Native Hawaiian school) didn't feel the racial alienation she felt growing up!

The point, is that beauty standards has less to do with Eurocentric imperialism and more to do with evolution.

I wrote more about it at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/08/this-stuff-happens-everywhere-not-just.html



Here's some memes on Keala Richard

Hey Keala, let me tell you this, it is reported you snitched on me for assertively standing up to you when you yelled and interrupted me!

 Well guess what?  I restrained myself in class!  

You want to try talk over me outside of class? You want a yelling match with outside of class, one-on-one without anyone backing either of us up?  I will yell at you with full blown rage, something you HAVE NOT WITNESSED FROM ME! You want to try me, I dare you! 


===========================

To everyone pictured and memed on my blog : is this how you want to be known? This is what happens to corrupt people who say stupid things to me! 

(note:all images are under my copyright, meaning I can do whatever I want with them!)

Psychology Today had an article dealing with people with Keala Richard's mentatlity

Article title was "Giving Feminism a Bad Name" 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-entertainment/201205/giving-feminism-bad-name

These “gender feminists” cling to an ideologically driven, theoretically unsound, and empirically unsupported perspective on the origin and development of sex differences (Kuhle, 2012). To paraphrase New Jersey philosopher J. B. Jovi, they give feminism a bad name. In so doing, they have discouraged women and men who support sexual equality from self-identifying as feminists. When less than a quarter of your prime constituents (women) are willing to support your cause by identifying outright as feminists, your movement has a huge public relations problem.

and more

As an evolutionary psychologist, I believe that much light can be shed on psychology by considering how the information-processing mechanisms underlying our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affected our ancestors’ abilities to survive and reproduce. As an “equity feminist” (Sommers, 1994), I believe that women should have the full civil and social equalities that are afforded men. Equity feminism has no a priori stance on the origin or existence of differences between the sexes; it is solely a sociopolitical desire for men’s and women’s legal and social equality. Defined in these ways, there is no rational reason why one cannot be both an evolutionary psychologist and a feminist.

and more

As illustrated by the pioneering work of Darwinian feminist Griet Vandermassen (2004, 2005, 2008, 2011) and the emergence of the Feminist Evolutionary Psychology Society, evolutionary psychology and equity feminism are eminently compatible. However, evolutionary psychology and gender feminists will always conflict as long as the latter remains unwilling to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence (Buss, 2003; Geary, 2010; Mealey, 2000; Pinker, 2002) for evolved psychological sex differences. It is tragically ironic that the gender feminism-infested discipline known as feminist psychology—a discipline in part dedicated to shedding light on women's struggles with inequity—struggles to consider any and all insights into the origin of the inequities faced by women. Gender feminism’s dualistic view of evolution hinders the search for and understanding of the proximate and ultimate causes of inequality. Like much of standard social science model psychology (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992), feminist psychology needs to evolve. Near the close of On the Origin of Species (1859, p. 449) Darwin envisions that, “In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation” (i.e., gradual natural selection). Please indulge me this forced paraphrase because, ‘In the distant future I, too, see open fields for far more important researches. Feminist psychology will be based on equity feminism, that of the necessary civil and social liberties of both sexes, and not the untenable perspective that psychological sex differences did not evolve.’

 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-entertainment/201205/giving-feminism-bad-name

So captures the mentality of Jan Kamiya & Keala Richard

Also, check out this short clip by legendary female academics Camille Paglia and Christina Hoff Sommers, both refuting the cliches of  Feminists "cultural construct" Fanatics like Keala Richard!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3pjGd1v5xY

The life & legend of Muhammad Ali

This past Friday, boxing legend Muhammad Ali passed away.

http://taddlr.com/pl/celebrity/muhammad-ali 

Muhammad Ali

He first rise to fame in the 1960 Olympics where he won the gold medal for boxing.

This was a start of a very successful boxing career where he defeated many great opponents like Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

But winning fights wasn't what made Muhammad Ali a cultural icon.  What made him a cultural icon was his reaction to a changing society.

Whereas once athletes were just content to soak in the glory, riches and fame, Muhammad Ali understood that in that era, he would have to make choices that might upset some people.

For one, the Civil Rights Movement was in full bloom. No longer were African-Americans willing to sugar-coat how society has treated them. Protests, boycotts, sit-ins were all going on. Muhammad Ali questioned why should be so loyal to a country that enslaved his ancestors and forced his generation to a sub-standard life. He was angry that even though he won a gold medal for his country, many restaurants would not serve him because of his race!  He threw his gold medal into the river, with the thoughts of "if this is how you treat me after all the glory I have given you, screw you!"

