Tag: fired

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Sean Spicer Benched From White House Press Briefing

You can only guess that President Trump has lost faith in the answers and optics of Sean Spicer handling questions at the podium of White House press briefings.

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster held today’s on-camera press briefing at 11:30 AM, while Spicer will reportedly hold an off-camera briefing at 2PM with the White House press pool.

Last night, McMaster denounced the Washington Post‘s report that President Donald Trump revealed highly classified intelligence with Russian officials last week in the Oval Office.

Today, McMaster told the White House press pool that the conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador was “wholly appropriate,” even though President Trump didn’t even know where the information he shared came from.

Before that, however, Trump threw his national security team under the bus by tweeting he did indeed share the intel with Russia, adding he has the “absolute right” to do so.

According to Buzzfeed reporter Adrian Carrasquillo, White House staffers turned the TVs in the West Wing up to drown out the back-and-forth of a closed door meeting where Team Trump attempted to figure their way out of this latest misstep.

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Canadian College Professor Fired For Posting “Queers” Should Be Hanged

Click image to enlarge

Edge Media reports that a Canadian college professor was fired this week after he allegedly made a violent and anti-gay Facebook comment, officials announced Wednesday, according to the CBC.

Officials from St. Lawrence College said they received a complaint about business professor Rick Coupland, regarding a Facebook comment he allegedly made. The school’s spokeswoman said the comment was “deeply concerning.”

Screen shots of Coupland’s alleged post made their way on social media and shows him sharing a link to a story about a rainbow flag being raised in St. Petersburg, Fla., with his added comment: “It’s the queers they should be hanging, not the flag.”

According to Gay Star News, it was a former student who made the complaint to the college and posted screenshots of the comments to social media. The website also notes that Coupland later updated his status saying, “I have to get off Facebook for awhile. I’ve been called into work and told to bring a representative re: my comments on FB. Please pray for me and my job…”

The CBC reports the teacher’s Facebook profile has been deleted.

St. Lawrence College said Coupland’s remarks do not reflect the school’s values, noting it has a strict policy regarding the conduct of its employees. On Wednesday, the school confirmed that it had fired the professor.

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NBCUniversal To Donald Trump: You’re Fired!

NBC has cut ties with Donald Trump citing his derogatory statements about immigrants, the company said in a Monday statement:

At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values.

Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.

To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC.

In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in “The Apprentice” on NBC.

“Celebrity Apprentice” is licensed from Mark Burnett‘s United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue.

Good.

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Congressional Staffer Elizabeth Lauten To Resign After Calling Obama Kids Classless

Karma is a bitch. And it would seem no one knows that better today than (former?) communications director for GOP Congressman Stephen Fincher, Elizabeth Lauten.

As I reported over the weekend, Ms. Lauten took the Book of Face and criticized Malia and Sasha Obama for not showing enough “class” when attending this year’s Thanksgiving Turkey Pardon, a light-hearted holiday event at the White House.

MNSBC is now reporting that the high priestess of all things “class” is in the process of resigning, which is appropriate.

Lauten then deleted the rant, and posted this “apology” which also quickly disappeared:

Politics is a strange game, yes. But there are rules. And one hard and fast rule is that children of politicians are out of bounds. Period.

It’s strange that someone with the title “Communications Director” – whose skill sould be understanding the media and messaging of a congressman – would be so tone deaf. Her job would be to put out fires, not start them.

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FOX News psychologist fired for inflammatory comments on Santa Barbara shooter

FOX News contributor Dr. Robi Ludwig, who made headlines over the weekend for hypothesizing that Santa Barbara shooter Eliot Rodger went on his rampage because he couldn’t deal with his “homosexual impulses” has been sacked as a spokesperson for Coldwell Banker Real Estate, according to a note left by the company on Facebook after an inquiry from activist Scott Wooledge.

Coldwell Banker posted this statement: “Dr. Robi’s comments on the tragedy in Santa Barbara do not represent the opinions of Coldwell Banker. Therefore at this time we feel it best to part ways with her as our lifestyle real estate correspondent.”

Ludwig issued an apology on Facebook (not on the air where she initially shared her thoughts) after her comments went viral saying:

“I was misunderstood on @FoxNews this weekend, when I was asked to hypothesize several factors which could have triggered ‪#‎ElliotRoger‬’s spree killing.”

“I in NO way meant to indicate being a homosexual or having homosexual impulses is a cause for spree killing. My job on @judgejeanine was to asses several possible triggers for #ElliotRoger and his behavior ‪#‎peace‬ ‪#‎forequalrights‬ However, I apologize to all those who felt offended. That was never my intention.”

(h/t The New Civil Rights Movement)

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Openly gay Pennsylvania teacher fired for applying for marriage license

Michael Griffin, an openly gay teacher at the Holy Ghost Preparatory School in Pennsylvania for 12 years, was suddenly fired from his job yesterday – the same day he and his long-time partner applied for a same-sex marriage license.

From WPVI:

Michael Griffin says he emailed the principal of Holy Ghost Prep earlier in the week saying he may be late Friday, that he was applying for a marriage license.

After an in-service day he says he was called into the office of School President Father James McCloskey, along with Principal Jeffrey Danilak. Griffin explains, “He said, ‘It’s not really a secret here that you’re gay.’ I said, ‘Correct.’ He said, ‘I assume this is a same sex marriage.’ ‘Yes.’ He said if I go through with it, he had no choice but to terminate my position.”

In tears, he left. His over a decade-long tenure at Holy Ghost was over. “I really didn’t think that it would happen. At our school we talk about it’s a community our motto is ‘One heart, one mind.'”

His partner, Vincent Giannetto, tells Action News, “We applied this morning and on the same day he’s fired from his job. So it kind of flipped things upside down for us.”

Holy Ghost is an all boys Catholic high school located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

(via Towleroad)

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Alec Baldwin fired by MSNBC

Alec Baldwin has been fired from his MSNBC late night talk show for his recent dustup with a photographer using anti-gay slurs

Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC late night talk show, formerly suspended for two weeks due to Alec Baldwin’s recent tangles with photographers, has now been permanently cancelled.

The problems began a few weeks ago when Baldwin allegedly went after a photographer on the street calling the photog a “c*cksucking fag.”  That led to a “two week suspension” of his new show on the MSNBC network.   Now, the show is toast.

From Page Six:

The rage-aholic’s weekly show, “Up Late With Alec Baldwin,” has been canceled because of the actor’s foul-mouthed rant at a photographer he called a nasty name.

“The decision has been made. He’s gone,” an insider at the cable channel told me. “The [parent company] Comcast guys have decided. Word is spreading through the building.”

Baldwin’s dismissal was decided on partly because of his diva-like behavior toward co-workers, a source said.

Besides demanding a humidifier because he claimed the air at 30 Rock was too dry, Baldwin alienated staffers when he demanded a separate makeup room being used by a woman with cancer who is sensitive to hairspray.

A spokesman for Baldwin confirmed, “The show is not coming back. He had questions on whether he wanted to continue.”