Muhammad Ali also joined the Nation of Islam, which was an African-American Muslim group that felt that Christianity was a religion forced on them by European slave owners. The fact that Muslims were trading African slaves didn't concern them at all!   Historians estimated about 15-30% of African slaves taken to the Americas were Muslim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_United_States#cite_note-hill394-40

It was also during that time that he became known as Muhammad Ali, instead of his previous name Cassius Clay. It took a while for the general public to accept the name change, but eventually they did!



The 1960's was also rebellious time for another reason -- the Vietnam War.  This was a time when people started to question foreign policy.   Whereas the 1930s/early 1940's, people questioned whether the US should get involved in European conflicts, once the Pearl Harbor attacks happened, the whole US united for the war effort.  Even marginalized groups like African-Americans and Japanese Americans were willing to put their lives on the line for a country that officially stigmatized them.

The Korean war lasted a few years into a stalemate. Being that the war itself wasn't long, whatever anti-war sentiments existed didn't last long.

But Vietnam? By the 1960s, a whole new generation has come up with no living memory of WW2 unity! by the 1960's, a whole bunch of Asian & African nations became independent! By the 1960's, many started to question, why blindly follow what the US government want us to do?"  By the 1960's, many started to question authority in general.

  By the 1960's, many started to question "why fight for a country that segregated us?" and even "why fight for a country that allowed for a lynching of my father/uncle/grandfather even though he put his life in the life for WW2!"

Or as Muhammad Ali would famously say "no Vietnamese ever called me a n----r"

That many people refused to support the US war effort in Vietnam surprised many in the older generation who were nostalgic for the national unity displayed in WW2!

Muhammad Ali's refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War made him a pariah for a while! But in the long run, it earned him major respect!


Muhammad Ali was the symbol of the emerging Black Power movement.  He encouraged many young African-Americans that they don't have to be scared of white society, that they don't have to sacrifice their dignity for riches.

That being said, Muhammad Ali's penchant for trash talking, did contradict his Black Power image when he taunted his opponent Joe Frazier as  "dark and ugly" and a "gorilla". This deeply hurt Joe Frazier as he wondered why a fellow African-American (especially one who is a Black Power icon) would racially taunt that way.
Learn more at
http://www.edgeofsports.com/2011-11-10-662/


As time went on, Jim Crow has ended, and African-Americans eventually gained political power as legislators, mayors, governors and even a president.  This development made Muhammad Ali less militant as he grown older.

However, as Muhammad Ali got older, his fighting speed & strength declined, causing him to lose fights towards the end of his career.  It has long been assumed that those punches to the head that Ali received towards the end of his career caused his mobility problems as he got older. His movements slowed drastically and he could no longer talk.

However, as the 60 Minutes profile in 1996 showed, he still had a quick mind and haven't lost his penchant for pranks.
http://www.cbsnews.com/live/video/60-minutes-remembers-muhammad-ali/


That same year, he had the honor to  light the Olympic Flame! That was probably the most legendary Olympic torch lighting of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEhNDUwksvU

However, as time passed by, Muhammad Ali faded from making public appearances as his condition worsened!

But even as his health declined and life ended, his legend lives on!

Future of boxing

Muhammad Ali  was a major star when boxing was one of the sporting world's main attractions!  This was especially true for the heavyweight fighters.

However, in the 1990's,  Mixed Martial Arts (aka MMA aka Ultimate Fighting) went from being a fringe activity to a main event!


After the rise of MMA in the last 2 decades, boxing has been on the decline! I mean why watch people who can only punch when you can watch people punch, kick, block, throw and wrestle each other?

Nowadays, people only watch boxing if there are larger-than-life personalities (ie. Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquaio). Also now different from Ali's time, the heavyweight fighters no longer are the main attractions.  By the time Mike Tyson reached his 40's, none of they newer heavyweight boxers had a larger-than-life personality, putting an end to a tradition that Muhammad Ali perfected!

There's also  the concern of head injuries that comes with boxing, especially being that Muhammad Ali took serious blows to his head late in his career, and that he suffered mobile disabilities after he retired!

MMA so far hasn't had the same level of head injuries as boxing. Boxing only allows punching, which usually targets the head, whereas MMA allows for kicking and grappling, which tends to aim at the other body parts. So in MMA, the injuries are more evenly distributed throughout the body, whereas in boxing, the head take nearly all the hits!


Olympic boxers wear helmets to protect the heads. However, the professional fighters don't wear helmets, as if they think helmets are for wusses!

I think, being that there are already massive concerns about concussions in tackle football, that in professional fighting (boxing, MMA, etc), there might soon be rules to have them wear helmets.

There's always going to be people who like to fight. There's always going to be fighters who are better at punching than kicking or grappling. But we also have to be concerned for their safety, so I believe sooner or later, professional fighters will have to wear helmets too!

The fights will still be crazy, the fans will still jump in excitement, but it will also be better if the fighters are protected so that less of them will have to suffer the after-effects as they enter middle adulthood!

Intellectual Freedom Frauds

 Remember when Bill Cosby won all these awards for his contributions to the moral development of our youth?

Turns out that while he was making family-friendly entertainment meant to help children develop moral character, Bill Cosby was also slipping drugs into women's drinks and sexually abusing them!

Well, in May 2016, a student group at UH-Manoa has given the Sarah K. Vann award ( an award to library professionals in regards to service, ethics, and intellectual freedom ) to Dr. Noriko Asato.

Wait, what? Dr Noriko Asato getting an award for promoting intellectual freedom? 

The same exact person who pressured me to sign this?

You're telling me a person who wanted me to sign that document is a promoter of intellectual freedom?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

It's not just that document (which by the way,  I REFUSED TO SIGN!)

There's much more which you can read at

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/05/professional-victim-professor.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/06/professional-victim-professor-part-2.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/07/professional-victim-professor-part-3.html

The following is more about Rich Gazan, but is so related to Asato's situation

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/01/database-man-out-of-his-league.html

photograph & annotations copyright to Pablo Wegesend

Dr. Noriko Asato

This award winning teacher of professional ethics and promoter of intellectual freedom.........

gets upset when interns refuse to lie about their situation,

doesn't like it when interns complain about unethical supervisors,

tells interns to withdraw complaints about their situation,

calls herself "very afraid" and "feels threatened" when confronted by assertive disagreement,

tells others not be upset about workplace trauma, yet she has easily hurt feelings

everything mentioned above is true and the facts are available online to anyone worldwide with an internet connection

And here's more memes on Dr Noriko Asato

None of those memes are exaggerations!  She really does respond to spoken & written statements of disagreements as if they were threats!


If you are an advocate of intellectual freedom, you are not supposed to be afraid of a disagreement!


If you are an advocate of intellectual freedom, you are supposed to be embrace the disagreement!


If you are an advocate of intellectual freedom, you are supposed to engage with disagreement!



If you are an advocate of intellectual freedom, you respond to written or spoken statements of disagreement by  either

• saying  something like "interesting, I never thought of it that way"

• saying something like  "in response to that point,  you said this, but it's actually that because (fill in the blank)"

An advocate of intellectual freedom NEVER 

• ask another person to withdraw a complaint
• calls oneself afraid when someone writes an email explaining a disagreement
• calls oneself afraid when a person express dissatisfaction with a supervisor

Dr Noriko Asato calling herself an "advocate of intellectual freedom makes less sense than

• Bill Cosby calling himself a "victim's rights advocate"
• Genghis Khan calling himself a "pacifist"
• Adolf Hitler calling himself "advocate for ethnic diversity" 
• Donald Trump calling himself "the king of sensitivity"
• Ted Nugent calling himself a "vegan"

 Just like how Andrea Constand exposed Bill Cosby as a sexual predator, I exposed Noriko Asato as an unethical phony who doesn't really respect intellectual freedom!




===================



Another intellectual freedom fraud associated with the LIS Program is Dr Andrew Wertheimer!


Wertheimer was the head of the LIS program when I started (in 2013) until he stepped down from that role to be replaced in 2015 by Dr Rich Gazan (mentioned in http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/01/database-man-out-of-his-league.html)

Wertheimer was also my academic advisor after Dr Rebecca Knuth (one of the most honorable people in the LIS program, and a true advocate of Intellectual Freedom) retired after the Spring 2014 semester!

He was the facilitator for my independent research that I did in the summer of 2014, when I focused on the library services for the blind & visually impaired!

He also the person I talked to for advise on various academic & professional issues!


So it is not easy for me to expose the negative side of Dr Wertheimer, but it has to be done!


I don't go blogging about every little disagreement I have with people, but this goes WAY BEYOND just simple disagreement!

I find Dr Andrew Wertheimer to be lacking in ethics in multiple ways 

For one, he once conducted the LIS 615 (collection management) which was a required course. However, during my first 2 years in the LIS program, the class was only available online.  He takes ONE MONTH after the course has started to put up a syllabus and mentions assignments. ONE MONTH AFTER THE COURSE WAS SUPPOSED TO START!

When his online students email him legitimate questions, he does NOT respond!  I had to confront him in person to get a response! 

This is straight up laziness and negligence on Wertheimer's part!

That issue got solved in 2015 when the class was finally offered as a "classroom class" instead of an online class! By then it was too late for me!


But that is NOWHERE NEAR THE most negative side of Dr Wertheimer




You see, Dr Wertheimer discourages students from standing up for themselves when it comes to dealing with corrupt internship supervisors.  He thinks that students/interns/recent grads should put their careers ahead of justice


This BS"defender of intellectual freedom" felt that I shouldn't have contacted the manager of Hawaii State Library over the way Tisha Aragaki treated me!  (see http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/04/problems-at-hsl.html)



He tried to scare me with "people aren't going to hire you if you ask for workplace justice"



Even worse, when I saw him in public recently, he asked about my life after graduation. I said I am applying for positions within public library system.  He said "Pablo, you burned a lot of bridges with public library system, Your fighting for justice is making employers leery of hiring you"

He's telling me I should be silent about injustice!

Sir, those are fighting words!

Telling me to remain silent about injustices is the ACT OF LOWLIFE SCUM! 

I am much, much,much,  much faster to forgive a person who calls me a "stupid idiot" than I am to forgive a person who wants me to be silent about injustices I've experienced!





  A few days I later emailed a message with some
 memes to Dr Wertheimer about his attempts to keep me silent!

interesting that the very people who tell you to "put your career ahead of justice" are the very people who wouldn't even have a career if it wasn't for those who sacrificed their careers for justice!  #RealTalk

The reason I said that is because Dr Andrew Wertheimer is Jewish, a group long persecuted by various regimes throughout history! The fact that he is even allowed to have a university professor position (instead of being segregated or placed in a concentration camp) is BECAUSE OF PEOPLE WHO SACRIFICED THEIR CAREERS AND LIVES FOR JUSTICE!  These people put their careers and lives on the line so that other Jewish people can have the right to survive, even thrive!


Dr Andrew Wertheimer owes his career and his life to those who sacrificed their careers and lives for justice!


Same is true for Dr Noriko Asato, who would've been placed in an internment camp had she been born a few decades earlier!

The reason Arab-Americans weren't placed in internment camps after 9/11 is BECAUSE people said NEVER AGAIN will we allow a repeat of the Holocaust, NEVER AGAIN will we allow a repeat of the internment of Japanese-Americans (or any other ethnic group) during wartime!

 



Dr Wertheimer also praises all these progressive social programs, ALL OF WHICH existed ONLY BECAUSE people put their careers at risk to make it possible!

Now look at this meme!

AMEN TO THAT!

Discouraging others from having courage is a form of psychological torture! The cover-up is usually worse than the crime! #RealTalk

I actually explained more on that point at  http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/05/telling-others-to-be-silent-about.html

It's bad enough that Tisha Aragaki is an emotionally insecure tyrant that can't handle a disagreement! But Wertheimer (plus Asato and Gazan) MAGNIFY THE PROBLEM by trying to silence me on the issue! 

It's like what I tell the kids:   your parents may not like it if you tell the truth (ie. yes mom, I did that) but they will be MUCH MORE ANGRY AT YOU if you  lie about it)

Covering up is never a good idea! 

Asato/Wertheimer/Gazan wanted to cover-up for Tisha Aragaki! I DONT DO Cover-Ups!


this attempted cover-ups made the issue much worse than it had to be!  

Had Asato/Gazan/Wertheimer followed my idea of meeting with Tisha Aragaki or her supervisor, The Problem would've been solved and none of those memes & blog posts would've existed!

Instead of silencing people, ADMIT THE PROBLEM AND SOLVE IT! 

Asato/Gazan/Wertheimer are accustomed  to dealing with library science students who are either introverts, ass kissers, and some combo of both!  They are accustomed  to be conflict-avoidant people who run &  hide the minute negative publicity comes their way!   They're not accustomed to dealing with a person like me, a person who fights back with blogs & memes! 

And get this ......... being that I was born in 1980 and grew up in public housing................. I didn't even learn to blog & meme & make YouTube speeches until I became an adult! 

 The new generation learn to do all that before they start middle school! 

Let this be a warning to Asato/Gazan/Wertheimer, the next generation of students you'll be dealing with will have much more advanced blogging & social media skills than I do! They're also the generation that already have personal experience using  social media to fight their own  battles with teachers, principals and other students!

In other words, you tell the new generation to "suffer in silence", they will come out swinging much harder and with much more advanced techniques than I did!

Considered yourselves warned!

==========================

And my last message to Dr Andrew Wertheimer

I live life on my own terms! I tell it like it is! That might've kept me from having some economic opportunities, but you can't put a price on mental health!

#RealTalk

Take that Dr Andrew Wertheimer! 

Same to Dr Noriko Asato and Dr Rich Gazan! 

=======================

PS: Whereas Dr  Andrew  Wertheimer and Dr Noriko Asato constantly advises students to be overly cautious and risk-averse or else "people are less likely to hire you", here's an article by businesswoman Heidi K. Isern that proves THE EXACT OPPOSITE!

"Open Up, Close More Deals"

https://medium.com/life-tips/open-up-close-more-deals-5c7d970adfda#.spcc2pxwb

When a friend read my last post on “Leaving Perfection”, he was concerned, “Are you sure you want to be that vulnerable online? You’re a leader in a well known design firm. Isn’t your open writing style bad for business?”

Would revealing emotions cause others to doubt my professional ability?

Would I forgo the trust I had established with clients?

My answer? Hell, no.

Over the years I have found that being vulnerable leads to much greater business success than staying buttoned up.

and more

Then an industrial designer stopped me in the hallway, hair wild, eyes alert with intrigue.

“Heidi, I have a confession. I started reading your blog…”

I was surprised. Back then my blog had few followers outside of my mom and ex boyfriends.

He continued, “And um, wow, it was really intimate. I didn’t know MBAs like you had emotions. You know, I went through that same thing last year. Maybe we should work on something together. Maybe I can help you.”

and more

Two years ago, I was particularly excited about a proposal to work with an established technology company and rethink the future of entertainment. However, right when the statement of work should have been signed, silence ensued. I hit “refresh” on my inbox until my fingers bled. Our bottom line depended on the contract so I called the Vice President of our client company to inquire about the holdup.

“Well, I’ll admit. I spent some time Googling you and the team and I came across your blog,” he said.

I was horrified. I had just written about freezing my eggs. And my prior post compared dating to mismatched socks. Shit. Had my blog just torpedoed our business relationship?

“I must say,” the client continued, “You reveal a lot. But hell, I think it’s great. My wife had fertility issues once and we found no one talked about it. Happy you did. I always want to know who I’m doing business with. With you, I have a VERY clear picture. If you can take risks and empathize with others, you can empathize with us. I’ll sign the contract today.”

A year and many dollars later, the same client reached out to me for advice on making a career change. Because he trusted me, he felt comfortable asking me for advice on where to go next. Vulnerability connected us as humans and fostered a long term relationship that extended beyond singular contracts and companies.

If you want to do business in the long term, it can never just be business. It needs to be personal.

 and finally this

This year I’ve had many leaders from different industries send me personal emails thanking me for my openness and in turn, gave me the gift of being open with their own challenges. They’ve told me about domestic violence, catastrophic divorces, company lay-offs, and a litany of other failures. People I never thought I’d have a chance to meet are now my allies. Well, at least on Twitter.

What that writer understands (but Andrew Wertheimer and Noriko Asato DONT) is that in order to experience greatness, YOU MUST TAKE RISKS, YOU MUST TAKE A STAND!

If that means a few opportunities go to other people, so what?  That just means a more suitable opportunity is on the way! 

You can't satisfy everyone!  You have to live life on your own terms. That comes with its own opportunities, and with it, greater mental health!

summer begins

School year has ended, and it's a few hours from Memorial Day!


Summer has begun!

Summer is fun for students who are on vacation!

Summer is not so fun for those who are substitute teachers, who have dramatically reduced work hours and therefore have to cut back on expenses.

However, a new temp work opportunity is coming soon (pending paper work and a start date that is more than a week from now).


I'm not ready to publicly say what it is!  I haven't started yet!


But I'm optimistic that it could be start of something great!  It could open doors to future temp opportunities, or even something more long-term.

It can help me with my long-term career goals!  It could be something great to put on a resume! It could give me something great to discuss in future job interviews.

Telling Others to Be Silent about Injustice is a form of Psychological Warfare

whether it is

• telling a rape victim to not come forward because the rapist is a celebrity
• pressuring a police officer to not testify against corrupt colleagues
• telling a witness to "stop snitching"
• telling an intern to "not be angry" about a rude supervisor who spreads damaging innuendos behind his/her back!

These are all examples of psychological warfare!

These are all examples of psychological torture!

Do the right thing! 

Encourage people to have courage! 

Expose the wrong-doing!

Praise those who do the right things!


Don't want to be snitched on?
Don't want to be told on?
Don't want to be exposed?

Then don't do the wrong things!


If you do a wrong thing

•  just admit your flaws,
•  say what you could've done better
• apologize

Do all that, you'll get more respect in the long run!